Sport is something more than a striving for the result. It is also a way of life, many positive features of training I was able to transfer into a daily life. First of all, self-discipline, perseverance and regularity - not once helped me in the implementation of current affairs. I realised also then in sport there is no success without previously hard work. After some failures I understood what humility means. But running is like a magnet and when the crisis persists, I re-build myself and start with the new assumptions and motivations. Since 1991, I'm training almost every day, although during the backpacking rather poorly. As soon as I reach a good high level I'm losing it during the travel and coming back to the previous particular condition usually takes me a year time. In 2000, the sport became a part of my profession - I graduated my 4-years studies with master degree as a sport teacher with specialisation as athletic coach.
When you feel pain in the muscles, you are almost out of breath, thinking about giving up and you are still running, pushing yourself to the limit - you are the winner!!! Remember, it's your mind not muscles who decides what the body can make. The best award for such an effort is the self- satisfaction.
Sydney is a huge town, a lot unexpected situations can occur. Just imagine what happened to me one early Monday morning in the Centennial Park. I was running as usual when an unknown woman stopped her car next to me and offered me a photo session for Nike. Now I have my own picture in a Nike advertisement, received some money, sports gear and a unique experience as a model. In the monthly "The Runners World" I could find a Nike leaflet, including photos of my legs. Details here
Clubs
| Year | Club | Coach |
1991 - 1994 |
TKKF Maratonczyk Zory | Ryszard Mrozek |
1994 - 1995 |
RMKS Rybnik | Michal Olszar |
1995 - 1999 |
AZS AWF Krakow | Andrzej Mleczko Mirek Wacek Darek Kaczmarski |
2002 - now |
Sydney Athletics East | Peter Good |
Thanks to all my coaches. They did an excellent job to improve my physical and mental skills.
Personal Best:
Distance |
Time |
Year |
City |
Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
800m |
1' 57.25" |
1995 |
Biala Podlaska |
RMKS Rybnik |
1000m |
2' 36.54" |
1996 |
Bielsko Biala |
AZS AWF Krakow |
1500m |
4' 09.01" |
1997 |
Warsaw |
AZS AWF Krakow |
3000m |
9' 02.35" |
1997 |
Zabrze |
AZS AWF Krakow |
5000m |
15' 59.76" |
2003 |
Sydney |
Sydney Athletics East |
10000m |
34' 54" |
2001 |
London |
none |
half marathon |
1h 20'24" |
2011 |
Sydney |
Sydney Athletics East |
marathon |
2h 47'45" |
2000 |
Frankfurt |
none |
Marathon is a very specific race. Usually I feel very well before start, like I could run for ever. Even on halfway I still want to increase my pace. This feeling is mostly misleading and around 30-35 km usually some heavy crisis are coming. This is a point where many runners had to stop their race due to extreme exhaustion (lack of sugar in mussels). It wasn't so bad with me, but on the final kilometres I had to fight with leg's cramps, it doesn't belong to the best memories. This is a time when I was dreaming to stop. When finally I reach the finish line, before I start to be happy, I have to struggle with strong calf and quads cramps. The next two days I have to walk backwards when going downstairs – it's much less pain. Complete the marathon gives you a lot of happiness – I strongly recommend you to try. Once I didn't finish a race in Canberra and after that I couldn't mentally come back running for a long time. I lost the battle with myself. Much more satisfaction I received with bronze medal in club team marathon championships in New South Wales (Athletics East, 2002), and when we got forth place in State Australian championships (Gold Coast 2006), where I represented state of New South Wales. the table below shows all marathons I have run.
| Date | City, Country | Time | Place | Runners |
16.04.2000 |
London, England |
2 h 48' 21" |
554 |
32,660 |
29.10.2000 |
Frankfurt, Germany |
2 h 47' 45" |
148 |
9,100 |
22.04.2001 |
London, England |
2 h 48' 14" |
375 |
32,000 |
15.09.2002 |
Sydney, Australia |
2 h 58' 59" |
41 |
1,500 |
13.04.2003 |
Canberra, Australia |
not finished |
- |
- |
02.07.2006 |
Gold Coast, Australia |
2 h 47' 53" |
57 |
2,237 |
26.04.2009 |
Padova, Italy |
2 h 56' 56" |
90 |
2,149 |
03.07.2011 |
Gold Coast, Australia |
3 h 06' 38" |
247 |
4,552 |
The most interesting fun run for me is the "City to Surf", every year the second Sunday of August in Sydney. At the start of the hilly 14-km race there are more than 70,000 competitors. My personal best is 50 min 26 sec.
My best success in fun run was the 36th place (over 11,000 competitors) in 12-km City to Surf in Perth, September 2005. Like on the others long distance races I love to watch the finishers on the back positions - fatigue on the face, sweat shirt on, and from time to time someone is finishing half-conscious with lifting hands - that means he or she defeated themseleves.