Lithuania, beyond the finish line

Running around Lithuania

Beyond the finish line

In 2003, during the Vilnius - Riga - Tallinn run honoring the Baltic Way, Aidas was inspired to explore the idea of running around Lithuania by another runner's achievement, he began contemplating and preparing for his own journey.

On May 31st at 10:10 AM, at the White Bridge in Vilnius, the start was given, and the journey around Lithuania was undertaken by Aidas Ardzijauskas, a firefighter rescuer from the 5th team of the Vilnius County Fire and Rescue Board.

The 41-year-old athlete ran 1089 kilometers in 24 days. He aimed to cover 45 kilometers daily and finish in a different city each day. A. Ardzijauskas visited various cities including Šalčininkai, Varėna, Druskininkai, Lazdijai, Marijampolė, Vilkaviškis, Šakiai, Jurbarkas, Pagėgiai, Šilutė, Klaipėda, Kretinga, Skuodas, Mažeikiai, Akmenė, Joniškis, Biržai, Rokiškis, Zarasai, Visaginas, Ignalina, Švenčionys, Pabradė.

On June 23rd at 11:30 AM, he finished in Vilnius near the Vingis Park stadium.

The finish line - video

From Personal Notes: A Journey Through Lithuania's Trials and Triumphs

The data I collected during the run around Lithuania:

Start: 2012-05-31 - 10:15 AM

Finish: 2012-06-23 - 1:40 PM.

Covered distance: 1,176.91 km, of which 1,149.91 km were on asphalt and 27 km on gravel roads.

The run lasted for 123 hours, 51 minutes, and 24 seconds, or 5 days, 3 hours, 51 minutes, and 24 seconds.

During the run, I took 1,075,654 steps.

I consumed about 45 liters of Tavina water and around 20 liters of Nutrend energy drink.

The shortest distance during the run around Lithuania was from Marijampolė to Vilkaviškis (23.67 km).

The longest distance was from Joniškis to Biržai (85.00 km).

The shortest duration for running was 2 hours, 29 minutes, and 57 seconds.

The longest was 9 hours, 00 minutes, and 30 seconds.

The most mentally challenging days were:

The most challenging day of running was from Rokiškis to Obeliai to Zarasai (6 hours, 51 minutes, and 59 seconds), there were no easy sections, or perhaps I simply did not notice any. Because every day was a unique challenge for me.

The second day (after the euphoria of the first day, realizing that I had started on the path of dreams. A different life began, with a different daily routine, different people, attention, rain, it was difficult to relax from everything happening around and focus solely on running, the wonderful work of Lina, and afterwards Tadas, helped me disconnect from everything later);

The fourteenth day (the team changed, homesickness emerged, and I was at the farthest point of the run around Lithuania);

The twenty-third day (home was nearby, I wanted to reach it as soon as possible, I was very anxious and waited for this day to end and finally the last day of the run to come, fortunately, I intentionally left a longer distance for the final day to avoid any temptation to spend the night at home.).
I reached 1000 km somewhere between Zarasai and Visaginas.