ERIN MONTGOMERY, the Teacher on the Trail brings many lessons from the Iditarod to the classroom. One such lesson:Here are the Mackey boys--Lance in red and Jason in black.
I spoke of this before,but ERIN was showing her classes something about family ties and sacrifice.
Lance has won 4 Iditarods until cancer with its treatments have taken a toll on him. He now is left with a disease that brings with it poor circulation, especially his hands.  At one of the checkpoints he took his hands out of his gloves, for just a few minutes, and then he couldn't feel them. He even has trouble putting the booties on his dogs. His brother Jason said he would stay with him to help (no outsiders can help the mushers only other mushers). Lance accepted that but after a time realized he was holding him back.
He told Jason this would be his last race and he has taught his brother all he knows so he cut him loose telling him to pack up and get on his way. He assured Jason that he would be alright.

Here Lance is watching Jason pack up and get ready to leave. Lance is giving him some helpful advice.    

Erin's question to the kids was, what would you sacrifice for a family member?