A race like no other

J's World, by Jeremiah Bartz

I did, I did, I did, the Iditarod Trail. Thanks to Hobo Jim, those words have been stuck in my head for the last week. It does not help that I was right in the center of the Iditarod universe, Nome, for the last week.

Getting a first-hand glimpse of the Iditarod changes your perception of dog mushing for life.

It has always been a fascinating sport and the Iditarod is one of the most unique sporting events in the world, but it is different when you are around the race on a daily basis.

Though I was just around for the start and the finish, my interest and respect for the race has greatly grown.

As you follow the progress of each musher throughout the race, you begin to see the strategy that is involved. Like any other sport there is a gameplan, for some it is very intricate.

Some may have the perception that the Iditarod is just a chance to casually follow some pretty dogs down the trail

That is certainly not the case.

The physical and mental preparation of the athletes is amazing and competing in the Iditarod has to be one of the most strenuous and exhausting tasks in sport. The mushers not only have to take into consideration their own limits, but the limits of their dogs.

To run or to rest is their biggest delimma on the race. This is where the strategy gets very intriguing.

Robert Sorlie gambled early, sacrificing rest. While that may not have worked for every team, it proved to be successful for Sorlie as the Norwegian born musher was the first to arrive in Nome.

Ramy Brooks gambled in Koyuk and temporarily took the lead, but his efforts were too late.

I am sure to a lesser degree, each musher considered similar gambles at each checkpoint.

I now know what Casey Ressler was saying when he went blabbing on about the race during a conversation in the office before my trek to Nome. The one-time sports reporter is now a self-proclaimed Iditarod strategist after covering the race. Now suddenly that bald guy makes sense. It draws you in. I am one step away from hooking up my dog to my orange plastic toboggan and heading off to Nome myself. Of course I will be singing "I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail," the entire way.