Lightning is the only "adult" in the kennel who did not race with me last year. During the holidays this past winter, we got 10-12 + inches of snow per day. We were slogging. On Christmas day, we ran 18 miles before we saw a single soul. When the first snowmobile caught and passed us, we were breaking trail in about 18 inches of untracked snow. That was the day that I decided that we are going to run the Yukon Quest next year. Our 36 mile run took almost 7 hours.The next day, when we took off, Lightning was struggling to keep up. I stopped and left him home. Although I could never pin point why he couldn't keep up, Lightning got a month off. When we returned from the Siskiyou, Lightning joined back in and never wavered at the 35 mile runs we were doing. Although he had very few miles this winter, he remained amazingly muscular and had recovery times equaling or exceeding the rest of the team.
Lightning is the first to bark, whether for food, attention, running, or just to bark. He is a great athlete and never gets tired. I may never know why he struggled this year, but I expect it has a lot to do with his age. Next year as a two year old, I expect he will fair much better and won't be surprised if he not only makes the Quest team, but runs a good portion of it in the front of the team.
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