We have been in Switzerland now for 4 days and we haven’t even touched the snow. Since we arrived we have seen only rain and high winds. The weather is so bad that the whole mountain shuts down. We have done a great job passing the time, however. The fist day I was here I found a nice little mountain running trail with exercise stations. The Swiss call it a vitaparcourse. There are stretching, strength, plyometric, and balance routines. So far we have run the course every day. It has done wonders for my jet lag and I think it will help me a lot with my balance. I am predicting strong results this trip for the American team…that is, if we actually race. Other than daily exercise we also have, thanks to the internet, lots of new movies that are still out in theatres. We’ve watched Fool’s Gold (fun flick…love Kate Hudson), Vantage Point (not great) and Jumper (terrible). Also we just got back from bowling in Interlaken, which is always fun. Unfortunately I was betting Jake $1/pin. I got really cold in the third game and it was right at the time Jake was heating up. After he took me for $50 I wasn’t too stoked on bowling anymore.

Since it was a day off I scheduled a meeting at Kjus headquarters in Cham. I checked out the new line for next year and decided on the color for next year’s uniform. I ran into Karin Roten while I was there. She was a Swiss Alpine racer who is now doing TV commentary for Alpine events. She, along with Bode Miller, is a fellow Kjus ambassador. I had lunch with Didi Serena and his son, Nico, who run the company. Also I met with Silvia Wespi, the marketing coordinator. We came up with a good design for my uniform next year. I will be much more colorful than my usual black. They also showed me their “Spirit” collection, which is an off the hill, après ski clothing line. It takes the spirit of skiing and brings it to every day living. It’s great stuff! We are supposed to start training tomorrow in Grindelwald but it is pissing rain right now. We better start skiing soon or we could see some Jack Nicholson scenes from “The Shining.” ‘Til next time. **Click above to see pictures**

Casey

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