Towards the end of medical school, I decided I wanted something dramatic – sign up and run a marathon. I chose the Edinburgh Marathon 2017 as it looked beautiful and it claimed to be flat. I also decided to make this task even more dramatic – fundraise. I chose to raise money for Anthony Nolan – a charity that makes a difference in leukaemia and stem cell transplant. I chose this charity because whilst in med school, I matched to be a stem cell donor and actually donated stem cells. Unfortunately, I don’t know the current outcome of the stem cell transplant.
So there I was putting in the miles, pounding the streets of Huntington, West Virginia (part of my med school training was there), trying hard to regulate my breathing and not really knowing what VO2 max is (still don’t know what this is). After finishing my Final Exams, I went back to Long Island, NY (where I used to live in the US) and continued training there for the marathon in May. Running by the ocean during long runs was a dream.
During this time, I was also waiting for my visa to be able to get back to the UK and start working as a doctor. The days started to inch towards the end of April and no word about the visa. As you can imagine, this was very stressful! But I was determined and people had already donated a lot of money! I had to think of a back up plan. Sign up for a marathon around the same time? But where is the closest? There was one in upstate New York on the same day, but I was not ready to drive all the way up and back. So the best solution I thought about was…
“Well, I’ll just run it on my own.”
I thought – well, I’ve already ran 20 miles (alone) in Long Beach, which had a really good stretch of distance, there’s a board walk, what’s another 6 miles? When I ran the 20 miles, the only thing I carried was a bottle of Gatorade and gummy bears wrapped in cling film. The boardwalk had toilets. But now for 26 miles – I thought I needed support. I recruited my mom, then-stepdad, and my one of my best friends, Joe. I stationed them at every 6 miles and make sure they provided me with encouragement and sustenance in what would have been a very tough and lonely endeavour.
So there I was, running around Long Beach, not really bothered by time at that point. I think I completed this over 5 hours. But I just wanted to finish what I’ve started. Like always, I go all in into something, not really foreseeing the difficult and challenging road ahead, just dealing with it as I go along.
I’ve looked back to this moment in time because as I’ve been slightly struggling mentally about the pressures of my job and career progression. There were moments in the past that defines the kind of person I am and reflecting on them is important when also trying to get through other hurdles that come along. My past experiences have only trained me and better equipped me to deal with new challenges. So looking back to 2017, yes I finished med school (which is a difficult challenge in itself) but I also decided to run 26.2 miles on my own. I ran it without the big crowds cheering, just with a handful of people who matter most and also of course, also the people who answered to the call of fundraising. In the end, I completed my first marathon and raised £1592.37.
Reach for the Seven Stars 