Graveyard of Dreams part 2

I finally got to read Carig Medred’s book and it has caused me to do lot of soul searching about my motives for running the race.

Craig is a friend of mine.  His background is reporting and I believe that he honestly and sympathetically reported the stories the mushers involved told him.  I get mentioned and he has all the important facts correct.  So what is it about this basic “Graveyard of Dreams” idea that bothers me so?

Craig leads off with Lance Mackey’s story.  A true “underdog overcomes tremendous obstacles to achieve incredible success” story if there ever was one.  Danny Seavey was a rookie with Lance in 2001.  He tells me that Lance’s skills and organization were so poor the other rookies voted Lance the musher “most likely to die on the trail”.  Then he adds “look where Lance has gone since then.”  Instead of killing Lance’s dream, his bout with cancer, the Iditarod, and his dogs honed him into a worldwide success story and inspiration to us all.

Look at Martin Buser.  He is another musher that started on a shoestring and sacrificed much to continue to run Iditarod.  It took Martin 9 races before he finally won.  Now look at him.  How about Dee Dee Jonrowe?  She has run 28 races and never won.  She scratched twice – the race video shows her in tears in 1999 when her team quit on the Yukon River.  Yet Dee Dee is the one of the best known and most respected people in entire state of Alaska.  Look at Karen Ramstead.  Karen has never been competitive and never will be, but she in known and respected wherever mushers, Siberian fanciers, and Iditarod fans gather.

Jeff King said the Iditarod reveals your very soul.  It forces you to look deep inside yourself and see what is truly important to you and what isn’t.  St. Thomas Aquinas says “The magnanimous person has the courage to seek out what is great and become worthy of it.”  I believe that Iditarod takes ordinary people, and tests them in fire.  It forces them to look deep inside themselves and decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals.  Those that are willing to keep trying and pay the price are transformed into heroes, inspirations, and role models to inspire the rest of us to chase our own dreams and goals.

Gold is tested in fire to burn off the dross and reveal the beauty underneath.  That is not an easy or pleasant process to go through, but that is what I believe Iditarod does for those who love it.

Eric