Every musher sets up a different schedule of running and resting for their team based on the age of the dogs, experience of the dogs and the musher, and the difficulty of the trail. We run day and night, it doesn’t matter. At night we use really bright headlamps so we can see the trail. A good schedule for young dogs or inexperienced mushers is “equal run and equal rest.” That usually means running for 6 to 8 hours, and then resting for 6 to 8 hours. Then running again for 6 to 8 hours, and resting again for 6 to 8 hours… And so on. A schedule for a very competitive team that wants to win is something more like running for 6 to 10 hours, but then resting for only 2 to 4 hours… Then running again for 6 to 10 hours, and resting for 2 to 4 hours… And so on. There are also some mandatory rests that are required on the trail, too, that all mushers must take. Everyone has to take two 8-hour rests and one 24-hour rest. This is a good time for us and our dogs to catch up on sleep, and for the veterinarians to look at our dogs and make sure everyone is happy and healthy. When we are resting, we are either camped on the side of the trail or in checkpoints. Checkpoints are usually small, remote villages which are mostly populated by Alaska Native people. In the village, mushers will usually sleep in churches or school gymnasiums! Usually school is cancelled when the mushers are in town because the kids are too distracted to pay attention in the classroom, haha When we rest on the trail instead of the checkpoint, we are just laying down in the straw with our dogs, or sleeping on top of our sleds. We have very warm sleeping bags and do not use tents. Tents do not provide any warmth, and they are just something extra and unnecessary to carry in the sled. In our sled we are really only carrying things that are crucial for survival – a cooker to melt snow into water, an axe to cut wood, booties for our dogs’ feed, and extra food and extra clothing for us and the dogs. When we are resting we spend our time feeding the dogs, stretching or massaging the dogs, feeding ourselves and sleeping. We also like to talk to other mushers and ask them how their race is going and how their dogs are doing. But mostly if we have free time during a rest period, we are trying to get some sleep!