Difficult Day....but its all OK!

After hearing the news this am I was angry...upset...worried....and concerned.  Concerned that the 2 Mushers involved will be forever touched by this horrific experience....worried about the dogs that were injured (2 on Jeffs Team and 1 on Aliys Team), upset that some deranged person would do this, and angry that they carried out their vicious act.  This was criminal....as seen by the investigation now ongoing in Nulato.

But as Sebastian Schuenulle so rightly said "this is NOT Nulato...this is a bad person in Nulato".  The village itself is very supportive of the Race....as seen yesterday when Brent Sass arrived as the first Musher in the Checkpoint.  Also, you could hear Aliy say "I love this place....I just don't like that man".  We love you too Nulato....this incident just puts an ugly spot light on the fact that bad people can show up anywhere at any time....even during a race in a remote part of Alaska in the wee hours of the morning.
 So what are we to do....not race....not care....give up?  NO...we do what Aliy and Jeff did....we get right back in there!  I will admit, I retreated to my Shop and busied myself making cabinets today....I removed myself from the race....but just for a moment.  I am back now, with full Iditarod Race Coverage from the Adirondacks! But first I had to get this post out!  

As many of you saw at the Idita-Lunch I held a few weeks back, I was wearing my Sponsor Dog Chemo's race tags from his past races.....we love our Chemo Boy!!!  I typically have these in my display cabinet at home but during special occasions I wear them proudly!  Today, after hearing of the attack, and knowing Chemo was there to witness the whole thing I am once again wearing his tags and will wear them until the Team is safely under the Burled Arch in Nome!  It makes me feel closer to him and his Team Mates.  SPK has not released the name of the dog who was injured on her team....all I know is Chemo is still in there....still racing....and doing a hell of a job!!  My thoughts are with Chemo's injured Team Mate....SO glad it was not life threatening!