We had an incredible experience at the 2013 IPSSSDR, finishing in 4th place just 12 minutes behind the Streeper B team. We were very fortunate that everything came together and left us an issue free race. My friend Justin came from Oregon to help me with the race and did a great job. We split up the responsibilities and did our part to make it a really fun experience. Every day seemed easy, except all the running and kicking behind the sled. By the end of the week other mushers were asking Justin about his availability. The new trailer made every day a relaxing event, always having a warm place to hang out, change clothes, cook food, wax runners, take care of dogs. Free dropping the dogs was essential to a competitive performance and also made for way less back breaking work. I was fortunate to have exposed the dogs to all of the conditions we encountered in this year's race (although not as extreme as Kemmerer) and I think that helped us run an injury free race. All 16 dogs ran on the last day - the 4 who didn't race ran in the junior team. The team finished 2nd on the last stage. We were in the same position as Bud needing to make up a lot of time to improve our positions, so ran full strings to the 1st and 3rd fastest ever times on that leg of the race. Unfortunately we only made about a third the time needed to move up a place. It was fun running fresh fast 12 dog teams in the last three stages of the race. Kryptonite, my 8 year old 65 pound dog whose been with me forever led three stages to forth place finishes including the crazy Kemmerer stage. We had a front row seat to a great competition between Aaron and Bud, with a team besting the Streepers for the first time at IPSSSDR. I even had dinner with the Streeper crew the night before the last stage. Participating in this race give you great access to some of the greatest mushers in the sport and huge opportunities to learn. I competed head to head with the father son Kornmuller team. I look forward to racing Bill and drinking beer with Will over the next couple months in Canada. I got a lot of cheering on and support from fellow mushers as I passed each day, then they would caution me to chill and keep doing what I'm doing.