HUMAN

Name: Amanda Johnson
Age: over 40.
Residence: Wasilla, Alaska. 
Occupation: I’m a paraeducator in a special education classroom.
Years involved with Iditarod: This year, 2020, I am 15 years.
Iditarod Role: My role today is security at 4th and G.
Current Location: Downtown, Anchorage, Alaska. 
Date of Photo: March 7, 2020
Temperature: 18F/Outdoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I got involved with Iditarod when I flew up here February 27th. It was a Thursday, my sister’s birthday, and she signed us up for the Iditarod that started that Saturday on the 1st. Got into this because I lived in the UP, and I would always see the UP200 going through Marquette and watching them make the corner down at the bottom of the hill. And that was something for me that was always memorable, and I always had this dream of running the Iditarod.

What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

I am here today and involved with Iditarod because the people that come here and the questions and just the endurance and everything that the mushers go through that gives me the desire to keep coming back.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable experiences was here at the corner of 4th and G in downtown Anchorage. A woman came up, and she didn’t have an armband on. I said, “Ma’am, the road is closed. You need to exit the street.” She turns around and she said, “You would think that the first woman ever to win this race would be grandfathered in and wouldn’t have to carry a badge.”

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is, is that it is an adventure. Every day I wake up, which is a blessing in itself, and just being able to open my eyes and see the color and hear the birds and have my son and guide him through life. That is an adventure.