I ran my first and only, so far, Yukon Quest in 2005, making quite a few mistakes but still having a pretty good run. Even my team’s melt-down on Eagle Summit is a pretty fond memory, mainly because I dealt with my own failings and got the dogs moving again. It was raw and real and I learned a lot. The other day, a friend e-mailed with a few questions as they consider running as a rookie in 2009. Here’s a look at what they asked and what I said back…

Q: When you made the 200 mile push to Dawson, how many times did you camp in that section of trail?

I took off from Pelly Crossing with the heaviest sled I’ve ever had. It creaked and groaned like an old wooden ship. But I needed every ounce of that dog food. Don’t skimp. We had a good year that year with easy trails and temps about 0 F. I went past Stepping Stone for another hour or two, and just pulled over on a hilly trail. It made for about a six or seven hour run because we weren’t running fast. If I’d gone just a little farther, there was a nice little pullout down in a valley on the right side of the trail, which even had some firewood. Then I made a mistake. I meant to run straight to Scroggie, which would have taken me seven hours. That would have been fine. But Scroggie is just a cabin at the side of Stewart River and I was used to seeing Iditarod checkpoints. I didn’t think that cabin could be the dog drop, and went another two hours looking for it, winding up with a nine hour run. (That seemed long to me at the time, but these days, it’s almost expected, even on a first leg of a long-distance race.)

Long story short, I would go about seven hours out of Pelly, camp, then six or seven hours down to Scoggie, camp, then six or seven hours, camp, then six or seven hours to Dawson. It breaks the runs down into doable chunks. But I’m way too conservative.

If the trail is bad, you’ll have to punt and you’ll need an extra camp or to run longer. I don’t think the trail could be much faster than the year I ran it. Lots of hills, but nothing severe until you are about four or five hours BEYOND Scroggie. Then you get into the Black Hills. But that is mostly wide trail. Look out for overflow water at the bottoms of all the hills where there’s been lots of gold mining. Old mining camps everywhere.

Q: How many times did you camp vs rest in checkpoints and why? Would you do it that way again?

I can’t remember exactly, but I went with what was best for the dogs, and the weather allowed me to do that. If it is really cold, I would pull over regardless of schedule if there is a cabin or checkpoint available. I’ve never heard a happy story from anyone who’s camped on the trail at 50 below.

But, for example, the trail from Braeburn to Carmacks takes about eight hours on a good year. Or it took that long in 2005. Being a rookie, I thought it would take me 10 hours, and camped on a lake about five hours into the run. Then after three hours to Carmacks, I finally figured out I better grab some fuel, dog food and straw and keep going. I went another three hours and camped on the trail. That made for about a six or seven hour run down to Pelly Crossing. That’s a good early race campout to do, breaks the runs into sensible chunks rather than eight or nine hour marathons so early in the race. Then again, I am way too conservative.

The only other checkpoint I skipped was Circle because it interfered with the schedule I had my dogs on. Again, the weather was mild, so it was not an issue.

Q: What was the most challenging aspect of this race for you, and how did you contend with it?

It wasn’t the loneliness. That bugs a lot of people but I like being on the trail with my dogs. It is difficult, though, after a while dealing with so few checkpoints. By the time you’re done with 200 miles to Dawson, 150 to Eagle and 150 to Circle, you are fed up and ready for a warm room and a change of socks. Eagle Summit and Rosebud are tough, mentally, on the dogs. Be ready to get out there and BE the lead dog if necessary. Those hills are steep and above treeline, so wind and weather can be ugly. It was a good year for weather in 2005, and still my team quit on Eagle summit.