GOR 45k: done

Last year, I took part in the half marathon event at the Great Ocean Road International Marathon 2007. The undulating and challenging 23km left me hungry for me. I was rather unprepared. I “hit the wall” at 18km and struggled past to the 23km mark. In fact, after i crossed the official half-marathon mark, i walk quite a fair bit before finishing the last kilometre. However, the feeling of finishing was great, and i purposed in my heart to attempt the full event next year…

Come 2008, i stepped up my training. I ran at least thrice a week. I hit about 23km during training and i think i ran that distance at least 4 times. I always got a blister on the medial side of my foot. The good thing about skin is that it hardens and forms a callous and made it thickened and hard.

Let me try to recount my successful completion of the 45km event this morning, with some relation to my personal medical journey, as somonetc did in a previous post.

The first 10km was easy. I liken this to the pre-medical years. The preparation. The finding of your interests. The buffing up of your CV to make yourself a desirable candidate to be considered for medical school. The slogging at high school. The sciences. The co-curricular activities. For me, this was mainly in National Junior College. I did well enough to apply for most medical schools. I did well in my co-curricular activity which was competitive kayaking. I won many medals, and achieved enough to obtain the National Colours Awards in 2003. That was awarded to those who achieved the best in a given sport nationally. Retrospectively, it was an easy 10km. But it was easy because i trained for it. I achieved those accolades in canoeing thanks to my training and i had a great punishing coach. it was all hard core work. As for the run, conditions were chilly. It drizzled a little and the winds were OK. Many people were still around, and you slowly made your way past them. You stay focused. And that is what a pre-med should do. Stay focused. The end must be in mind.

The next 5km from 10 to 15km was relatively easy too. I liken this to the first 2 years of medical school – med I and II. These are the pre-clinical years for us at Monash. In fact, for most US and UK medical schools, this is the case. 2 years of hard core basic science to give a good grounding. Some clinical skills are taught and honed. College life. There were hard moments, but you get through them. Dedication.

The next 5km was a little tougher. This was for me from the 15th to 20th km of the event. I think this will be the final clinical years – med III, IV and V. Med III is the transit to clinical life, and for us at Monash, we rotate through the general medical and surgical units to hone our clinical history and examination skills. During the race, i thought this was an OK stage. I started to feel some blisters forming, some pain. But it was bearable. All along till now, i have been going at 6 min per km pace. It was good. 1hr 30min for 15km. 2hrs for 20km. Not too bad. I trained at 5:30 min/km pace. Slowing down a little will do fine for later kilometres.

20 to 25km. During this 5km phase, i passed the midway point. I reckon this will probably be the toughest year yet of my medical career. My internship. I will be a doctor! Yay! But that carries heavy responsibilities. Patients are under my care. I think it will be an exciting year. I would be earning a salary. I would get to do stuff. I hope i will learn loads. Race-wise, i think it was getting tougher, but still manageable. After all, i have done this before. I have ran these distances. I have done it. So keep going.

25 to 30k. Probably will reflect my resident years. However long they may be. I hope it will be short. Like 2 years or so. This is unknown territory. I have never ran so far before. Similarly, residency will be challenging. I will be competing for a specialty position. Taking entrance exams. I think i am leaning toward surgery, as you might already know. So probably some basic science exam from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. My target will be to get into the Surgical Education Training program. Ready, get SET, go!

RACS College Arms

30 to 42.195km. This was painful. I never ran so far before, and have gone further than ever! I was delighted, but feeling the aches. My knees hurt, and my blisters! Oh they bite each step i take. Will specialty training be that difficult? I think it will be extremely challenging. I will be learning new things. Doing new procedures. Jumping from just watching to doing. I saw a surgical registrar perform his own lap chole the other day. The upper GI fellow was just guiding with some prompts here and there. It will be cool. I aimed for the water stations every 5km. 30km. 35km. 40km. Each time i took an energy drink and walked a few hundred metres to rest. I felt refreshed each stop. Will there be such stops during specialty training? I don’t know. But the feeling of completing the full marathon distance of 42.195km? Priceless. I did this in 4hrs and 33min. I think i was satisfied. I kept going, even though i was tempted to stop.

After the full marathon distance, you think you have done it all. Similarly, i think most specialists find that they probably think they have learnt almost all there is to learn about a certain field of medicine. I guess i was wrong to think it was just another 3km. It was an arduous 3km!! I reckon this will be the subspecialty training. Many people have done a marathon. But less have done an ultra-marathon. Being a general surgeon isn’t enough. You got to sub-specialise in the upper GIT. Or breast surgery. Or hepatobiliary surgery. Or an ophthalmologist cannot just do cataracts. He/she must delve further into vision correction surgery or perhaps the optic nerve. I walked a little at the 43k mark, but kept going once i approached the town of Apollo Bay. There were people around, cheering us on. How could you walk? I sped up, opened up my strides, and let loose. It was a good feeling. Then i saw my supporters – mum, gf, and her mum. She took a picture of me coming in. Its nice to have supporters and friends in your journey as a doctor. Friends keep you sane, help you have a social life, drag you out for a drink or meal, and you catch up on things OUTside of medicine.

Finally i completed the dreaded 45km. The time was 4hrs 54min 53s. Just under 4:55. Yea. Someone put a medal over my head, i posed for a quick picture for the cameraman who is sure to sell that shot for say $12. What a feeling. I have completed an ultra-marathon. I am an ultramarathoner. Wow. One of those things to strike off my list of to-dos.

What do you feel now that you are a specialist with a sub-specialty? Are you at the top of the world, living your life?

I felt that way when i crossed the line. I certainly hope i will feel that way when that day comes for me in my medical career, in about 10 to 15 years or so.