Sunday was a much better chance to see how the dogs would do
without interference…meaning having to pass someone that wouldn’t let you get
away from them (when you had already beat them by the 2 minute interval that
you started with, by the time you made contact with the slower team). So we didn’t think he would have to pass
anybody because the team in front of him didn’t race (we don’t know why…) so
there was 4 minutes between Randy and the team running ahead of him------AND TA
DA DA DAAAAAA!!! He caught that team!!!!
He also saw Claude on the trail (Randy going out and Claude coming home
on the trail) untangling dogs… If we
look at the times from Saturday and Sunday and imagine what place he could have
been in had he not had the trouble passing it looks like he could have done as
well as 4th or 5th!!!
So he was ectastic!!!! Most all
of the 14 dogs he took ran well – Soldier and Noah worked so hard in the
beginning of the 13 miles that they were pretty whipped by the end and the 2
girls in the team (Swix and Trix – couldn’t make that one up if I tried………..)
didn’t look like they were pulling very hard but all the rest looked good all
the way – Randy believes it has a lot to do with training in the UP for those 3
months and getting about 800 miles on them before we came to Quebec –so they
have some “bottom” in them and are still in good shape. We are also pleased with how good their feet
are – only 3 dogs with very small fissures (little separation cuts in the
webbing of there feet where they spread out – especially in soft snow) – we
believe that is because we use the Zeus Juice (a special blend of oils) on
their feet when they run on less than hard trails and, having been in the UP,
where their circles were on essentially beach sand for 3 months. Jim Oehlschlaeger
told us that his dog’s feet were toughened up because of the sand in the
circles when we were up there and we are believing it’s true. So next week the race is at Mt. Gosford and
is called “Woburn”. Randy doesn’t
ususally like the trail there because it is so hilly but I think he is pretty
“amped up” and eager to race!!!!
Today we went shopping – hadn’t been in 2 weeks! In fact last week we didn’t go anywhere!!!
So first we went to Canadian Tire (in Shawinigan, about 12
miles from here) and bought more dog biscuits – I have gone through a box of
400 in 2 weeks – and that is breaking them in half!!! The $15 is worth it though because it makes
it a lot easier on my body to have them excited to get back in their house! Then to Walmart and spent $180 on pretty
expensive food because it’s in Canadian dollars – then to the SAQ which is like
Quebec’s liquor control commission to get some wine (for my back of
course……). It’s twice as expensive here
as it is in Michigan! Then to Rona to
get more LP tanks filled up and then to the place we bought the generator from
– because twice over the last week it had quit producing electricity even
though the engine was still running – so we had to use our little Honda
generator as our back up – the reason we bought the exact one we did up here
was because it is an electric start so Randy doesn’t have to further hurt his
old shoulder injury. They were very good
about it after we explained why it couldn’t be us trying to use more watts than
the generator could “generate”. We even
talked to the main office of the manufacturer and finally they decided that the
rotor and stator?? Got demagnetized and they would give us a new generator!!!!
Tomorrow maybe training since Hermel (Claude’s kennel hand)
went out with the groomer tonite. We
need to be training all the dogs that didn’t race this weekend so they don’t
get out of shape. It’s done snowing (got
about 5 inches last nite and awakened by the sound of Claude’s business’ loader
starting to plow the drive around us.) and getting much colder so bundle up for
the drop tonite!!!
The church in Charette - very typical of all the little towns' churchesRandy picking up his very well deserved winnings!!!!!
1 comment:
What a fantastic weekend!! I hope the temps don't drop too much and you get some good training in this week. :)
Love you!
A
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