EDMONDS, Washington (STPNS) -- Try to imagine what it feels like to run a dog sled over 1,100 miles in a race, in blowing snow and sub zero temperatures.

Better yet, hear Edmonds’ own Jan Steves tell her story of running the 2012 Iditarod on Saturday, June 2, at the Edmonds Theatre, 415 Main St., Edmonds.

You’ll hear “Tales from the Trail”… growling moose, open water, dragging through overflow, and temperatures to -50 degrees during the 10-11:30 a.m. presentation.

Steves, 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race veteran and a longtime resident here (’74 graduate of EHS), is living her dream, and she’d love to tell you about it.  



She is only the second woman from Washington state to have completed the Iditarod.

She started in 2008, training in Plain, Wash., and ran her first race, the Cascade Quest.  

For the past four winters she has been training in Willow, Alaska, and completed 200- and 300-mile races, along with other shorter races.

On Feb. 19, 2011, Steves participated in the Col. Norman Vaughan Serum Run “25.”  It was a 22-day expedition of 800 miles from Nenana to Nome, commemorating the actual serum run that took place in 1925.  

There was a diphtheria outbreak in Nome, Alaska, that year, and the only way to get the lifesaving serum to Nome was by dog team.  Twenty courageous men and their dogs relayed the serum from Nenana to Nome.  

The “Serum Run” was an experience of a lifetime for Steves, “traveling from village to village across the beauty and vastness of the Alaska interior with my team of 12 incredible dogs,” as she puts it.

Steves officially signed up for Iditarod 2012 four months later in June 2011.  

In September, she began training in Willow, preparing herself and her team to participate in the famous race.  

Steves said, “Jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast make this a race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.”  

It has been called the “Last Great Race on Earth” and has won worldwide acclaim and interest.  

German, Spanish, British, Japanese and American film crews have covered the event.  

Journalists from outdoor magazines, adventure magazines, newspapers and wire services flock to Anchorage and Nome to capture the excitement.    

Being a musher in the Iditarod brings worldwide exposure.  

But you can hear about it first hand, in the comfort of the Edmonds Theatre.

Tickets are limited. Call 425-771-8303 ext. 298 today to reserve a seat for this FREE program.