Finally...a Sympathizer

Hello and welcome to the U.P. 200 & Midnight Run Sled Dog Races!

Allow me to officially begin the welcoming process! I am Breakaway, your race reporter for this year. I maintain this Dog Blog to keep my smaller humans informed on race updates. I also like to impress the chicks.

I received a message from a friend who has been reading my Blog, particularly my trials and tribulations with my brother Blueline who is responsible for my head injury. Tim had some encouraging words for me and I want to share them with you:

I feel your pain Breakaway. I also have experienced the humiliation of no hair - at least on my head. It makes winter a challenge as you can see from the the attached picture. Of course the kilt doesn't help either.

Your friend Tim Eichinger.

Well, Tim even sent in a picture. Here it is:

I must admit that I seem to attract some of the most original people who email me.

Now let me make sure that I remind you to keep your fingers crossed that all the dogs who are even now making their way across the country in dog trucks heading up here for the races all arrive safe and sound. Their mushers, too. The Race HQ opened today and Ikey, the HQ Coordinator is on duty now. Things are really going to start heating up now!

I'll keep you posted -

Breakaway

My Grandpaw

WoooHooooo!

Got an email from Grandpaw, here it is:

Dear Breakaway, This is your grandpaw from North Carolina. I really like your comments about Blueline. I only believed half of it. Have a good time. Grandpaw

It is a good thing that on the day Blueline and I played ball, our friend Paulita was there with her camera. Paulita is the race photographer. She takes very good pictures of dogs. Here are several (all of me of course) that show you how we dogs can play ball too.

This is me making a touchdown. (See the look on Blueline's face!) . Of course several of my fans were there to congratulate me (high-five) on making this fabulous run. Paulita did take several pictures that should prove to Grandpaw that my reporting is strictly professional. Us reporters can get in a lot of trouble if we happen to write something that didn't happen or isn't true. Here's another picture of me waiting to catch the ball. This game is all right, but I still don't know how Feely manages to do it all the time. Maybe during the races he can explain that to me.

Well, time is getting close to the races and we've had some changes in the lineup for the Midnight Run. Several of our dog teams have had to drop out of that race. Not sure why. We still have 48 teams registered in the race - that's 384 dogs pulling sleds. If you get a chance to make it to Gwinn on Friday night, be sure and get down there about 5:30 pm to see all the dog trucks and teams anxiously awaiting their turn at the start. For more information on Gwinn, contact the Chamber of Commerce out that way. They have a website (but not a blog) at www.gwinnmi.com.

I think Ikey still has some more of those plush puppies if you still don't have one. You can order them right on line or pick them up at the HQ during the race. I'm looking forward to meeting each of you - see you soon!

Here's a picture of my shaved head. I was just minding my own business and holding the ball something like this when this accident happened. From now on I won't hold the ball for Blueline to try kicking anymore.

Your pal and injured football player,

Breakaway
P.S. You can email me anytime at Breakaway@up200.org.