The flair's gunshot smoke into the cold air causing the dogs around me to trail a lullaby of barking, commanding the lead dog, paws dug into the hard snow filled ground. The sled lunged forward cause the imprinting of two parallel lines in the snow. The lullaby of the dogs still rang out from all around me. All around were teams of dogs and sleds. Light clouds danced across the sky almost painting a white pattern against the almost periwinkle blue. The chill of the crisp afternoon brushed my face causing my eyes to water slightly. My thick gloves gripped the oak handle of my dog sled. I was in the Iditarod, with twelve of my best friends, twelve very special friends; my dogs.

After running almost five miles, I yelled out to my lead dog to halt. Slowing to a stop I anchored my sled break into the hardening snow. My wheel dogs were the first I checked. Picking up paws, examining cold paw pad, looking at faces and checking harnesses, all of this was part of caring for my dogs out here. The periwinkle blue sky started to fade into a rosy red, brisk orange and an almost baby blue. The splashed of color made for a great sunset, but with a sunset also came the winter night wind. My sled was made to hold all of my supplies, a sleeping bag and a first aid kit. I dug into my bag to find a small bag of kibble. Since we couldn't carry much with us, I didn't have their bowls. I would just have to dig a small hole near each of my twelve friends and then give them their share. After the meal, I instructed them to lay down, their lines to the main team guild would stretch and allow them to curl up and sleep. Making sure they were ok and allowing the suns light fade; I unzipped my sleeping bag. After climbing into the sleeping bag, I grabbed the zipper on the inside and zipped it up past my head. Outside with no real shelter you have to make sure that you stay warm. That means you have to keep your head inside the sleeping bag. The sun's rays peaked in around the slight holes in the zipper. Stretching slightly, I unzipped my sleeping bag. The dogs were all sleeping still and I knew if I were to keep up with all the experienced mushers I would have to leave now. Giving a long high pitched whistle to my dogs, heads shot into the air quickly followed by yips and barks.

We were off again, my dogs paws thundered against the hard snow filled ground as they pushed forward. My lead dog, Alaska, perked her fox like ears as I gave her the command to turn to the left. Her paws turned to the left causing the rest of the team to follow. The sled slide around before lining back up with the dogs. The howls of the dogs sang out , echoes seamed to follow as we closed the distance between where we were and the checkpoint.