Episode 17: Witold and Urszula

Two years ago, at the 2015 Fifth Avenue Mile, Witold Bialokur ran a seven minute time. He did it at 80 years-old. The second place finisher in his group came in a minute and twenty seconds later. Witold is what most of us can only dream of becoming at his age. He’s fit, not frail, and he runs faster that most Americans can run at any age. But greatness like this comes at a price. We’ll visit Witold Bialokur, a Polish immigrant born before the start of WWII. Witold’s run nearly his whole life. When he was young, it was a way to survive as a kid in exile during the war. Later it became a path to notoriety as a promising athlete and national running coach in Poland. And, when he got older, running was a part-time passion—and an obsession—as an amateur in Queens, New York. Take a journey through the life of one of the most remarkable runners around. You’ll get a glimpse into the methods of a master running coach, see what it takes to achieve greatness, but also the perils of being super competitive and obsessed with being your best. And there will be dancing. This episode of Human Race is sponsored by Aaptiv, an on-demand audio fitness app that you can do at home, at the gym, outdoors - anywhere. Get your first month free when you sign up for a monthly subscription at and use the promo code "HUMAN." To see pictures of Witold and Urzsula and of the master coach in action, head to www.runnersworld.com/audio and check out the show page for this episode. Visit Witold's Runner's at: https://www.facebook.com/witoldsrunners/ Episode Credits: Host: David Weinberg Producer: Mervyn Degaños Editing help: Christine Fennessy, Sylvia Ryerson Theme music: Danny Cocke Human Race editor in chief: David Willey Human Race is a proud part of Panoply. Follow us on Twitter (@rwaudio) and Facebook (Runner's World Audio). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices