It was a beautiful moonlit night for the first 45 mile leg of the race to Chatham, so bright and beautiful! Most of the trail was soft and slower due to all the snowfall received the day before. It just doesn't seem to want to stop snowing this year!!! My team has been slow every time we run that flat/straight 17 miles of snowmobile trail leaving Marquette and this time returning the same way... It is my least favorite part too, I really really missed finishing in Munising as I LOVED that 2nd leg, it was my favorite of the whole race, so fun, beautiful, curvy and interesting:) The team did pick up the pace once we got off the flat straight part... after the 5 1/2 hour rest at the checkpoint where we were in 11th place after the first leg, we were able to catch and pass 3 teams on the 2nd 45 mile leg. (one team that was ahead of us scratched) On the flat straight stretch my good friend Leanne eventually caught back up to me and we ran together for a ways, my team leading most of the way. I let her by as we were coming into Marquette and then there was no room to pass in no mans land so I just followed her in finishing in two seconds behind her in 8th place with another team right on our tail... we were all three seconds apart:) Though I enjoyed running together those last few miles with my friend, I really hope my next race finish is not seconds apart lol:) Missed having two of my main powerhouses on the team but they were home healing up from minor injuries so they will be ready for Copper Dog.