This year was the eighth time that I have run the Iditarod. I was excited going into the race because the team was running consistently faster than I had ever done before, and I had a team that was free of any major injuries. At the ceremonial start, I used a large freight sled so that it would be easier to keep the dogs slowed down and so that I could look at the dogs closely to make my final pick. Picking the team was kind of hard, because sometimes as dogs get older the younger dogs are faster, but the older ones have trail experience and run steadier. So I did not make my final picks until Saturday night before the restart. The starting line up was: 1 Risk (Leader, Male, 3.5), 2 Bean (Leader, Male, 2.5), 3 Vince (Leader, Male, 2.5), 4 Backtrail (Leader, Female, 4.5), 5 Andretti (Leader, Female, 4.5), 6 Terese (Swing, Female, 4.5), 7Gordo (Swing, Male, 2.5), 8 Blazer (Team, Male, 3.5), 9 Coaster (Team, Female, 2.5), 10 Twister (Team, Female, 2.5), 11 Walker (Swing, Male, 5.5), 12 Muldoon (Wheel, Male, 4.5), 13 Gamble (Wheel, Male, 4.5), 14 Hunter (Wheel, Male, 4.5), 15 Brady (Team, Female, 2.5), and 16 Sherry (Team, Female, 6)

When I left the start, I kept the dogs slowed down to the speed that we had trained at. At the start of the race, the dogs are excited with all of the other dog teams around and if I don't control their speed, they will try to go to fast and that is when dogs can get hurt. Within a couple of hours, I had passed several teams even though I was keeping them slowed down. At Flathorn Lake, I passed Doug Swingley as he was starting to bed down his team, at the time I thought that it was sort of strange for him to be stopping there, but I was determined to stay on my schedule and run by my watch and not by what the other teams were doing. I would later find out that Doug was just going to run at a leisurely pace. My plan was to run approximately 5.5 hours and then rest for equal or greater time through the first ¾'s of the race. By maintaining a positive amount of rest to run ratio, my team would be able to maintain their speed.

By the time I reached Yentna, I was within 2 minutes of my plan. When I reach a checkpoint, I have a routine that I adhere to throughout the race, so that as the race draws on, and I start to become sleep deprived, I go through each task as if it was instinct. In this way I make sure that I care for the dogs as efficiently as possible so that they get quality rest and I optimize my time so that I can also get rest. The first thing that I do after I check into a checkpoint is to park the dogs and undo their back lines so that they know it is time to rest. Then I give them a small snack of either Annamaet dry food or an ice cube, which is a mixture of water and ground liver. I feel that this snack will help to stimulate their appetite so that when I have a warm meal prepared for them they will eat and drink better. Then I remove all of their booties and bed them down with straw. I then get my cooker going and heat water for their meal and ointment for their feet. While the water is coming to a boil, I chop up the meat and get the frozen food in a cooler, and then I take the warm ointment and get one of the veterinarians to go through each of the dogs with me to ensure that they are in good health. About halfway through the team I go pour the hot water over the food and put the lid on it so that it thaws out. Once the vet and I are through examing the dogs and caring for their medical needs their food is warm and I feed them. At this point, about 45 minutes have passed since I have arrived in the checkpoint and it is imperative that I let the dogs get as much undisturbed rest as possible. So then I go back and get more water heating up so that I can heat up food for myself and get another watering for the dogs ready so that I can give them more watery food about an hour before I leave on the next run. If there are any repairs that need to be done I do them at this point (i.e. changing runner plastic or sled repairs). Once I am done eating, prepping next watering, etc. it is time for me to get some sleep. If I am lucky, I will get anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours of sleep in a 5.5-hour stop. When I wake up I water the dogs, repack my sled, reboot the dogs and head on down the trail.

I think that the care that each musher gives to their team is critical to getting down the trail. There are several factors that go into the care of the dogs. They need to be fed a good diet, my team is fed Annamaet dry dog food and that is supplemented with a variety of meats and fish. The dogs will burn anywhere from 10 to 12,000 calories per day during the race. There are vets at each checkpoint to examine all of the dogs in our teams. They will help us diagnose any problems in the team. Sometimes the dogs may get a sore wrist, kind of like a basketball player spraining their ankle, and if you massage it with a liniment and then wrap it, the dog will usually continue on in the race. Sometimes the dogs may get an upset stomach and need medicine to help them get better. I also massage their feet at every stop; I feel that this helps the dogs to rest better. If at any time during the race a dog cannot continue on, I will drop them from my team. When a dog is dropped from a team, they are turned over to the care of the veterinarian and then flown back to Anchorage, where I have someone who is qualified to take care of and feed those dogs until I return from the end of the race.

Early in the race it is important to have patience and not get worried as teams go by when you are resting, they have to rest to at some point. So when I left Yentna, many teams had leapfrogged past me. On the way to Skwentna, I started to pass many of those teams, because we had more rest and speed. I am not sure of what position I was in when I went through Skwentna, but I just grabbed the supplies that I needed and kept going. I was running by my watch and I still had several hours to go on the run. I continued to pass teams on the way towards Finger Lake. I felt pretty confident that I had one of the fastest teams, but I kept reminding myself that I needed to stick to my schedule and not let the dogs run too fast. When we had been running for 5.5 hours I pulled the team over and parked them for the next rest. We had almost gone all the way to Finger Lake in two runs. After taking care of the dogs and getting a couple of hours of sleep in my sleeping bag I got up and started getting the dogs ready to go. A few mushers went by as I prepared to leave.

When I took off the dogs continued to move really well, I started to pass several of the teams that had passed by while I was stopped. I think that I realized that I hadn't been passed while I was moving on that run, and that was a real confidence builder as the team moved towards Rainy Pass. When I pulled into the checkpoint, I was over an hour ahead of my schedule. I was leery of pulling through even though I had been running for less than four hours and decided to stop for a rest in the heat of the day. I visited some with Charlie Boulding, Jon Little, Gerry Riley and others while resting there; I wasn't able to get much sleep since it was in the middle of the day. I think that I slept for only a half hour in the lodge, but I made myself lay there for a couple of hours because I knew that I had a tough run coming up going through the pass and then on into the burn.

The dogs continued to run well and fast when we left, and it only took us 3.5 hours to get to Rohn, where I once again got my stuff to go and continued on down the trail. There were only a few mushers into there in front of me, and I was the first one to head out. We were starting to get far enough into the race that the teams were starting to get spread out. I continued past Rohn until I got to a camp that Sean Sidelinger had set up. It took me just over 5.5hours from Rainy to get there. Sean had hot water for the mushers; I'm pretty sure that all of the teams that stopped there appreciated it; chores went faster and gave more time to sleep. I got a little worried while I was stopped there, because I started feeling nauseous and thought that I might be coming down with the flu bug. I was taking flu medicine though and by the time that I arrived in Nikolai I felt fine. One of my toes got cold when I was sleeping in my sleeping bag and when John Baker stopped to talk to me I was half asleep and started to tell him about my cold toe, so he proceeded to cover me up with the rest of my gear around my sled, not knowing what to do. I then woke up completely and once I started moving around doing my chores, it warmed right up.

The next couple of runs through Nikolai, McGrath, and on to Takotna were uneventful. I enjoyed a nice big breakfast of eggs and sausage when I got to Takotna and then went and got some sleep. I almost got too much sleep and didn't wake up until almost an hour past when I planned to get up. I almost panicked and stayed not knowing if I could get out on time. I really focused on my chores and was able to get out only a few minutes past when I had planned to.

The next run to Ophir, I think that I had the most doubts of my runs in the race. I had just almost overslept and then I had a couple of dogs that were a little bit stiff, Vince and Blazer. I had to haul them both into Ophir and that slowed me down. I was pretty much committed to going to Cripple so once I turned them over to the care of the vets, I got my stuff and headed on down the trail. Looking back I think that it was the best decision to go on from Takotna because with a 24 hour rest Vince and Blazer would have looked good going on the short run to Ophir, but I probably would of ended up hauling them fifty or more miles on the run to Cripple instead of just a couple to Ophir.

About three hours out of Ophir, I stopped for a planned break to water the dogs and a short rest before we went on to Cripple. A little later, Martin passed by me and I realized that he had the strategic advantage even though I was traveling close to the same speed. He had set up his runs so that he could go straight through, because he rested in Ophir instead of Takotna. John Baker and Dee Dee also passed by. I stayed there for a couple of hours before heading on. I passed by John, who was sleeping, and I came into Cripple in fourth place behind Martin, Linwood, and Dee Dee. I was about 2.5 hours behind Martin. I had gained time on both Linwood and Dee Dee. It was exciting to be this far into the race and be in the hunt. The Cripple checkpoint consisted of several tents. It was quiet and a good place for the dogs to rest. I dropped Sherry out of the team because she was a little tired out and I had to carry her in the sled for about 40 miles. After we had been there for about 12 hours I took all of the dogs for a walk to check for any signs of stiffness that may not have been apparent when we first arrived. Everyone looked fine, but I rubbed them down again before giving another feeding and then heading off to get some more sleep myself. The twenty-four hour rest is good, because it gives the mushers and the dogs plenty of time to recover and some time to visit with other mushers before heading back down the trail. Near the end of our layover, many of the teams that had taken their layovers further back down the trail started to arrive along with others that hadn't, it was starting to be apparent which teams we would be racing with to the end.

When we left there the dogs went out good. I kept them slowed down for the first hour and then let them start to travel. Once they were warmed up they started to roll. It was an incredible feeling to have a team moving like that and before long I passed Jim Lanier and Bill Cotter, both were going on to Ruby to take their 24-hour layovers. I had left about an hour and a half behind Dee Dee and Linwood, so I didn't expect to catch them on that run. But before long I saw a light in front of me and it was Linwood and then not long after I passed him I started to see another light ahead of me and it was Dee Dee. The run took me only eight hours and Martin was the only team that was in front of me. I knew that if I was going to have a chance at beating Martin I had to stick to my game plan and not cut rest. I declared my eight-hour layover in Ruby.

When I left Ruby, it was strange to see mushers like Jeff King just getting their chores done as I pulled out. Many of the teams that were several hours behind were teams that I had expected to be near the front battling it out for first. There was a slight breeze as we headed down the river and slight drifts on the trail that made going seem a little slow. I stuck to my plan and went through Galena and on to Bishop Rock. Martin was camped there and I went a ways past him before camping. Dee Dee came along after I was done with chores and sleeping. Martin took off a little while later; I was chilled and took a little while to wake up good. When Dee Dee was done with her chores we visited for a while and shared some cookies. I stuck to my rest schedule because I didn't want to slow down and lose any more time to Martin.

The run into Nulato was uneventful, but as I pulled out back onto the river, I had three close calls with snow machines in the early morning light. I was getting tired as we neared Kaltag and was glad to pull into the village. I immediately started my chores, and I said hi to Martin as he headed inside for some sleep. After the chores were done I went into the building designated for mushers to sleep in, hung my gear up to dry and warmed some food in the microwave. John Baker pulled in and he was a lot closer than I figured, I asked Mark Nordman if he had taken his eight-hour yet and he indicated that he had. Being sleepy, I was baffled how he could have made up so much time. I decided that I was too tired to worry about it and if he was moving that fast there wasn't anything that I could do about it. When I woke up and started getting ready to go, Mark came up and told me that John hadn't taken his eight. That made more sense of the times and I regained the confidence of where I was in the race. I felt at that point in the race that I had a solid hold on second with a chance to get first if things went my way and I didn't make any major blunders between there and Nome. There were predictions of fifty mile an hour winds all the way up the coast though, so I knew a lot could happen between there and Nome. I decided to drop Backtrail, because she was sore in her front end and I didn't feel that she would warm up out of it. It was a long run to Unalakleet and I didn't want to be hauling a dog all that way tiring out the other dogs. It made me a little nervous also, because I was down to three gee haw leaders and both Risk and Bean are fairly young and I wasn't sure how they would do in the high winds on the coast.

The run went smoothly and the dogs were moving really well. The wind started to pick up the closer we got to Old Women Cabin. I had Risk in single lead to give Bean a break. We stopped briefly a couple of times to give the dogs a snack. The trail was marked really well until we got to the river going into Unalakleet. I was really grateful for the experience of being over that section of trail several times so that I could find my way into the checkpoint. The wind was really howling now and I was thinking that it might be a long tough run up the coast. There were burms set up so that we could get the dogs out of the wind and let them rest better. I got the dogs taken care of and then got myself something to eat and drink. I joked with Martin up at the checkpoint building about how ten years ago he had told me I would have to travel with him and that now I was taking him up on it. We talked for a few minutes about how important it is to run your own race and your team according to how you've trained before I headed off to get some sleep.

I think I left around 2.5 to 3 hours behind him, my run and rest was similar and he wasn't pulling away. The wind was still howling when I left. I have never seen it blow so hard through the Blueberry Hills and I was really thinking it could be a long run to Nome. I had Risk and Bean in lead together and was impressed with how well they were doing in the winds. To my surprise, as we came out of the hills the wind started to die down. By the time that I got to Shaktoolik it had almost subsided entirely. The dogs rested there in the afternoon sun. I went and got a short nap. When I got up I looked at the times and realized that I had come across from Unalakleet faster than Martin, I still held out hope of catching him. The next run though he ran a little faster than I did and the gap stayed fairly consistent. My mom and Greg were in Koyuk working on the website and I visited with them briefly then got some sleep.

My plan all along when I left Koyuk was to go through Elim and stop at the shelter cabin to give the dogs a wet feeding. The only hitch was that I had hoped that I wouldn't have any teams in front of me at this point. But as it worked out, Martin was and it was my last real hope of closing the gap on him. I knew that I probably couldn't stay with him after he rested in Elim, but I figured I could put some pressure on him and if he made any mistakes I would be close enough to try and take advantage of it. We slowed once we got onto Golivin Bay, but they were still moving steady. Once we went through Golivin, Muldoon started to limp slightly.

I was ready for the eight-hour rest when we reached White Mountain. Martin came over and gave me a hug and asked how it felt to be running up there. We had talked about how after his second place finish in '91, he got his first win, maybe my first win will come after a 2nd place finish too. I took care of the dogs and really massaged Muldoon to try and work out the muscle that seemed to be sore. I think that is when I realized that the two small clouds that were in the sky were the first that I had seen since the start of the race. After a good sleep I got something to drink and saw that my lead over John Baker was around five hours and then I went to get the dogs ready for the last leg into Nome. I was ready to get there and see the girls and Cathy. I got the dogs bootied and massaged Muldoon again, but he seemed stiffer so I walked him around to try and warm him up. After walking him I wasn't comfortable with taking him further so I dropped him.

The run through the Topkok Hills was uneventful. We checked into and out of Safety at daybreak. As we left I think that I got to witness one of the most incredible sunrises that I have ever seen as we climbed over Cape Nome and then headed on into town. The whole trail had been incredible until we reached the last mile. Front Street didn't have any snow on it and it felt like it was the longest mile of the whole trail. It was a great feeling to reach the burled arch beating the old record and recording the second fastest Iditarod in history of 9Days 0Hours 49Minutes and 18Seconds. Family, friends and sponsors met me at the finish line. It felt good to hug Cathy and the girls and then to have sponsors like Carl Marrs (CIRI) and Carl Brady (Brady & Company) there to meet me and share the finish with me. My mom and Greg were there all along the way to bring the race to you via the Internet. It was a great race and I just want to say thank you to all the fans, sponsors, family, and friends that are a part of our team, I couldn't have done it without you. I think that I learned a lot about the strategy that I ran this year and look forward to improving it for next year's race.

Thank You,

Ramy