I first became involved with Iditarod in 2009. I was dog handling for Linwood Fiedler, helped him out, helped him train his puppy team, and I helped him at the ceremonial start and the official race start of Iditarod 2009.

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

I am a rookie musher for Iditarod 2023. It’s been a dream of mine since I was nine years old, and I’m here to finish the Iditarod, not here to win, but to finish with a happy, healthy dog team.

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

My most memorable Iditarod experience, in 2009 I was helping train Linwood Fiedler’s puppy team. He had left out 30 minutes before me on the trail about two weeks before Iditarod, and he got attacked by a moose and it kept coming back and attacking his team and he ended up having to shoot it. And I came and I didn’t know this had happened, and 30 minutes later I came up upon the moose carcass and realized that Linwood had been attacked. We finished our run, came back with a snow machine, gutted the moose, brought it to the trailhead, and then Fish and Game was alerted and they got the next person on the list to come salvage the meat for those who were needing groceries.

What in life do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is that this is a journey that we’re all writing our own adventure stories and we’re trying to write the best story we can in our life. And that’s part of why I’m running Iditarod, just trying to live life as maximally as I can.