Stealing some Zs the battle against sleep deprivation

McGRATH With the extreme competition for Iditarod glory, sacrifices have to be made along the trail. More often than not, that sacrifice is sleep for the mushers.

After stopping their teams for a rest, most mushers feed and water the dogs, spread out hay for them and then turn their attention to other things like repairing a broken sled, planning strategy or tending to a sick dog. Shut eye isnt even on the list.

I slept a half-hour the first night and an hour the second night, said Mitch Seavey. And then I was coming into McGrath, and I sort of fell off to the side of my sled because I fell asleep standing up. It was like a Twilight Zone type thing.

Like many mushers, Seavey declared his 24-hour layover in McGrath. After nearly falling asleep on his sled, he still took six hours until he found a floor to sleep on. He was busying feeding his dogs and talking to other mushers and Iditarod volunteers, and despite one-and-a-half hours of sleep in 48 hours, he was wide awake.

Its hard to sleep with all the excitement and adrenaline, Seavey said.

Tim Osmar had no problems falling asleep at the checkpoint, unlike Seavey. After caring for his dogs, Osmar entered the checkpoint and proclaimed, Sleep is the top priority. With that, he found his sleeping bag and drifted off, but only for a few hours. After no sleep, even a few hours seem like a nights worth of Zs.

You have to retrain your body for the trail, said Healys David Sawatzky, who said he had slept two hours in the races first 72 hours.

The dogs need the rest, the musher doesnt. As long as my dogs get enough rest and sleep, Ill be fine, Sawatzky said.

Mushers generally try to have at least as much rest for the dogs as the amount of time spent running on the trail, but rarely does the opportunity arise for the mushers themselves to also take advantage of this 50/50 break in time that the canine athletes enjoy.

You just dont think about sleeping, Seavey said. There are too many other things to worry about than sleeping. If you get too comfortable, you cant stay in front with everybody.