HUMAN

Name: Jaimie Gleissner

Age: 35

Residence: Stebbins, Alaska

Occupation: Teacher

Years involved with the Iditarod: 1

Iditarod Roles: Volunteer

Current Location: Unalakleet, Alaska

Date of Photo: March 13, 2022

Temperature: 68F Indoors/ 6F Outdoors

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

I first got involved in the Iditarod, well, I saw it when I little kid back in Illinois, one of my school teachers did a project on it and I was like, “Wow, that’s really cool.” And then eight years ago, we came up to Stebbins to teach and we found out that the path goes through like every village except for ours in our school district. So, we lucked out this year and it fell on spring break and we could come up and visit our friend, and yeah, bring our two little kids to it. So, we’re really excited. This was something that I thought was really cool, like even as a kid and then I would kind of follow it every single year. And so, it was actually really cool. We’ve been watching at home and when they left, we were just like, well, I think, they might be through Unalakleet this weekend.Do you think we can do it? And we’re like, “Yeah, let’s go ahead. And let’s use our bearing points. Let’s get them on the plane.” And then our friend was like, “Yeah, you guys should sign up to help out.” And we were like, “Awesome. The kids are going to love it. We’re going to have a great time.” So, that’s why. Yeah. 

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

This was something that I thought was really cool, like even as a kid and then I would kind of follow it every single year. And so, it was actually really cool. We’ve been watching at home and when they left, we were just like, well, I think, they might be through Unalakleet this weekend.Do you think we can do it? And we’re like, “Yeah, let’s go ahead. And let’s use our Bering [Air} points. Let’s get them on the plane.” And then our friend was like, “Yeah, you guys should sign up to help out.” And we were like, “Awesome. The kids are going to love it. We’re going to have a great time.” 

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

So, this is my first time watching the event live, in the past we’ve watched the GPS and kind of just gotten to cheer from the couch, but last night it was super awesome watching Brent Sass come through, I’ve been kind of rooting for him since the first time he got disqualified for having his iPod. So, yeah, it was really, really cool to see him come through and to see the first place guy run through Unalakleet, so that’s really neat.

What in life do you know for sure?

The one thing I know for sure in life is that no matter what, good days, bad days, there’s always another day and there’s always another chance. And so, if you mess up one day, it’s okay, but also remember there might not be one day. So, you kind of got to do exactly what you want to do, when you want to do it, which is part of the reason why we decided to come up here and help out.