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But why???

What is the point of doing this? What exactly am I trying to prove or achieve? Who am I trying to impress? Isn’t the daily hectic hustle and bustle of Medicine and 2 young children enough? Am I bored? Am I just not happy or satisfied with what I’ve got? Why do I want to do this to myself? Whyyy???

My life, thus far, has been one big ‘To Do List’ coupled with ‘Flow Charts.’ Places to visit. Visa applications. Med school goals. Home improvement. Things to buy. There’s even a project list of various projects. Deep down, I do enjoy logistical challenges and project planning. And come on, who doesn’t enjoy ticking boxes of accomplished tasks? I plan. I execute. I tick.

As for running… I had already signed up to the Richmond Runfest (marathon) when I stumbled upon the Abbott World Marathon Majors and the big fat dinner plate of a medal you get when you run all 6. I am not sure when the exact point was but I thought to myself…

My old life goal: ‘I will finish Med School and become a Doctor.’

And I had already accomplished that, ticked all the boxes (but there’s always more beyond finishing med school – training posts and much later, working your way towards becoming a Consultant). After some brief reflection, now that one life goal has been accomplished, it was time to set a new one – a new adventure to embark on, a new opportunity to squeeze more out of me, a new challenge from which I can learn new lessons from. And here is what I came up with…

My new life goal: ‘I will run all 6 Abbott World Marathon Majors by the time I am 40.’

40 is a bit arbitrary. I was 36 when I set this goal, I’m 37 now. 40 sounded like a nice number and I had to consider the chances of getting a lottery place (more on that later). I thought to myself – well, I will just apply for a place every year, apart from Boston – no lottery places. And as if by magic, right when I had set my new life goal, Entry to the Tokyo Marathon 2022 opened! I applied of course (more on this later). I also paid attention to all the dates when Non-Guaranteed Entries for the others opened and I applied for them too.

Well…I think the universe heard me… because I got places in 3 out of 5 I entered – Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago (2022)! Not London and New York City. However, Tokyo was deferred to 2023 due to the Covid backlog and I had to defer Berlin and Chicago because I was waiting for my Indefinite Leave to Remain to be approved. Then most recently, on my second lottery attempt, I got a place for London!

So oddly, things seem to be on track and 2023 is going to be a big year. New boxes to tick.

Side note: I went on my first long run this past week. 12 miles. It’s reassuring that I am still smiling after 12 miles.

And we went for a walk in the woods.

I was never an athlete. I was never really into sports. I ‘worked out’ in my uni gym in San Francisco and swam in the pool. There was chess and badminton when I was a child. Tried climbing (too expensive). I had a bike (mostly for work). No team sports. Nothing really stuck – either I was bored or I wasn’t fit enough.

It was Running that always interested me though and I always admired people who ran. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s right outside my doorstep. I suppose the most precise time I decided I was going to Run for Good was when Xavier was about 6 months old; around the time David and I decided that 2 kids is enough. This meant that if I was to aim to get better at running, I wouldn’t have to take any further long running breaks (i.e. due to pregnancy). At that time, I still had 2 more months of maternity leave left so I ran like a maniac! I took Xavier with me in his buggy. We didn’t have a three-wheel running buggy but his was stable enough. He was my running buddy whilst still in my belly and now was my running buddy in his buggy. Running became part of our daily routine. In February 2021, I racked up 116.6 miles and in March 2021, I racked up 149.6 miles!

I have now been running continuously for 22 months. I hope I am now a bit faster and more efficient than when I started. I haven’t signed up to a local running club but I signed up to an online running community, Run Mummy Run, which has lots of inspiring stories from Mums who run. I have since ran 3 marathons and the 2 10-miler races with David (more on these later). I am not yet at a point where I can really achieve Personal Bests. For now, my personal best is always just the last run I did. Lacing up and getting out is good enough for me.

This and the last 2 posts shed a bit of light of where the madness is coming from. In a nutshell, I am a person who is easily bored and can’t sit still so I’ve acquired 3 non-boring activities that I bounce from one to another to keep me sane and ironically, focused.

Side note: I finally finished my exam this past Friday. Results not out til a month from now. Fingers crossed. But also, applications for Oncology Specialty Registrar jobs just opened. Just one thing after another.

I am a doctor, working full-time in the National Health Service (NHS). I can say that I love my job and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I go home with a degree of satisfaction and go back to work the next day. But it is not easy.

Being a doctor is not easy. Getting here is not easy, being here is still not easy, and moving forward, I would still have to continue to work hard. I am in core medical training, so not quite specialty training yet. I am pursuing a career in Oncology (Cancer Medicine) and on the verge of applying for specialty training; the application process starts this month.

Built in with medical training are neverending exams. There were several yearly exams in medical school. Then there are postgraduate exams and specialty exams. There are further assessments before you actually become a Consultant.

Next week, I have yet another exam to take – PACES. The last exam (of 3) to gain Membership to the Royal College of Physicians. I’m retaking this exam as I failed it in June. It’s also not the first exam I have failed.

There are also endless projects that we need to be involved in – teaching, quality improvement, research and publications (if you’re into it), presentations. Plus meeting the requirements to progress to the next year.

This is all on top of aiming to deliver safe and high quality care to patients.

So after all that, why train for marathons (as if one is not hard enough)? Why not just focus on exams and progression and the next training post? Well, because if not, then my whole life would just be consumed by Medicine. In my head, I need one thing outside Medicine that I can really get into and have a different set of goals. With running and more specifically marathon-running, these are physical goals. In my head, this creates balance. Sort of.

That’s the second ball up in the air – next week, more about being an amateur runner.

Side note: Earlier this week, I got my Cancer Research UK jersey. Please check out My Fundraising Page.

Since this will be a year of reflection and I will be sharing my experiences in the process, I might as well introduce myself bit by bit. To start, there are 3 balls I am juggling (not that I know how to juggle), 3 identities that comprise who I am, 3 roles that I dynamically swap in and out of on a daily basis. I will cover them in the next three entries and will hopefully provide a little bit of context for undertaking this challenge.

“What have you done now Mon?”

David

I have a husband called David and we met in medical school. In our 9 years together, I have consistently been the one swinging between boredom and burnout, whereas David is the solid rock right in the middle, in perfect equilibrium. I am the one with the crazy ideas and goes for it at full speed. He keeps me in check by reasoning with me. However, he knows me all too well – I’m going to do it anyway. And again, he is the base that I will go back to. On the other hand, David is always content with what he has and I am the one always trying to encourage him to do more. However, I also know him all too well – he does his work perfectly and at his own pace but won’t do more than what is required. For the past 9 years, this is how we have functioned – with a degree of frustration at each other’s stubbornness, yet always admiring each other’s accomplishments. It just works.

“Mummy, if it stops raining, you can go for a run. Okay?”

Maya

I am a mum of 2 – Maya (3) and Xavier (2). I don’t think I have to elaborate that the growth and well-being of these two are on the top of David and my priority list. We are full-time doctors still in core training (right below specialty training). One big reason why we are surviving is that we have a very good nursery. It is very reassuring when the two of them come out with big smiles on their faces at the end of the day. Mummy duties mostly supersedes marathon training – most of my weekend runs are when they are taking a nap.

So that’s one ball up in the air. Stay tuned for the next two.

Side note: I am raising money for 2 charities – Cancer Research UK and Home-Start Portsmouth. Here are my fundraising pages: My Fundraising Page – Cancer Research UK and My Fundraising Page – Home-Start Portsmouth.

And also this week, my shoes hit 400 miles after a year of running in them. They still have a lot of life to them.