From one addiction to another: after conquering the world’s most famous marathons, the Lithuanian is tempted by mystical races

A. Volianskis returned to sports at the age of almost 40. Born and raised in Kaunas, the doctor of sciences tried many sports in his youth – orienteering, basketball, ran a lot while visiting a group of climbers. But later the sport drifted aside.

“The movement started, I got involved in its activities, and the exams were also waiting. I started smoking a lot, stopped jogging, and studied. Until I was 39, I smoked a couple of packs of cigarettes, my breathing became whistling,” he recalls now.

A. Volianskis studied philosophy, studied in Kaunas, later went to study in Denmark, and his work led him to the United Kingdom, where he still works – teaches neuroscience at Cardiff University, has his own laboratory where he studies chemicals.

The turn from philosophy to medicine was caused by meeting my wife, who studied this field.

“She knew a lot about the brain and I had a lot of weird questions. In fact, it all started with the fact that she cheated on me a little. There is a Lithuanian phrase “take into account”. I asked if there was such a thing as an ohm, and she said it was a hose. Of course, there is no such thing as a hose, but like a fool I told several people that. Then I realized that I need to learn more about the human brain, and not just read philosophical books,” he laughs now.

The family also pushed A. Volianskis to return to running. When the man’s daughter was under stress preparing for exams, he suggested going for a run.

“I told you to go for a run, it will be better. I had already quit smoking at that time. We started running, we got mad at each other – the memory remains in the body, so her run was not like mine. She wanted to walk more, I wanted to run. The next day I invited her to go for a run again, but she replied that no one can run every day. To prove it, I ran five kilometers every day for two years, and that’s how I started running again.
I went from one addiction to another,” the man smiles.

Although at first the man did not think about running the marathon distance – 42 km – he eventually became the first Lithuanian to complete all six “Majors” marathons. These include competitions in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. And in one of them – Tokyo – he fulfilled his goal of covering the distance in less than three hours.