She is the Kindergarten–34d Grade librarian in the West Irondequoit School District in Rochester, N.Y. Before that, she taught preschool at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. She routinely presents the Iditarod as a topic of study for her students.

Westrich also was a librarian and a substitute teacher at a school in Pittsford, N.Y. Among her other work experience, she has worked at the Discovery Creek Children's Museum of Washington, in Washington, D.C.; the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, also in Washington, D.C.; and a Mumford, N.Y., museum.

She has a dog of her own, of course: It's a chihuahua-pug mix named Poppy. Juli also has a husband, Kevin, and three daughters: Meredith, Claire, and Elise. When she's not working and spending time with her family, she engages in another outdoor passion, running.

The Teacher on the Trail program began in 1998, with a fund-raising effort by Andrea Aufder Heyde.

The race began in 1973.