Deb Hankens invited me to Switzerland as her support system and assistant brain for a little over a week – leading up to Ironman Switzerland. Not the average mother-in-law. We spent an amazing 8 days there, the first couple were a little fuzzy- the 9 hour time change was rough. For those that don’t know, this was Deb’s fourth Ironman, a triathalon that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. Not my kind of race. But to see Deb and a thousand other people compete and complete was truly amazing. As I write this I get teary, but there are few instances in my life where I have seen people be so proud and deservingly so.

Deb and I spent the majority of our time in Zurich, but we did take one day to get out and explore the amazing countryside. Our trip included some leisure time in Lucern (Luzern). This photo was taken from Chapel Bridge, a pretty neat bridge that some locals tried to burn down in ’92, but it was quickly rebuilt.

Our tour included a trip up Mt. Pilatus – we traveled by gondola and cable car. Hard to believe that this view is from 7,000 feet – the same elevation as Flagstaff! We’re overlooking Lake Luzern and surrounding mountains. We rode down the mountain on the world’s steepest cog railroad to the Lake. Though we were almost recovered from our jet lag, I think we both fell asleep on the ride down on the train. From there we took a boatride across the Lake – on the boat a bottle of coke cost $4.50!!

Zurich is visible beyond the parking lot behind us. The largest city in Switzerland at 360,000- we found it easy to navigate and very clean. Our lack of German did not keep us from exploring Zurich, most folks spoke at least a bit of English. At times we felt like we had USA stamped on our foreheads (we remembered later I had on my US Forest Service belt buckle).

Ahh, race morning. At the sound of the gun, approximately 1400 triatheletes raced into the water. This photo was taken at 7:00, after we’d already been up three hours. Deb is the one on the far left in the yellow cap- just kidding.

It’s amazing how much everone looks alike when they’re wearing a bike helmet, sunglasses and spandex – speeding by on a bike. I was able to spot Deb long enough to catch her attention. It helps that their first names are on their race number tag. She probably never realized how many interpretations there are of pronouncing Deborah.

I spent my day handing out special needs bags and cheering on Deb and various strangers. 49 countries were represented in Ironman, and the names reflected that. People we cheered for included: Eat, Beat, Hans-Deiter, Franze, Xavier, Peter, Bevan, Ulf, Ulw, Zdeck to name a few. Needless to say, I cheered mostly for folks whose name I felt I could pronounce.

As exhausted as I was after almost 14 hours- Deb managed to be in full run down the last 100 yards of the course. Folks all around were clapping cheering (and crying) as their friends and family completed the triathlon.

The day after Ironman we attended an awards brunch – where Deb went up to receive her medal and a beautiful bouquet that made it all the way back to Iowa (on her lap for 20hours!).

After departing the stage, Deb was given a congratulatory hug by Beverly – our Alabama accented San Diego amiga. Beverly and I had a blast during the race handing out special needs bags together and cheering her husband Fred and Deb. For the awards brunch we were seated with Beverly, Fred and our an Ironman first timer – Jonathon – an Aussie currently residing in Sweden.

Our final night in Zurich all the folks with Endurance Sports Travel were treated to a dinner. Ken, our leader and master coordinator, managed to find a restaurant with a view at the last minute- the scheduled restaurant was struck by lightening and lost electricity 2 hours before our dinner!! Not only did Ken manage to find a restaurant to serve 80 at the last minute, but the food was outstanding and from the deck we had a great view and could hear the U2 concert playing below. Ahh, the rough life.

Here is Deb, with the Ironman Switzerland mascot – must’ve been hot in that outfit!! I have about 100more photos- but I had to whittle them down. That, in summary, was our amazing trip to Switzerland. And I might add that in less than 24 hours after Deb questioned if she’d do another Ironm she was already scheming about where to do one next year- as well she should.

A thank you to all the fantastic folks at Endurance Sports Travel- Ken, Abby, Collin and others – your behind the scenes logistics and work made our trip MUCH easier. And to Deb – many, many thanks for inviting me on a fastastic trip and sharing your Ironman experience with me. I’ll be your assistant brain anytime.