Fireside Books

Everyone who enters the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race wants to win. For a handful of the world's top mushers, blessed with special abilities to function in the debilitating world of sleep deprivation, winning is about being first to Nome. For others, success comes in joining the ranks of the Iditarod elite or progressing up the ladder toward the top. But for many, winning is about simply surviving the world's toughest race. Finishing is their only dream. Along the trail, they battle the full forces of Mother Nature. They confront personal demons. They put their dreams in the care of man's best friend.

This collection of stories is about them, the dogs they love and the land that is as raw as it is beautiful. The stories document their real life struggles, and what happens to each when they cash in everything to chase their dream of becoming an Iditarod musher. Woven into the fabric of the 2010 Iditarod Trails Sled Dog Race, the tales capture the travails of those who invested years of their lives and most of their money, then turned their hearts and sometimes their souls over to the Iditarod.