With seconds to go before her first “distance” sled dog race, Sarah McEwen dug her foot firmly onto the brake to hold seven eagerly yapping huskies at bay, took a deep breath, and shared her worst fears.

“I may not come back for a week,” McEwen said.

She needn’t have worried.

McEwen, a 13-year-old Newport eighth-grader, had been preparing – mentally, at least – for Saturday’s race for six years.

That’s when she “caught the bug,” as mushers call it, after a sled dog race was held in her hometown.

For the entire weekend, Sarah worked at the races. At first, she admired the dogs. Eventually, she was doing whatever the mushers asked, just to help out.

And then the dogs left town … and 7-year-old Sarah was crushed.

“When they were gone, she went up in the field [where the races had been staged] and cried,” her mother, Raydene Brinson recalled.

After an ornery family pooch succumbed to old age, McEwen got the husky she’d wanted. Then another … and another … and a few more.

Now, she has 15 adults, five puppies, and has committed herself to a sport she loves.

“I hope someday to run the Iditarod,” McEwen said on Saturday, preparing for the 13.5-mile first leg of a two-day distance race at Critterwoods Outdoor Recreation Center in Corinth. “But right now, I’m not old enough. I’ve got to be 18. And I’ve got to get a team of 24 dogs. I don’t even have 24 dogs.”

Not yet. Just give her time.

Last year McEwen raced in the four-dog class. Now she’s hooking as many as eight dogs to her sled each race and finished third in her class over the weekend, completing both legs.

The personable McEwen has foregone shopping for herself in favor of providing for “her babies.” Birthday money, holiday money … every penny she can get her hands on goes toward feeding and equipping Tim Deer, her lead dog … and Storm, and Sugar, and Caltag and Wind Dancer and Timber … and all the rest.

“Food angels” bring by a couple bags of food a month, which the family appreciates. Brinson clearly loves the dogs as much as her daughter.

But when race-day comes, Sarah is undoubtedly the musher … and the boss.

“Some people think I’m crazy,” McEwen said. “They’re like, ‘You’re spending all your money on dogs.’ I’m like, ‘If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t.'”

At Critterwoods, Gary Chapman and his partners envisioned mushers like McEwen when they opened three years ago.

Critterwoods offers safe trails to mushers, and provides a facility staffed by people with years of experience racing sled dogs.

“Until you’ve had a ride on a dog sled with a real team, you don’t know what you’re missing,” Chapman said. “It’s just something unbelievable. You can’t explain it.”

McEwen sensed that long before she rode on a sled for the first time.

Just looking into the haunting eyes of a purebred husky was enough for her.

Since then, there have been a few anxious moments. Like when she straps two or three huskies to her bike during the summer and lets them “train” by pulling her around on back roads.

“No brakes. She’s worn out several pairs of sneakers,” her mother said, shaking her head.

McEwen used to be a dog-lover. She still is. But now, she’s also a musher. And she thinks she’ll be a musher for years to come.

While teachers often tell their students that they ought to strive to become “lifelong learners,” McEwen already seems to have harnessed the concept.

“You can be doing this for 60 years, and you’ll still learn something new every day,” she said, eager to get out onto the trails, to test her dogs … and to challenge herself.

That’s not a bad lesson for the rest of us.

Local outfitters needn’t worry

One thing that remains a truism in this line of work: No matter how innocent you think a comment may be, it may still come back to bite you.

That was the case over the weekend, as I mentioned perusing the Cabela’s catalog to see what kind of turkey hunting gear I may have to invest in before May arrives.

One reader took issue with that comment, pointing out that I should have mentioned Maine’s outdoor outfitter, L.L. Bean, instead.

The honest truth: A friend once told me that I wear so much of the Freeport outfitter’s gear, it looked like “L.L. Bean threw up on [me].”

I guess that means I’m a somewhat loyal supporter of the store … no matter what I may have written over the weekend.

Though catalog retailers are pretty handy, I have to admit that it’s not the same as browsing the aisles at a real sporting goods store … and I much prefer hands-on shopping.

Rest assured, I’ll continue to shop primarily at Maine stores for my outdoor needs. For the record, my .30-06 came from Old Town Trading Post. My ice auger came from Van Raymond’s. Many of my fishing lures were found at Pickard’s. And I’ve never met an outdoor store I didn’t like.

If I “slip” on occasion, and continue to do a bit of on-line or catalog shopping at non-Maine outfitters, I hope you’ll forgive me.

I imagine you will. After all, chances are, most of you do the same thing.

And after all, isn’t it all those nifty gizmos … and the pursuit of those latest gizmos … that makes our outdoor pursuits that much more fun?

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.