From Kyle Hopkins in Nikolai --

Rolling up plastic for his dog sled runners? That's hard. Lifting his left arm above his chest? That hurts.

But mushing with what appears to be a broken collar bone isn't as bad as five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson expected.

"It’s painful, but as long as I keep my arm down as low as possible below my chest and don’t try to reach out very far it’s not so bad," he said, clacking two bricks of frozen meat together beside his sled. "I’m surprised actually.”

Swenson was one of several mushers to wipe out at the notorious Happy River Valley steps before the Rainy Pass checkpoint. He heard something pop, he said, and a physicians assistant at the checkpoint said he indeed appeared to have a broken collarbone.

“I’m a little slower, because of it, but I think I’m doing a good job," he said.