Can-do spirit pushes alumna Liz Parrish to Iditarod
Love of dogs, physical challenges drive this Rice graduate to legendary marathon race in Alaska
BY JESSICA JOHNS POOL
Rice News Staff
Meet Liz Parrish ’80 — innkeeper, musher, methodical record keeper and dogsbody to a much-loved pack of athletes who happen to be dogs. It’s an improbable combination but not at all unusual for this Rice electrical engineering graduate and former Silicon Valley executive.
“Rice taught me to think and problem-solve,” Parrish said. “I’m not doing programming or differential equations, but I do need to be creative, motivated and dedicated to work with my dogs.”
Dogs are a theme that runs through Parrish’s life. She marks her midwestern childhood by Kristi, the dachshund that she grew up with. Her career in Silicon Valley is mentioned in the context of her first pet after college, a cocker spaniel named Curly. After Curly died, she chose a “wash and wear” Australian shepherd, Jake, who could hike and go places. Jake was joined by Elske, a Norwegian elkhound, and Marta, a beagle mix.
Parrish began agility training, skijoring, camping and lure coursing with her first team of dogs, dubbed the “Motley Crew.” Then she received a dog sled/photography expedition as a gift, which whetted her appetite for mushing sports.
“I’d always been a dog lover and doing things with dogs and learning about dogs,” said Parrish. “Going on that first expedition, learning how to use the dogs, made it the trip of a lifetime.”
Soon after, an introduction to a coworker who was described as “someone who talks about dogs as much as you do” led Parrish further into mushing terrain.
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COURTESY PHOTOS
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| Pictured above at an earlier race, Liz Parrish ’80 has qualified to run her team of sled dogs in the 2008 Iditaord. |
Learning the ways of racing
The Motley Crew’s first mushing boot camp took place in Monterey, Calif., in 1997 with borrowed equipment, much more enthusiasm than skill and some kidding from the instructor about her team’s non-sledding heritage. Still, Parrish was hooked, and between 1997 and 2001, she acquired a genuine sledding dog, a retired champion racing husky named Briar. Briar promptly began teaching the Motley Crew and Parrish the ways of competitive sled racing.
During the same period, Parrish found a way to make her all-consuming passion for dogs an even bigger focus of her life. She and her partner, Peggy, decided to open a pet-friendly inn in Oregon, the Crystal Wood Lodge.
The move to Oregon gave Parrish room to open a sled dog kennel, and Briar’s Patch Sled Dogs was born, named for founding member Briar, and populated with real sled dogs.
“Sled dogs are the marathon runners of the dog world,” said Parrish. “They’re lean, muscular, wiry.”
About this time, Parrish began to seriously consider competing in the Iditarod. The legendary 1,150-mile race begins in Anchorage, Alaska, March 1 and ends in Nome. Just 71 men and women are entered in the 2008 race, and about two-thirds will finish.
“I’ve always been a person to seek out challenges,” said Parrish. “That’s why I went to Rice. They trained me for continuous learning and taught me that I was interested in lots of things.”
Challenge came early to Parrish when she fought cancer as a young child, then scoliosis, and now fibromyalgia. She classifies her illnesses as “a source of strength.”
“Having cancer at 4 years old and living with it my whole life shaped my psyche,” said Parrish. “I tend to think if it’s tough, it’s a good thing. You’ve faced the big one so nothing else is as hard.”
And while the connection between Rice, electrical engineering, high tech, innkeeping and mushing may not be obvious, there is a continuity.
“Distance mushing is about synthesis — synthesizing geography, weather, your psychology, your dogs’ psychology,” said Parrish. “People who are really successful at this sport are good at that synthesis and at having the big picture in mind at all times.”
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Iditarod Facts
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