Patience and Persistence Help a VU Doctoral Student to Complete Marathons in the Mountains

Valdemaras Milkus, a doctoral student at the Institute of Biotechnology of Vilnius University (VU) Life Sciences Centre, set himself a big challenge last summer – to complete an extreme mountain running a marathon. It is a 42 km mountain run, also known as Skyrunning, held in Italy. The doctoral student achieved his goal and led his faculty forward in the VU Summer Challenge 2022 project.

– When we hear about the challenges you set yourself, the first question that comes to mind is "why?". Why did you choose this type of active leisure? For the challenges and overcoming them? Adrenaline rush? The uniqueness of the activity?

– I have always been attracted to sports. Many people wouldn't believe it, but I used to do weightlifting in high school. However, I also excelled in running. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by mountains, especially high-altitude mountaineering in the Himalayas. It was like a dream deferred that one day I will be there too. I haven't joined any expeditions yet, but I'm taking part in mountain running competitions.

I used to watch marathons on TV and think that, I don't know how, but someday I will be ready for such a challenge. Since there were no opportunities to take part in mountain expeditions, I just started training with the idea that I would be physically fit when the opportunity knocks. Later on, running culture became more popular, I started competing in races, and running itself turned into a part of my daily routine.

During my studies, I challenged myself as well: I had to change my major and my specialization, switch to completely new subjects I hadn't studied before, and do a lot of research on my own. It was the run breaks that helped me keep my cool in the moments when it seemed that everyone around me was more intelligent and understood everything, and I was just a black sheep.

Of course, every time I complete a difficult race trail or cross the finish line of a marathon, I feel a spark of euphoria, but I also enjoy the process: the preparation and anticipation for the race, the victory over the occasional "inner sloth" and the rush outside even though I don't feel like running at that moment.

I think that my patience and persistence have led me to where I am now, whether in terms of sports, work or studies. Moreover, sports and work do not conflict, they even help each other: the patience developed in sports is also needed at work, when an experiment fails (and most of them do), but you can't just give up and quit. Then I tell myself that it won't be scarier or more difficult than hanging on a rope in the mountains. Having done that much, I can try harder here too. It is also a kind of marathon to get the results you want.

– What would you highlight as your greatest sporting achievement this season?

– In summer, I remembered what Skyrunning looks like again by completing two mountain marathons in Italy, with about 3000 vertical metres on each course. After the pandemic, it was great to be rerunning mountain races. The first marathon was hard, it was a hot day, the trail was very technical and my mountain skills were gone. My second marathon was better, I finished in the top 20.

– Don't you feel lonely and isolated when you run in the highest spots of the world?

– Maybe I'm lucky here, because I'm more of an introvert, so I don't get tired of the daily training, running for at least an hour with just my thoughts. But it's a bit different in races. There, it's important to stay on track. There are sections in the mountains when you're running alone and you don't see any competitors in front or behind you, and that's when you can look around. And it is in those situations that I realise that this is the moment I've been preparing for, and it is really happening.

– During the toughest stages on the track – what actions or thoughts help you overcome them both physically and emotionally? Maybe you have a particular kilometre or an hour spent running that is the hardest part of the race?

– Anyone who has run a city marathon (42.195 km) knows that the hardest kilometres start at 35 km when you start feeling tired. Then I try to remind myself that it's not just me who is struggling, but other runners too. I try not to let thoughts like "I'm tired, maybe I don't really want to keep trying, maybe a more humble result will do" enter my mind. If I see a competitor in front of me, I try to overtake him and that is what my mind is on. In the mountains, it's a bit different – not just kilometres, but also hours are counted, as each trail is different and 1 km can take up to 20 minutes. If I am running alone at a time when it is getting hard because of fatigue, I think that if I don't make it to a certain point, called "cut-off", I‘ll be kicked out of the track. And if something hurts, I try to focus on the current moment and not think about how many kilometres are left to go.

– Do you have a talisman that you take with you to all competitions?

– I don't have a talisman, but when I pack my suitcase before the trip and my rucksack on the morning of the race, I have already thought through the worst-case scenarios and prepared for them.

– What do you consider the biggest challenge you have overcome in your life so far? What is the next challenge ahead?

– The biggest challenge so far was the 85 km mountain run in 2015 in the French Alps at the World Trail Championship. I think I was not properly prepared for such a challenge at that time. Even though I reached the finish line, I didn't feel euphoric. For now, the challenge is to complete my doctoral studies and defend my dissertation.

I like to keep my running challenges a secret and then surprise everyone. I usually sign up for a new challenge or competition a few months in advance if I can see that I will have the opportunity to prepare properly. As I don't have to prepare from zero, there is no need to register a year in advance. This also makes it easier to plan. But I'll definitely be back in the mountains next summer, and I'm considering a city marathon somewhere in Europe in spring.