Dubai-based Lithuanian fitness trainer Vilius Pakalniskis completed the run in 30 days to help raise money for young cancer patients in the UAE
Vilius Pakalniskis began his run in Dubai on November 13. — Supplied photos
After finally completing a lung-busting 2,100km run in 30 days on December 12, covering around 70km every day under the sun and in the eerie silence of the night on the deserted roads flanked by dunes, Vilius Pakalniskis sat down on the sandy beach in Jeddah.
As he leaned back and took a deep breath, the magnitude of what he had just achieved by running solo for a month from Dubai to Jeddah, hoping to raise money for children battling cancer in the UAE, brought a lump to his throat.
All Pakalniskis wanted to do at that moment was to take a sip of water.
“But I could not open the bottle, I had no energy left. I was sitting there on the beach, looking at the bottle and crying,” Pakalniskis recalled.
There was nobody to applaud the 28-year-old Lithuanian fitness trainer in the Saudi Arabian city when he finished the mother of all epics.
It was never meant to be a spectacle, but a quiet celebration of the indomitable spirit of a man who wanted to run for a cause.
Pakalniskis was not alone, though, when he cried in front of the beachgoers in Jeddah. British national Tarren Hillier and Russian expat Dmitrii Faterin, who volunteered to help Pakalniskis in his mission, were also swept away by emotion.
Vilius Pakalniskis with Tarren Hillier and Dmitrii Faterin after completing the run in Jeddah.
It was mission accomplished for the three Dubai residents after a month of gigantic adventure, which saw Hillier take care of Pakalniskis’ diet, and Faterin drive the caravan carrying supplies and also double up as the videographer.
Doing a solo run of such proportions for a cause was on Pakalniskis’ mind for more than three years. But the fitness enthusiast who started working out at the age of 11, had to wait for the right time. Everything fell into place last September when he visited Dubai’s Al Jalila Foundation, the health organisation which promotes medical education and research in Dubai.
“I had heard about Al Jalila Foundation, so I went to their office where I met Carla Duarte (Director of Partnerships, Al Jalila Foundation),” said Pakalniskis who also found support from Saucony.
“When I look back now, I feel lucky to have met her because she was a runner herself, she had done marathons and half-marathons. She could understand what I was trying to do. So, we had the runners’ chemistry, and the rest is history.”
They named it Project Coast to Coast (from Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea) and a campaign was launched on social media to raise Dh250,000 for young cancer patients and parents in the UAE who could not afford the expensive treatment.
Vilius Pakalniskis loves a challenge. — Photo by Neeraj Murali
But to launch an epic solo run like that needed rigorous training.
“I didn’t hire a coach because I know myself the best, it was not an ego thing. A lot of my training was very boring, long hours, easy runs, nothing intense, just constant running,” he said.
“So I ran around 200km a week consistently. Then I went to Europe and raised the intensity by running in the night, without supplements. So I could really get my mind ready, running through the most difficult stages, overcoming fatigue. I trained myself for the worst-case scenarios.”
It was November 13 when Pakalniskis began his month-long expedition. Faterin and Hillier drove away in the caravan before halting in every 50km to wait for Pakalniskis.
“It’s the same routine we followed during the entire run. They would drive past me and then I was on my own, running. I used to start at 4:30 in the morning and run until 11:30 am, always trying to avoid the sun.
“It was so hot at times that I had blisters on my lips. So I used to get some rest in the afternoon and when it got cooler, I ran again until around 9 in the evening.”
Their journey took them from Dubai to Al Ain and then to Abu Dhabi before they moved towards the Saudi border.
But it wasn’t until he crossed the Saudi border that Pakalniskis began to understand the scale of the challenge that awaited him.
“For some reason, there were no streetlights on the Saudi highway. The roads are very straight and the only thing you could see were the dunes and the big trucks,” he said.
“It was a mental thing for me. Running on the same long stretch, and then in the evening, was mentally challenging because it was dark, no streetlights, running in the dark was a big challenge.
“The traffic was behind me, it was risky as any truck could have hit me, so I tried to keep myself on the edge of the road, keeping a safe distance. And also the conditions were harsh. It was very windy, and there were times when the wind almost knocked me off the road and pushed me into the sand. It was scary.”
His diet included sweet potatoes, mangoes, chicken, eggs, pasta, tuna, breads and coffee. He also relied on seven litres of water every day and six hours of sleep every night in the caravan.
But Pakalniskis' body started rebelling.
“There were times when I felt pain in my hips, my ankle was swollen, I could barely move my lower back, so it was about how far I could push myself, how far I could push the boundaries. I was just pushing the limit,” he said.
“Even then every morning I got up again, feeling rejuvenated in my mind, and I kept telling myself that I would not remember the pain, I would only remember the moment of joy when I finish the race.”
But reaching the finish line turned out to be the biggest challenge of them all — it was scarier than running alone when he often saw dead wild dogs and camels lying on the near-empty roads with a 'brutal smell'.
“The last 20km (in Jeddah) was the hardest, I felt my body was breaking down, I felt a crazy amount of pain in the last five km, but I managed to pull through,” he said.
Pakalniskis and his friends looked at each other in disbelief after reaching the Jeddah beach.
“I told you about how I could not open the water bottle. It didn’t feel real. The project felt so long, the three of us were like, ‘Did we just do that?'
“Then I jumped into the sea and began swimming to celebrate that moment. People were staring at me because I dived into the water with my shoes on and my friends were recording that moment. They (beachgoers) could not understand what was going on.”
Faterin is now editing the video clips, which they hope to release as a documentary.
“It could be on YouTube or maybe we can even approach MBC, let’s see how the final product comes out. But we hope it could inspire people, especially the young generation, the teenagers,” he said.
“You know I always loved taking challenges in life that can inspire people. And I remember when I first met Carla (at Al Jalila Foundation), I told her that I needed a deeper purpose to run, I needed something to have a meaning or purpose behind it.”
Apart from the indescribable joy of accomplishing the remarkable feat for a cause, Pakalniskis says he will never forget the connections he built with strangers on the road.
“There were so many people we met on the road, in the small towns, people who wrote beautiful messages on our van when they came to know what we were trying to do,” he said.
“Also we will never forget the amazing hospitality of the Saudi people. We met someone whose name was Adnan. He didn’t know who we were but booked a hotel for us. He also invited us to his home to meet his family. Those were the moments that will remain in our hearts forever.”
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Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.