8th Place The Midnight Run was one of my most exciting racing experiences. Starting at dusk with 36 teams in Gwinn, we raced along the highway, along a railroad grade, and over Marquette Mountain, passing and being passed. The intensity at the start and the challenging terrain made for some death defying experiences in the first half of the first leg. In the last 10 miles to Deerton, there were probably 1000 spectators hanging out along the trail with bon fires, christmas lights, and a few big parties. Most had musher lists and would call out your name and cheer you on as you ran by. At the checkpoint, it was pretty intense looking over the musher board with so many other competitors, comparing yourself with your competition and seeing where the leaders were. The second leg was calm and quiet, starting in the dark and slowly turing to dawn. We ran up and down small hills through the trees, across a lake or swamp, through narrow winding trails through the trees barely wide enough for a snowmobile (the leaders of my 6 dog team would often be a turn ahead of me), then down a road to the finish. The dogs finished strong and happy with the second fastest time on the second leg. Special thanks to my host family Karen and Peter, my number one handler Linda, and my Dad Larry for helping make this such a great experience.