Champions are not born overnight. Indeed long distance runner Mario Grech has been running for over 17 years. An amateur runner, he has the stuff of a professional sportsman, dedicating his life to the quest of running farther in less time.
Mario admits he lives to run and allows nothing to stand between him and his daily regimen. "I started running pretty late, when I was already 26 years old and that is something I regret, to be honest. This was at a point in time when my work in the Armed Forces was shift based. I tried to occupy my free time playing football and swimming. Then I tried my hand at long distance running and I got hooked. After two months as a fledgling runner, I met my first professional coach who got me on the right track so to say, with a proper long distance running training schedule to follow."
Eventually in 2012, he met coach Jesmond Bonnici, a sportsman he knew from childhood and whom he had always admired." Jesmond really helped me make a tangible change in my training, which in turn improved my performance. He incremented the volume of daily training and this thoroughly transformed my lifestyle. He is a constant inspiration."
Indeed Mario follows a strict sportsman's training schedule which encompasses running on a daily basis to increase speed and stamina, walking on rough terrain to add strength, swimming, cycling, following a controlled diet.....All this set well apart from his daily hours at work. Indeed this athlete spends some three to four hours of training a day, time which he divides morning and evening, before and after work, to a total of some 37 km worth of running per day.
"I like to run out in the open. My favourite spaces are Pembroke and Bahar ic- Caghaq. Then I prefer to run on tracks in Marsa and at St Aloysius Sport Complex. Do I find time to rest? Of course, I must! Rest is an indispensable part of my daily routine, so I sleep well and often go for sport massages to help my body recuperate after long runs and to prepare for future ones." And there have been many such important runs, namely the London Marathon, the Malta Half Marathon and varied others over the years.
When does the run become challenging? "A marathon is 42 km long. I find that the run challenges me most once I pass the 30 km mark. From that point onwards it becomes harder to run, to focus and to concentrate efforts. Even the cheering crowd becomes an intrusion because you are just and uniquely concentrating energy and attention to keep moving, to keep pain at bay and to reach the finish in good time. So far the Zurich Marathon has been very satisfying for me this year, since I placed 15th with my personal best so far - my time was precisely two hours, 34 minutes and 52 seconds." Asked whether he enjoys all the travelling, Mario admits he does not really. "I just do it for the races. I never sightsee. I just go there to run."
Mostly self-funded, Mario is a member of local Malta Amateur Athletics Association and of St Patrick's Athletic F.C. "I feel there could be more support given to serious amateur sports people such as myself. But I don't give up. At present my aspiration is to reach the national record in long distance running. Eventually I am aware there will be a point in time when I will have to stop competing. But I plan to find time to train and practise as a coach, and resume studying - do things my running regimen impedes me from doing. But at this point in time, my life is totally about the run - I live it to the full."
This year Mario has had an intense annual calendar of races and marathons, and more lies in store:
March - Reading Half Marathon
April - Zurich Marathon
May - London's Vitality 10k
June - Ghent - European Company Sport Games 5 km ( He was part of the MESA Contingent and place first in his category)
July - Watford 3 km ( Mario was preparing for this event at time of writing)
August - Manchester 10k
September - Newcastle's Great North Run
October - Amsterdam Marathon