As Lance Mackey enjoyed a greasy cheeseburger before a gathering of fans inside Nome's mini convention center, he told the crowd it may be time to start slowing down.

Having had his fill of seal-a-meal food and Snickers bars over the course of nearly nine days on the race trail, Mackey wasn't shy about requesting or eating the post-race special order in front of a crowd inside the jam-packed convention hall.

As he scarfed it down, he hadn't forgotten about his team. On the trail, his dogs were treated to beaver meat and salmon, the "caviar" of dog food, but Mackey said their remarkable finish had earned them something even better -- a "people food" steak dinner.

For spectators, it may be difficult to imagine that Mackey -- the man who just made history with a fourth consecutive Iditarod win and the second fastest run ever -- could resist the urge to race hard and race often. He is, after all, the man who, in 2007, won two 1,000-mile races back to back -- the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. In 2008, he repeated the feat. In, he skipped the Quest but went on to earn a third Itidarod win. This year he again ran both races, placing second in the Quest and claiming, for the fourth time in a row, victory in the Iditarod. (Correction: a prior version of this story incorrectly stated that Mackey raced the Yukon Quest in 2009.)

He is the madman of mushing -- a onetime underdog unafraid to take risks, whose bold moves have repeatedly paid off. In this year's race it was the decision to bypass one of the checkpoints, Kaltag, that gave Mackey his winning lead over the best competitors in the sport.

Chasing him? Hans Gatt, winner of this year's Yukon Quest and an experienced veteran of both races, and Jeff King, Iditarod royalty with 21 runs and four wins of his own.

"The toughest dog racers in the world are breathing down my back right now," Mackey said.

Crossing the finish line Tuesday, King remarked on the depth and caliber of teams in this year's race. Instead of four good dogs that might stand out on a single team, there are multiple teams this year with 14 great dogs, he said.

Gliding beneath the race's burled archway at the finish line in Nome, King came in smiling, "feeling pretty good" and saying it was a "nice day to call it quits."