Tahquamenon 2009 Ana and my niece Maddie after the race with Larry's team. We both ran the 8 dog Pro 43 mile race

My team finishing a very strong 3rd place out of 19 teams!!!!!!

Larry's team also finishing a very strong 7th place out of 19 teams!!!

Getting ready for the race

More getting ready, lots of preparation before the race starts

My team 5 miles out at the first road crossing.

My team on the way back, the last 5 miles. They really picked up the pace after the road crossing and finished strong! I was so proud of them!

Larry's team the last 5 miles. Notice Larry isn't wearing his hat. This part was just after a TON of hills and soft trail. His team did super and finished strong also.

Me with my main leader "Zoey" and my 3rd place trophy. Zoey was spectacular!

Me accepting my trophy at the awards banquet and getting my check for $500!! That is the most I've ever won and the best I've ever placed in a pro class race.

Larry accepting his check for $225 at the awards banquet! We paid for our trip and a month's worth of Redpaw dog food with our winnings.

We just had a super time this weekend. The weather was perfect, we saw so many of our friends and the dogs were fantastic. We both had great races. Larry started the race 7 minutes before me. It took me 25 miles to catch Larry's team. They were really cooking along and doing very well when I caught them. He had Tefa & Odessa in lead, Jersey and Lilly ran in swing, Eddie & Dana (a yearling) in team, and Liddell and Franklin (yearlings) in wheel. Jersey ran lead the last 5 miles afer Tefa wanted to go slower up there. She really did great and picked up his pace. His team finished very strong! My team was Zoey & Cowgirl in lead, Prophet & Fender in swing, Boston & George (a yearling) in team, and Gibson & Jackson in wheel. I was so proud of my team. The last 5 miles I gave them the going home command and they dug in and gave me everything they had. They looked great and loped across the finish line. So, looks like all that hard work paid off. December was a tough month of training, but it was worth it. Next on the racing calendar is the Beargrease 150 in 2 weeks in Duluth, Minnesota. This is three 40+ mile legs with 2 checkpoints. I still have to decide for sure the 8 dogs that I will be taking with me. There is a ton of very big hills there, so I will be taking my hardest working dogs with the best endurance.