blog.zgraggen.name  All-day insanity or I have a blog too!

At least that is what they told us at the “Welcome Dinner”. For once the saying “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is not true. There are many ways to follow the race:

Race Coverage
Athlete Tracker
TV broadcasting

There are something over 1700 athletes racing from 54 countries. Switzerland has, with 55 athletes, the fifth highest head count from outside the US. (Behind: Canada, Germany, Australia, UK)

It is very exciting to be here. All the athletes seem in very good shape and the atmosphere is phenomenal. The race director promised a hard race with lots of hills, wind and high temperatures (up to 33C). We shall see how I cope with the dry heat and the no wetsuit swim. I am ready for tomorrow, my bike is in the transition area and my race number is laid out. The expectations are set as well:

LG: I know you like names in this sport, and I mean that literally. So you must have had some fun with 30-34.

JM: Oh, yeah. I pick Jonathan Shearon of Missouri to win it, but he needs to worry about an athlete named Guido Zgraggen (SUI). Firstly, the name “Guido” frightens me. Secondly, in 1998 a guy named Lukas Zgraggen won the amateur World Champs, went on to set an amateur record of 3:49 in the Eagleman 70.3 and turned in an 8:48 in Kona. He’s the best amateur I’ve ever seen, so if Guido comes from the same gene pool…

LG: I don’t think they do. “Zgraggen” is like “Smith” in Switzerland.
JM: Oh. [pause] Never mind.

Full text here.

More to come…

I guess most people have heard by now that there was an earthquake in Chile with 8.8-magnitude. Right now there are some live web cams which allow it to follow the arrival of the tsunami in Hawaii.

Some facts

Here is a webcam

Live news report

I keep this post short so that other people who are interested might be able to see this event.

I do not have enough time to read the Swiss news, but from time to time I receive some links what Americans write about Switzerland…
In Thin Air of the Alps, Swiss Secrecy Is Vanishing

What should I say? I was not aware that this is a serious problem in Switzerland

The only thing which bothers me:

For centuries the farmers here lived off their famed Appenzeller cheese and a bitter liqueur that most, except fervent admirers, say tastes like cough medicine gone bad.

My beloved Appenzeller…

Prost!