Get out and Mush!

Running the Mid Distance Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
Day 131, December 31, 2010
Team Buzzsaw / Stewart Taylor Printing

2 feet of snow in Arizona, 4 inches of rain in Minnesota, giant floods in Australia, tornado in Arkansas, 100 car pileup in Fargo.........a friend has a flesh eating disease, mom got a concussion and now a very close and dear relative has cancer. That was the news I got today...... before noon.

Some have wondered why I am doing this Beargrease race. As I have said before, there are numerous reasons. But if you were to add up all of the reasons and put them in a bag, it would be a bag full of..... life. Life is the reason. ....Living, experiencing, exploring the unknown, challenging myself, meeting people, loving animals, learning, ....Living. There is so much crap happening in and to our world right now that it seems out of control. Blame the weather on global warming, blame the kids attention span on video games, blame the cancer on food and water..... our lives are speeding by like a vicious storm only for us to get older and wonder, "where did the time go?"

HOW DO WE SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY IT? For me, mushing dogs slows life down to its simplest form. A physical task of hooking up dogs to a sled and then having them pull you through the snow is an easy way to hold onto a "natural" thing life has to offer. No TV, computer, cell phone, facebook, ipod, itouch, 3G, 4G, on demand movies, DVR, DVD, CD, GPS, text, twitter, blogs or emails. Stetson once told me about a "vision of clarity" he gets when he is behind a dog team for hours on end, helping your mind go free and remebering things like who you sat next to in 3rd grade or remebering playing with army men with your brothers in the back yard sand box.

"Today, burn your special candles, use your best sheets and wear your best shirt because TODAY is special". In other words, don't wait for tomorrow to do something special, do it today; tomorrow is not guaranteed. For me right now it's Get out and Mush......and live life.