Well, folks… I cannot postpone the inevitable any longer.  It is time for this Mad Blogger to drop the mic on Iditarod 2024. First off, I would like to thank The Academy… whoops!  Wrong blog (kidding… just kidding). Eh-hem ~ First off, on behalf of Seeing Double, I would like to thank all of the Iditarod race personnel - officials, organizers, technical staff, trail breakers, Iditarod Air Force, all volunteers, villagers, and especially the veterinarians.  We know all of the hard work that goes into making this event a reality, and we know you guys do all of this hard work.&nb ..read more

If you read most of The Blog posts from this year, you ran across songs on the Seeing Double Iditarod 2024 Playlist.  Here is the final compilation... Prelude ~ Crazy by Gnarles Barkley. Main Event ~ Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man. Add It Up by The Violent Femmes. Centerfield by John Fogarty. Keep On by Portugal. The Man. Jump by Van Halen. Nite Becomes Day by Citizen Cope. On the Road Again by Willie Nelson. When the Night Feels My Song by Bedouin Soundclash. Down By the River by Milky Chance. Country Roads by The Black Tartan Clan. Beautiful Day by U2. Running’ Down A Dream by Tom ..read more

Our mom and this Mad Blogger got a great phone call from Anna on Sunday afternoon before the banquet and in between meetings and meet-n-greets.  She sounded great, but perhaps with a little scratch in her voice after talking more in the last four days than she had in the prior ten. Anna first thanked us for the “Nome bag”, a collection of goodies that mom and I put together and Kristy shuttled to Nome.  Sounds like candy, face lotion, and drink mixes (Powerade and several others) were the first things she raided. She then walked us through the entire race.  I took frantic no ..read more

If you were watching Anna’s GPS tracker, intent on seeing her and the dogs into Nome, am I right when I say those last couple of miles were the longest miles ever?  They were worse than football minutes… when there’s three and a half minutes on the clock, but 37 minutes and another beer later, you’re still in front of the tv?!  I think those were some of the longer miles I have armchair mushed as Seeing Double’s Mad Blogger. It was well worth the wait, though.  Sun shining, plumes of frosty breath coming from fans lining the chute, my app reported -1F in Nome with only a light ..read more

Seeing Double fans seem to hail from all over the place, so I don’t know what exactly the weather has been like where you’re at, but I hope it’s been a beautiful day.  This Mad Blogger has been busy the last couple of days, and I promise you I haven’t just been sitting around enjoying the nice weather we have had in northern Wisconsin.  Regardless, I owe everyone a big update. (This is where you get comfortable, grab a beverage and a snack, maybe put your phone on silent…) There have bee several additional scratches from this year’s race, and, tragically, at least two dogs have die ..read more

Anna and her dogs were reported out of Galena (race mike 545) at 10:20pm Saturday night.  She pulled out with her 10-dog team after a little more than 5 hours of rest within checkpoint. Six hours, twenty-one minutes and thirty-seven miles later, Anna arrived in Nulato (race mile 582) at 5:41am early Sunday morning.  She remained in 24th place. I got a couple of quick texts before Anna left Nulato, and overall things seemed good.  She did report that she saw the thermometer strapped to the side of her sled hit 44F below zero overnight on the trail.  I can only imagine what ..read more

Anna and her dogs pulled into Galena (race mile 545) a little after 5pm on Saturday, March 9th.  She was reported in 24th place, a position she has been holding steadily for a while now. She did pull into Ruby overnight Friday into Saturday - 2:30am on Saturday, to be precise.  She and the dogs had spent 15 hours on the 70 miles of trail from Cripple to Ruby, part running, part resting.  I’m sure a touch of civilization was a welcome sight.  Ruby is also the first checkpoint on the Yukon River, so the fact that she opted to declare and take the 8 hour mandatory rest requir ..read more

Some people are early birds and some people are night owls. Iditarod mushers, despite any other natural inclinations, seem to have this uncanny ability to be both. Since the race started Sunday afternoon, these 38 individuals have basically been going non-stop.  Yes, they stop along the trail - in checkpoints or between them - to feed and rest their dogs.  And yes, nearly every musher by this point has taken a 24-hour mandatory rest and will have two more mandatory 8-hour rests before they reach Nome.  Most teams will spend about as much time resting as they do moving, in addit ..read more

Anna wrapped up her 24 and pulled out of the Ophir checkpoint (race mile 352) at 4:42pm Alaska time Thursday afternoon.  She was reported out in 22nd place with 10 dogs in front of her sled.  She only stayed 2 minutes more than strictly required by race rules, and I always take it as a good sign that she and her team were raring to hit the trail once again. I did get a couple of texts from Anna while she was 24'ing.  She's doing ok out there, but has admittedly shifted from racing mode to traveling mode.  She returned more dogs early in the race than she would have liked ..read more

I’ve already mentioned “24” in earlier posts, and I know returning fans are well aware of the reference.  For new fans, I’ll elaborate briefly (or as briefly as this Mad Blogger can).  Iditarod rules include mandated rests, one of which is a full 24 hours.  Plus “starting differential”.  Here’s one of the rare instances in which life is fair.  For a minute, or two. Teams leave the restart in 2 minute intervals.  Which gives Anna in bib #2 a 74 minute advantage over Wally Robinson in bib #39.  Bib numbers are pure luck of the draw, so to avoid unnecessarily p ..read more