My name is Reinhold Hugo or easier to remember "Reini". I live in Zürich. Switzerland is a very nice place. Actually I come from the south part of Switzerland: from Wallis. There, we speak half French and half German. I was born on October 18, 1972 and I am working as a sales representative for a sports company.
I started running four years ago and I have been training regularly for the past twelve months. I run with friends and sometime I enjoy to run in a sports club near Zürich. I train four to five times a week: it depends wheter or not I will participate into a race. Normally I run between ten and twentyfive kilometers during a workout, but when I am training for marathons I run between two and two and a half hours. I change every workout. I start the week with some 10-15 kilometers trainings and make an interval in the middle of the week. In the weekend I usually make a long jog. And I run flat, up, down... everything.
Before a long jog I normally eat (about 2-3 hours before) some pasta or some bread with honey. This gives me enough energy for running. I like to run in cold weather conditions or when it is snowing. But in Switzerland you see people running in every weather. I wear functional apparel and during winter Gore-tex shoes and warmer stuff. I think that I have at least 25 pairs of running shoes! In the summertime, on hot conditions, I like to run with a hat and - of course - with a bottle of water. I eat sports gel on longer trainings. Sometime I am listening to music while exercising, but I prefer to listen to the nature when I am running. I like to read "Runner's World" and "Fit for life" magazines.
In Switzerland, you can find any kind of runners: people running with baby carriages, with dogs, men and women. I personally like to run in organized races. In Zürich there are races from one to 42 kilometers (marathons) and you can participate wherever you want. The prices varies from 15 to 100 Swiss Francs and more, but you usually receive a nice T-shirt and a medal, along with some prizes from the sponsors.
During local races refreshments are offered and you can eat and drink. Two years ago I started running in other countries, to see other cities and to speak with other peoples. I did run with Nike the "Run across America" race and the "Mount Hood to coast" and I was recently in South Africa to run the "Comrades marathon". Great experience!
I run everything from five to... any distance. The "Comrades marathon" despites its name was 89 kilometers long and it was great. Superb ambience and a wonderful race. But I run as well the "Zürich marathon" or the "Jungfrau marathon". I think my favorite race is still the "Sierre-Zinal" in Wallis. This is a very hard race! The course is 32 kilometers long with 2000 meters of elevation gain. Most of the time you run on an altitude of 2400 meters, but the view there is so nice that you forget the pain in your legs.
Run The Planet would like to thank Reinhold Hugo from Switzerland for taking part in the Planeteer Spotlight.
