Although he didn't win the Yukon Quest this year, Sebastian Schneulle had the run of his life.

Schnuelle was among the front of the pack for most of the race, usually being fifth or sixth into the checkpoints.

Before Circle, Alaska, he was only two hours behind the leaders and half a day ahead of his other competitors.

Schnuelle, a Whitehorse resident, was able to maintain this lead even after struggling with hunger.

On the way to Dawson City, he forgot to pack any food for himself, and had to eat the wieners he had packed for one of his more pickier eaters on his team, a dog named Tang.

'She probably thought: You bastard, you're eating my wieners,'' he said.

Leaving Circle, Schnuelle's dogs had picked up a virus.

At first, Schnuelle wasn't aware of the dogs' illness, but then their speed just dropped.

'They had diarrhea and were puking everywhere,' said Schnuelle. 'Because I was so far ahead of the back of the pack, I had time to wait it out.'

Schnuelle's wait was filled with anxiety.

'I couldn't wait forever, especially with the field being as close as it was,' said Schnuelle.

Luckily, his dogs came back to life. People were expecting the misfortune to lead to a last-place finish.

But Schnuelle said his well-rested dogs were able to pass several of the competition.

'My team had 18 hours of the rest the other dogs didn't have,' said the German Canadian about his success.

Schnuelle was the ninth musher to cross the finish line. That's not bad for a musher, who a week before the Quest, couldn't get out of bed because he was plagued by the flu.

Schnuelle battled illness during his entire trek along the trail of the Quest, which began in Whitehorse on Feb. 13.

While packing up his sled, Schnuelle said he was glad the race was over.

'But that's because of my cold, otherwise I could stay out there, easy.'

Schnuelle was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to regain his spot in fifth or sixth place after his dogs' illness.

'It was a shame to fall behind, but it was nice to be so far in front for a while,' said Schnuelle. He was also surprised that his dogs were able to pick up the pace at all after the virus, he added.

'I was happy with the last couple runs (into Fairbanks),' he said.

Schnuelle, who has run the Quest three times, said he isn't sure he'll do the race again.

'It's pretty expensive,' said Schnuelle.

Race marshal Mike McCowan says never ask a musher if he or she will run the race again after crossing the finish line, as the person will usually say no.

Schnuelle agrees.

If he does decide to do the Quest again, he'll need the time to distance himself from the suffering he did out on the trail.

However, Schnuelle didn't give himself that much time to recover.

The 34-year-old will be competing in a 1,700-kilometre sled dog race this Saturday the Iditarod.

Schnuelle will cross the start line almost a week after he crossed the Quest finish line.

Three other Quest mushers will be out there on the Anchorage-to-Nome trail with him.

Kelley Griffin, Hugh Neff and Lance Mackey will also be competing in this year's Iditarod.

When Schnuelle is not racing, he is operating his tourism business that offers dog sled rides to tourists.

Lance Mackey won the Quest in Fairbanks last Thursday afternoon.