She's a natural on trail

DeeDee Jonrowe was on the Iditarod Trail recently -- not running dogs, but traveling by snowmachine. The trip was part vacation, part business. Jonrowe wanted to refresh her familiarity with the trail, and, Jonrowe adds, "Mike wanted to get away for the weekend."

Jonrowe ran last year's race only weeks after completing a very aggressive round of chemotherapy in her battle against breast cancer. One side effect of the treatment is what Jonrowe refers to as a "chemo fog" -- which can dull a person's memory. Since the race didn't run part of the traditional route last year, Jonrowe decided to go for a ride, just to see how things looked for the first stretch of the race.

Jonrowe says mushing has always felt natural to her. In the spring of 1979, Jonrowe went to Anchorage for a dog race, and came home with her first dog team -- a newly purchased team of five sled dogs. She and Mike were a few years married, living in Bethel, and working for Fish and Game. She told her husband it would be "just for fun, to get around the villages." By that fall, the team had grown to 20 dogs. And the next year, at 25, Jonrowe ran her first Iditarod. "It only cost $600 to enter," she smiles, "and there were no qualifying races."

Jonrowe paused between packing dog food and gear at her home in Willow to recall that first race. It is quickly apparent that her memory is serving her just fine. "My sled was way too heavy. It must have weighed over 300 pounds. It took four men just to get it off the truck. At the start, I was terrified." Dennis Boyer told her to "take care of the dogs, and they would take care of her." Jonrowe says she clung to that advice.

Coming out of Finger Lake, Jonrowe kept sliding off the trail and into the trees. Her sled was just too heavy. Finally Jonrowe got off the sled and took out a bunch of gear. "I was so relieved to get up the hill! Then I realized I had to go back and haul some of the gear back to the sled." She ended up leaving quite a bit of stuff along that stretch of the trail. Gene Leonard -- another Iditarod musher -- lived right there, and he thanked her, teasingly, for leaving that stuff behind for him.

Jonrowe recently marked her first anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. She is traveling the road to recovery now, in typical DeeDee style -- quickly, and with great optimism. At 50, she appears very fit and healthy. Still, it's hard not to wonder if the strenuous demands of running the Iditarod will take their toll on Jonrowe. Have her doctors ever encouraged her not to race? "I really didn't care about that," Jonrowe says abruptly. According to her, the physical toll of racing could never outweigh its emotional rewards. She mentions the strong link between recovery and emotional well being. Jonrowe knew she would be happiest doing what she loves. "Besides," she adds, "sitting around the house whining really isn't good for you, either."

Last year, Jonrowe ran the Iditarod because she needed to. She says it was important for her recovery. She finished 18th. This year, with her health much improved, she hopes for a top-10 finish, something she has done 11 times in the past. Still, with the race becoming increasingly competitive, what motivates Jonrowe to keep working so hard?

"I love training dogs," Jonrowe says, "I feel blessed with a talent and a passion for the work. The Iditarod is a great race. The icing on the cake would be to win, of course. But that's just the icing. It's the dogs -- and the lifestyle it has afforded me -- that I am passionate about, and that passion is my motivation."

And if she never wins? "There may be only one first place, but there are many winners in the Iditarod," Jonrowe says. "Personal battles are being fought every day along the trail."