Description: "The Last Great Race on Earth" has a starting line, but that line seemed a long way from where I was standing; surrounded by a howling pack of grungy mutts in a warm and muddy mountain valley. The scene was yelping chaos as Matt Hayashida's favorite collection of dogs were harnessed and attached to a metal-go-cart contraption. Eight people piled onto the buggy. I couldn't imagine the train of canines moving this unwieldy apparatus with any sort of energy, but Matt recommended I hold on tight. "Once they start it's hard to wind 'em down," Matt had mentioned earlier. And when the shouting of "Git it! Git It! Git it!" sent the dogs flying forward, imagining the Iditarod starting line in Anchorage suddenly became a whole lot easier!

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