NPR: Running the Iditarod: 350 Snowy Miles in Sneakers

Running the Iditarod: 350 Snowy Miles in Sneakers

Geoff Roes will haul his gear in this sled.

Courtesy of Geoff Roes

Geoff Roes lives in Alaska with his semi-famous girlfriend, Jill Homer, who's planning to bike the Iditarod. Jill has been blogging about her training for the 350-mile race through the Alaskan wilderness. It'll be a lonely trip, dark and cold and about as hard as a human can stand.

Geoff knows how scary the human-powered Iditarod must seem to Jill, because he's also in the race -- in the runners division. On today's show, we played a couple of clips from Geoff, who says he's planning to run in a pair of oversized sneakers with plenty of socks and a neoprene cover. He'll carry his gear in that sled you see up there, bought for a few bucks at the drugstore.

Geoff says he's most worried that Jill will get stuck in heavy snow and end up pushing her bike a great distance. As for himself, he's a little psyched out about the second-part of race -- about four days in -- when the competitors cross the Alaska Range and continue across a flat, frozen plain.

"You're in a completely new area that I've never even seen, other than in pictures, and it's generally about 30 degrees colder than the weather on the front side," he says.

Geoff Roes and Jill Homer share training runs.

Courtesy of Geoff Roes

Laura Conaway

9:31 AM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink

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