Live your best life

Miha Vidali

Head of Technical Customer Support and ultra-trail runner

I started running as a fitness side activity. As I was vaporizing excess kilograms, the running became easier and easier for me. First, it was 5 km, then 10 km, and so on. In June 2011 I abandoned fitness completely and focused solely on running.

In October the same year I ran my first official half marathon and in June next year, I already ran my first ultra-race (everything longer than the classical marathon of 42.2 km is considered an ultra-distance), the 6-hour circular race in Austria. Since then the distances were becoming longer and longer, up to 100 miles.

Important results

These are some important results over the last few years that I’m proud of:

SLO Trail

• 2017 (50 km) – 1st place
• 2018 (100 km) – 2nd place
• Dalmacija Ultra Trail – 100 miles race
• 2017 – 5th place
• 2018 – 3rd place
• Valvasor Hut Ultra – 24h up and down the race
• 2016 – 2nd place (25 ascents)
• 2017 – 1st place (26 ascents)
• 2018 – 1st place (25 ascents)
  

Persistence and dedication

Two essential traits of an ultra-marathon runner are persistence and dedication. You don’t have to be an HR guru to recognize these two attributes as the main building blocks of progress and success in any field, be it sports, art, business, etc.

When you set a goal, you must work towards that goal no matter what obstacles the environment (or your subconscious) is throwing at you. In running, the body needs to adapt to all these kilometers. Gradually. Nothing significant happens overnight. So, you must be able to keep your focus.

Do the right thing even if it seems it is making no difference. It is, especially in the long run (pun intended). So, when the hard times come, you need to persevere. It takes years to build up skill on the level in which you become a dominant force in your field of expertise. If your dedication is not on point, you can easily give up. It’s all in the mindset.

In my case, I was forced to sort out my priorities and put aside all the mundane extracurricular activities such as beer after work or social life, so I could focus on what I felt were the important things in my life: my day job, my family, and extreme running. It turned out to be some sort of self-empowering circle: my job enables me to provide for my family and carry out all my running activities, my family gives me the love and support, so I can manage both work and training, and running makes me a better man so I can excel both at work and as the father figure.

Balancing work and training

Flexible working schedule and the option to work from home allow me to balance my training and work. Without the company’s full support and understanding, I would miss many pieces of training and for that, I am extremely grateful. I think our HR sees this as an investment, which is not something I take for granted.

Set goals!

When I find myself in a bad spot, when my motivation drops – and these times WILL come – I find it helpful to clearly differentiate between the short term and long-term goals.

So if my long term goal is to be able to run effortlessly for hours and hours at any given time, and a particular moment I just feel my legs are made of concrete, I set a short term goal in the form of a set number of kilometers, or a certain height difference I have to cover in a week or month, or I enter a shorter race to keep me in the training loop.

And this would be my advice to aspiring runners: enter races, commit yourself to a goal, put yourself in a situation where you will feel an obligation to do what you set out to do. Start at 5 km, then 10 km. Step by step. Nobody started with extreme distances straight away.

Connect with people who have the same goal, which is pretty easy with today’s technology and social platforms. This way you will be able to motivate each other and persevere, persevere, persevere.

All you have to know is: if you persevere, progress will inevitably come.