And he’s off!  Mark left the Beargrease starting chute at 1:38pm donning bib #20.  He arrived at the first checkpoint, Highway 2, at 5:15 pm making the 35 mile run in about 3 hours and 37 minutes.

Tuscan and I are so excited we can barely sit still.  If all goes well Mark should be arriving in Beaver Bay (70 miles into the race) pretty soon!

“They’ve left us!” thought  Tuscan and I yesterday when Mark, Mary and the A-team were on their way down to Duluth for the start of the Beargrease.  Well Princess Tuscan was a little more vocal about it, but I was thinking the same thing.  Tuscan had a right to cry, she has been a member of a Beargrease team for many years, including leading Mark to his first place marathon finish in 2005.  But the race retired Princess is still Off the Beaten Path with me (Handler Tara a.k.a. Red Riding Hood), Steve, and the rest of the crew (JV team, Elbrus, the retired Old Men, two house dogs, and one silly kitty cat).

Nothing can stop Tuscan and I from dreaming about Mark and the Team hitting the trail tomorrow for the start of the Beargrease though.  Mark will be “pimpin” in his rigged sled.  I was fortunate enough to go with Mark on his last training run before the race a few days ago (on a sled behind his) and we rocked out to his new MP3 player and “speaker system” (speakers in a fanny pack strapped to his sled), but we didn’t get to try out the new lights he  mounted on.  Hope they work well, but if this beautiful moon keeps up he won’t even need them.  I got to ride his sled (behind an otter sled, which was behind Mark and Mary on the snowmobile, which was behind the dog team) out to the dog truck and I sure felt cool!

The Princess and I will be checking the race website every chance we get for updates and we’ll let you know what we find out!

There was a last minute change to the line-up; Wally is out and PJ is in. Don’t feel too bad for Wally as he is running the mid-distance race with Troy from 10 Squared Racing.

Here is the final line-up: Zena,Carstenz, Denali, Jango, Devil, Athena, Bree, Amber, Matty, Foreman, Scooter, Deuce, Trout and PJ.

Sorry Jack Wieben, Elbrus had to stay home as she’s suffering from a bout of the doggie stomach flu.

We’re off to the vet check soon then the drivers meeting and bib draw. If your downtown Duluth you’ll find us at the Sports Garden.

As I write Mark is packing up his clothes, then we’ll be heading out to feed dogs before breakfast before taking the first load of supplies down to the dog truck. I’m hopefully going to have a minute or two to get Tara trained in on how to get into the blog so she can keep everyone updated as to how the race is going. You can always log on to the Beargrease website at www.Beargrease.com for live updates and you can even subscribe to live webcasts.

Mark’s been training 16 dogs for the 14 that will race and will be leaving PJ out. Here are the 13 “for sures”:

Zena, Carstenz, Athena, Devil, Bree, Amber, Trout, Wally, Jango, Foreman, Denali, Deuce and Matty. However, he’s still waffling on the other dog to leave out and is waffling between leaving Scooter or Elbrus (sorry Jack)  at home. He’ll be making the final decision after feeding this morning so if I do get a chance to log-in tomorrow I’ll be sure to let everyone know. (Jack, I’ll e-mail your mom when we get to Duluth to let her know).

Well, it’s time to get dressed warm for chores. Of course it’s below zero as we’re off to the (as Tara calls it) The Brrrrr-grease!

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 2 minutes and 48 seconds longer than today!!!

Who would have thought that Mark announcing his retirement from the Beargrease Marathon would generate so much interest. Yesterday a reporter and photographer from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune made the trek to Off The Beaten Path to interview Mark (yep, the got the 12-mile round trip snowmobile ride). I guess there have been a few other folks that have called for interviews too but I’m not sure how many Mark wants to do since today he has to pick me up late this morning, have his final training run to pick which 14 out of the 16 that will race this weekend AND pack for the race.

Then there are the well-wishes from friends, family and fans. Yesterday, Mark and Black Magic Kennels got a Facebook message with video attached from Mike Dvorak. I’m sorry I can only post a link and I think you will only be able to view it if you have a Facebook account. (Click here to see the video). Some people…:-)

Then there are the people that are saying it’s a ploy…he’s “pulling a Favre” and he’ll be back next year. I’ve learned to never say never, but if I have anything to say about it…

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 2 minutes and 44 seconds longer than today!!!