Poles are amazing: Grzegorz Gucwa - A Pole who knows how to achieve goals. How to run 217 km at 50 degrees Celsius? Grzegorz Gucwa, a Pole living in Norway, is looking for the answer. She is the only fjord person to qualify for the Badwater Ultramarathon, which will be held in California's "Death Valley" from July 24-28. Meet our representative!
Persistently pursue your goal
The Badwater Ultramarathon is the toughest ultramarathon in the world and the toughest challenge for all runners. Whoever has tried the marathon at least once knows that running in the "Valley of Death" is extremely difficult and requires a lot of sacrifice. Grzegorz Gucwa, however, does not give up, although he knows exactly what awaits him. However, the start in Badwater was the goal he set for himself and which he was consistently pursuing. Anyway, he has come too long to give up on fulfilling his ambitions.
3 kilometers in 45 minutes
Just 10 years ago, an ultramarathon runner could only cover a distance of 3 km in 45 minutes. There was no indication that Grzegorz would be able to qualify for Badwater at all. For many experienced runners, participation in these competitions is already a great success. Only 100 people from around the world take part in it every year. The Pole is the first person from Norway, who has ever taken up this challenge.
Objective? Survive
"Death Valley" owes its name to no coincidence. The distance itself is deadly - the participants of the Badwater Ultramarathon have to cover 217 kilometers in the scorching sun. The temperature often reaches 50 degrees Celsius, with elevations of 4450 meters. Grzegorz himself claims that he is able to sacrifice a lot to meet the challenge. However, he intends to survive, so if he feels that he is unable to reach the finish line - he will let go and prepare to participate in a year. So far, this task has been met by only slightly more than 800 daredevils, and Badwater has been organized since 1987. These numbers show how hard and demanding this Ultramarathon is.
A few questions for our compatriot
The Norwegian media reports that you are the first person from Norway to take part in the Badwater Ultramarathon. Is it true?
I have Polish citizenship and I am Polish, while the Norwegian media call me the first Polish Norwegian to take part in this race. Assuming this nomenclature, everything makes sense. If it's about Poles, the race has been completed so far by four of our compatriots. A Norwegian living in Australia, Bjarte Furnes, also took part in the race in 1997 and 2008, but he did not finish.
How do you stand running over such long distances? How are you preparing for marathons?
You have to distinguish between marathons (42,2 km) and ultramarathons (runs longer than a marathon) mainly due to the fact that the preparations for these runs differ significantly. In preparation for the marathon, the emphasis is on speed. In preparation for ultramarathons, great emphasis is placed on building endurance, both physical and mental.
Running ultramarathons at my amateur level is actually easier than generally believed. I do not stand out with anything special and if I can, probably anyone who would like to, can too. Of course, long distances are a bit more demanding than a walk in the park, but if you want to put some work into training, the way to the finish line is possible for everyone. Preparations generally involve walking a lot of kilometers. I run, depending on my family and professional situation, from 50 to 120 km a week. These are necessarily long runs from 30 km (in the regular training phase) to 80 km (in the final stage of preparation for the run) on weekends. Sometimes I use the "back to back" arrangement, i.e. a long run, two or three days in a row. 3 × 30, 20 + 30 + 20 etc.
Grzegorz Gucwa - a Pole who knows how to achieve goals. What event or person inspired you to take on such difficult challenges?
The first name that comes to mind is Darek Strychalski, founder of the "Zwycięzca" Foundation. He is a disabled runner with a big heart who takes the toughest runs in the world. I saw Darek on TV in 2012. It was then that he was preparing for his first attempt at running a Badwater run. In 2012 it failed, but Darek returned to the Death Valley in 2014 and then he reached the finish line. This week he is participating alone in the 500km charity "Wiki run" in which he tries to raise money for heart surgery for the Wiki. Support! The first seed from the series "I'd like to run in Badwater too" was planted in my head in 2012.
The second person who gave me the courage to dream is Lisa Tamati - a great ultra-runner from New Zealand. I have been in contact with Lisa and Darek since 2012 and for these 6 years they have helped me a lot, keeping a spark of hope in me that one day I will also run in the Valley of Death.
I am inspired by virtually all the people I met during my running adventure. They have contributed to a greater or lesser extent to the fact that today I am where I am. The running community is great people.
(Maybe you could attach links to the movie about Darek and Lisa here?)
Grzegorz Gucwa - a Pole who knows how to achieve goals. Have you always liked running? When did you become fascinated with this topic?
For most of my life, I was quite far from any sport and I didn't particularly like running. It all started in 2009 when I decided to change my life for a little healthier one. At that time, I weighed over 110 kg and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. I changed the armchair at work to an armchair on a train or plane and ended up in an armchair in front of the TV set. In October 2009, I put on my running shoes for the first time. The three-kilometer round took me over 40 minutes then. A normal human would have walked it much faster. Of course, my motivation to run disappeared immediately, but the thought of changing my lifestyle kept coming back. That is why I repeated this attempt over and over again for the next year and a half, constantly falling and going back to old habits. After a year and a half, however, I managed to run these three kilometers without a break for the march.
However it sounds, it gave me a feeling of some great personal success. For this reason, I started to do it more and more. Then I began to push the boundaries of my modest possibilities. From then on, everything went fast. I started to cover longer and longer distances - 5 km, 10 km, 15 km etc. I ran my first half marathon in 2013.
How to get to Badwater? What conditions must be met and what challenges must be met to become one of the 100 people who will face the "Valley of Death"?
There is a belief that getting to the start of the race is the most difficult part of the undertaking. Now that I know that I will start this race, I don't think so. However, I think that I will not exaggerate by saying that for the last 6 years there has not been day and night when I did not think about running in the Death Valley. All of my runs were kind of planned for Badwater. Step by step, I checked what my body could overcome.
Do you want to attend Badwater? Be sure to see this page! >>>
The organizers of the race require a solid running CV before a runner can even submit an entry application. After the end of the two-week application period, the organizers of the run select 100 people from all over the world who invite them to take part in the run. My "solid" CV is 18 marathons and 23 ultramarathons on distances from 50 to 170 km. Both on flat areas and those with 10.000 m elevation differences. To "test" how my body reacts to running in high temperatures, I ran the 5-day Al Andalus Ultra Trail. The distance was 230 km at 40 degrees Celsius. As part of the tests, I took part in the most difficult race, Le Diagonale Des Fous (French for the Run of Fools) on the French volcanic island of Réunion. It took me 56 hours to get through this route. I think that it was the completion of the Al Andalus and Le Diagonale des Fous races that made the invitation to start in Badwater more important.
Are you going to survive this run? 🙂
Absolutely! Not only that - I'm going to finish this run as well! My odds aren't high, but as long as it's greater than zero, I'm going to try.
In the Valley of Death, there will be a support team behind me, consisting of experienced ultra-runners, who also have medical experience. They will be Megan Stewart from New Zealand, Andreas Gossner from Norway, Gunnar George from Sweden and Scott DeVona from the United States. Great people who agreed to help me on my way to my biggest dream. In fact, this race will be much more difficult for them than it is for me.
What are your biggest concerns about starting in Badwater?
First of all, high temperature combined with the scorching sun. These two factors can simply shut down the body. This is what happened to Darek Strychalski in 2012. Despite the fact that Darek is a very strong runner. If the body refuses to obey, mental strength will be of no use.
Is It Worth Facing Your Own Weaknesses? How does facing challenges and overcoming your own weaknesses affect your daily life?
It's absolutely worth it! Taking up challenges and overcoming our own weaknesses teaches us how to deal with problems and makes us stronger people. It allows you to look at life problems from a greater perspective, teaches self-confidence and probably that if we want, we can do anything.
Grzegorz Gucwa - a Pole who knows how to achieve goals. What is your motto in life?
I have a lot of them 🙂
"Someday we'll wake up, open our eyes, and there won't be any more time to do the things we've always wanted to do." - It does not mean, of course, that we suddenly have to start doing something with our lives. But it is important that this is our conscious choice. One day there won't be any more time.
"If you have a dream, the entire universe will help you make it come true." - I have experienced it many times in my life. My start in Badwater is one example.
“There is only one thing that makes our dream impossible to fulfill. Fear of failure. "
“You can fail seven times. It is important that you get up eight times. "
“Falling into a river does not mean drowning. Maybe it will stay there. "
“Failure is not a crime. No attempts yes. "
Would you like to say something to Poles living in Norway?
Honestly, I don't know what to say. Cordial greetings?
Maybe just to not let anyone tell you that you can't make it. Deep down in your heart, you know what you can do.
We keep our fingers crossed for our compatriot!
