NOTE: This post was first written and shared in 2016.
I have always been a foodie, I love food, I love cooking, I used to compile lists of best places for all the favourite hawker and Singaporean foods and made sure I brought my wife and kids there to try, the longer the queue, the more I would join the queue. And even when we holiday overseas, I would also compile lists of the 'Must-Eats' and made sure we go try, regardless of how out of the way they might be or how crowded they are. But nowadays, people also recognise me as this doctor turned incidental chef turned healthy lifestyle and healthy eating teacher, coach and advocate, this doctor whose main prescription for his patients who come to see him for weight-loss, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and other lifestyle-related diseases is dietary habits change instead of medication. People nowadays also know me as this 'crazy' doctor who sees patients in his clinic in the mornings, then 'transform' to a cook in the kitchen of his restaurant The Bento People during lunch time , then again 'transform' to a teacher/coach in the afternoons running classes and coaching programmes to get people to eat healthy and then finally 'transforming' back again to be a cook at night at his restaurant The Bento People. But the reality is that, this transformation happened purely by accident. Because actually all these years, I have never really been overly conscious about nor diligent about 'healthy eating' but something happened in the 2014-2015 that led this transformation to become the doctor/chef/coach/advocate of 'Healthy Eating' that I am today Let me share. The Myth - All doctors eat healthy. Many people think I am passionate about 'Eating Healthy' because I am a medical doctor. It is a myth that all doctors eat healthy. Many of my doctor friends, including myself in the past, do not consciously try very hard to 'eat healthy'. We would avoid the obviously unhealthy stuff where possible but may not necessarily be the most diligent in 'Eating Healthy' So the reason why I now see it as my mission to educate and encourage my customers to embrace a 'healthy eating' lifestyle is not because I am a doctor. Initially, I actually consciously didn't want to only cook or champion healthy food when I first started out as a full-time chef at my restaurant When I first took on this challenge, albeit accidentally, of being the cook at The Bento People, I didn't want to and in fact resisted being known or 'stereotyped' as 'doctor turned chef' who churns out healthy but tasty food. I shared about this dilemma in my previous blog post 'The day Leslie (ieatishootipost) came to visit' In the early days of my life as a full-time chef at The Bento People, friends, customers and many other people kept sticking a 'healthy' label onto my food. It was stressful. The only labels I had wanted people to stick onto the food I created and cook was 'Wah!' 'Yummy!' 'Delicious!' 'Tok Kong!', and not just 'Healthy.' But somehow, the 'healthy label' and expectations of my food being healthy kept being slapped on me, it was actually frustrating and exasperating. Don't get me wrong. It did not mean the that the food I cooked was 'unhealthy' , it was just that I didn't like that stereoptype or narrow perspective of my food that I create, cook and serve in my restaurant. I kept grumbling to God, "What am I doing here as a cook? What is the purpose of my being a cook?" Cooking and running an F&B business is not easy. The hours are long and the challenges (rental, manpower, competition) are many. In my career, I've had many challenging 'assignments' or 'roles' and even though I wouldn't have minded an 'easier', less eventful work life, I have also never had problems dealing with hard work or challenges. However in all my working life, I have always found it extremely difficult to work just for the purpose of work regardless of how interesting or rewarding the job may be, but I had to find and be passionate about the purpose of the work. This I had great difficulty with during my first months of as a full-time chef. I could not really find or be passionate about the purpose of my work as a chef. I enjoy food, I do enjoy cooking but being a full-time chef and running an F&B business is a totally different matter altogether. I kept asking myself and asking God whether I am supposed to be a cook and running this F&B for this season of my life and and for what purpose was I doing this for. I kept asking God why? Why am I a full-time chef when I could do so many other 'bigger' things. On one hand, I felt like a child. It was like I was a child assigned to mop the floor by my father. And as I mop the floor, I grumbled to my father asking why I was being asked to do something like that. But my father kept silent, so I just continued moping the floor even as I kept mumbling and grumbling. And on the other hand, I also felt like a father. That having birthed this child, this restaurant, however accidentally, I should do all I can to look after the child. As a father, I would do everything and anything for this child, however difficult, however painful that might be. That's just what parents do. Parents will never leave or forsake their children, no matter what. So I just ploughed on working full-time at this restaurant I birthed, including playing the role as a full-time chef even though I had absolute no culinary training or experience as a cook, even as I struggled to understand the purpose of what I was doing there. And for months, I couldn't find an answer I had no answer and so I just ploughed on. People kept expecting me to cook healthy food. And during these months, friends and customers kept expecting and asking me to create new 'healthy' recipes. And during these same months, my 2 kids, especially my younger 15 year old daughter, on her own accord, began to want to embrace a 'healthy eating lifestyle' and began requesting for only unpolished grains and healthy proteins and lots of vegetables and fruits in her meals. So I had to begin to look at changing what we eat at home and creating new dishes using healthier ingredients. I began to wonder why all these 'demands' from different people on me to create and cook 'healthy' dishes were all suddenly happening to me at the same time. I always remembered what Leslie Tay (ieatishootipost) said to me when he first visited our outlet in January 2015, "Tat Hon, your food is interesting and tasty, but it is not at the 'Tok Kong' level yet. The most interesting thing about this is that you are a doctor turned chef and that your food is tasty and also healthy." I must confess that when I first heard Leslie say that, I did tell myself that I wanted to prove him wrong and show him and the rest of the world who so stereotype me that I can create and cook 'Tok Kong' (as he puts it) dishes, that I can succeed as a chef not because I cook well, and not because of the novelty that I am a doctor turned chef or that my food was healthy. So in the initial months of my being a full-time, I was actually very resistant to turning my restaurant into a healthy food place. I was still resisting being stereotyped as a cook who cooks healthy just because I am also a doctor. I didn't like that and I didn't want that. I was extremely frustrated. The day a friend's post on Facebook changed my mind One day in April 2015, I was just browsing through my Facebook news feed when I saw a short status update from a friend now living in India. This was what she wrote: 'I prayed to God to heal my fatty liver and He said, 'Change your diet' '
What she wrote spoke to me. it reminded me that God does care about what we eat, because what we put into our bodies will affect the health of this physical body that He has gifted us. I began to see how unique and privileged a position I was in, being a full-time chef and also a trained medical doctor, I was in a very unique position to be able to educate and encourage people to be aware of how diet affects the physical body that God has given us, and be able to encourage them to try a healthier diet through creating healthy and yet also tasty food for them.
And from that day onwards I began to see 'healthy eating' in a different light. I saw purpose. I saw mission. I found my calling. It didn't happen overnight, it didn't happen in a 'Eureka' moment kind of way. It was a gradual process over months, nudged along by events and conversations, that by April 2015 I began to embrace my unique position as a doctor and also a full-time chef to turn what I had been wrongly seeing as a burden of having to be a full-time chef to do good, to turn it to be a opportunity and a platform to be a blessing to other people. I began to be passionate about making a difference in the lives of our customers through introducing and encouraging them towards embracing a 'healthy eating' lifestyle by what I put on the menu. I began to dive deeply into the medical research on the relationship between diet and chronic lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, fatty liver disease and others. And as I spoke to many people. I realised that many were confused by the many dietary info and advice (sometimes conflicting) and dietary fads that are in the vogue at any point in time. I felt strongly that I should turn my restaurant The Bento People into a living classroom to encourage my customers to be mindful of these 4 important aspects of eating healthy - (i) choosing Better Staples for Better Health (ii) getting Plant-Stronger (iii) going Low GI *Glycemic Index) and (iv) choosing Proportions mindfully. So in 2015, I totally transformed and revamped the whole menu and concept of my restaurant and The Bento People was thus birthed, turning what started out as a simple cafe into The Bento People which has as its mission to be a living classroom to encourage people to learn more about and explore eating healthy. You can read the story of the birth of The Bento People in this blog post I wrote >>Why and How The Bento People was birthed This is just the start of the journey. It has been very challenging so far and I am in no doubt that the life and journey of a being a full-time chef and running a small F&B business is going to continue to be challenging and arduous, but now I am up for it, because now it is not just about interest or passion, it has become my purpose, mission and most of all, my calling. Wish me luck !
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I want to share a real-life story with you. It is about LEGACY. It is about how I learned the true meaning of legacy. I learned that leaving a legacy is about the good things that happen because of you but which live on long after you, without you, without any more of your doing and even without your knowing. It all began in 1977 The year was 1977, I was then a 9 year old primary 3 kid in Cedar Boys' Primary School (for those of you who think there that there is only a Cedar Girls' School in Singapore, there really was such a school then, Cedar had a boys school long ago, albeit only at the primary school level) These events happened more than 30 years ago and I might not get all the names, dates, events and all the other details 100% accurately. But this is what I remembered and what I gathered from my friends who were there with me then. A restless kid looking for more things to occupy himself I was a restless kid with too much energy and too much time on my hands. I had already joined and volunteered for all the activities that the school had to offer then. I was in the school brass band, I was in the school's volleyball, basketball and track and field teams and I was also a school librarian. But was still not enough and I was still looking for more. Inspired by Enid Blyton and her Secret Seven I was then a big fan of Enid Blyton, especially her Secret Seven series of books. So I began to entertain the idea of starting my own club just like Secret Seven. But that is fiction and I knew real-life would be not like that, it would not be filled with the kind of adventures and exciting things that the Secret Seven always seem to get themselves into. One of my primary school teachers then was a Ms Tan and I often hear from her, stories about her work at old folks' homes where she volunteered frequently. So soon I got excited about the idea of starting a club in school that does social work too, much like what Ms Tan was doing. The Birth of my 'Social Seven' - The Social Work Club Once the idea brewed in mind of starting my own club, a club that does social work, I got into action immediately. First I recruited members. I rounded up some of my classmates, I told them about my plan of forming a club to do social work just like what our teacher Ms Tan was doing. I managed to convince about 6 or 7 of my classmates to join my club. Now that I got members for my new club, I needed to give the club a name - we decided to call it 'Social Seven' ( borrowing from Enid Blyton's Secret Seven) So The 'Social Seven', a Social Work Club was thus born. It was my club and not one sanctioned by the school and I was the self appointed leader. The first activities of Social Seven' - The Social Work Club The first thing I did was to raise funds for our proposed volunteer work, so I got all the members of my club to hand me 20 cts every week to put into our fund. 20 cts was a lot of money in 1977, especially to us 9 year old kids, many of us from lower income families. I cannot remember how I managed to convince (or did I coerce? haha) my members to sacrifice 20 cts every week to give to me to put into the fund. I also started our own Social Seven library, I got my members to contribute books and comics to our own library which is located at my own home in a little cupboard in my family's 3 room flat. I became the librarian and any member who wants to borrow a book would have to inform me and I would bring the book to them. But other than that, the 'Social Seven' club had almost no other activities in the first few months of its existence. The 'benefits' of being a member of my 'Social Seven' club were (1) having to pass 20cts to me every week to contribute to our fund and (2) the 'privilege' of being able to borrow books from our library located at my home. The Appeal - appealing to the principal, teachers and students to support the 'Social Seven' Soon the final year exams came and went, and we had a few weeks post exam before we break for the year end December holidays. By now, the 'Social Seven' fund had grown, from the weekly 20cts members' contributions, to about $50. I thought that would not be enough to do a meaningful volunteering event and I thought of asking the school to help. So I approached my teacher, Ms Tan for the first time and told her of my plans to organise an volunteering event to an old folks' home as well as my request to be given permission to make an appeal to the school to contribute towards the event. Ms Tan was initially not supportive, she was quite certain that the principal would not approve of it. However, I told her that if she did not mind, I would go on my own to ask the principal for permission to appeal to the school teachers and students for donations to support my volunteering event to the old folks' home, I told her that at the most our principal would just give me a scolding and I didn't mind taking the risk of that. Ms Tan reluctantly agreed and she helped me get an 'audience' with our principal. Our meeting with the principal was in the end short and anti-climatically uneventful, I got permission from our principal to speak to the school at the morning assembly the next day. So the very next day, a 9 year old me stood in front of the entire school at our morning assembly and appealed to the teachers and students to donate in cash or in kind to our proposed visit to the old folks' home. It went very well and soon donation, in the form of cash or kind (can foods, towels etc) began to come in the days following the appeal. By the end of that week, we had received more than a hundred dollars in cash donations and quite a large amount of can foods, clothes and other utility items. The Big Day - The visit to the Payoh Lai Home of The Aged Sick So the Big Day finally came, it was a day in October/November 1977, I cannot remember exactly which day or month, it happened more than 30 years ago. I, a restless 9 year old, helped by my teacher Ms Tan who was a regular volunteer to the home, brought an entourage of students and teachers to Payoh Lai Home of Aged Sick. We distributed goodie bags to each of the residents of the home, we spent the day cleaning the premises of the home, we performed and sang for them and we also gave a donation to the home. After almost a year of preparation and each of us having to contributed 20 cts to the fund every week for almost a year, the Big Day for The Social Seven came and went and we 'declared' the very first volunteering event by The Social Seven a success. The residents were happy, the management of the home was happy, our teachers and other students were happy and we the members of the The Social Seven were even happier. 'The Social Seven' in the years after 1977 I continued to run and organise the activities of 'The Social Seven' for a number of years after I started it in 1977, it continued to be 'a club in the school but not by the school', supported by students and teachers and 'tolerated' by the principal and didn't get parents to sign consent forms or indemnity forms for their kids to participate in our activities then. During that time we visited and volunteered at a number of different charitable homes, but the highlight of the year was always the year end visit to the Payoh Lai Home of The Aged Sick. After PSLE in 1980, 'The Social Seven' disbanded and we all dispersed to different secondary schools and we all lost contact with each other and with the school. The Phone Call - a precious phone call from the past 'Boss, a lady is on the phone and she claims she was your primary school teacher' - The day I received a phone call from the past Fast forward to 2005. After my PSLE in Cedar Boys' Primary School in 1977, I was too 'caught up with life' and 'lost contact' with my primary school, I had gone on to RI, then RJC, then NUS medical school, became a doctor, got married, had kids and was at that time in 2005 working in a government statutory board when one day I received a message from my PA. She said 'Boss, a lady is on the phone now and she claims she was your primary school teacher, you sure you want me to put the phone call through?'. I took the call and it was my primary school teacher Ms Tan! She had seen me on TV giving an interview recently and she just wanted to say Hi. We had a good chat and reminisce over the past, especially how she was instrumental in helping us in 'The Social Seven' The phone call from Ms Tan got me thinking about the past and that night after work, I went on the internet to check out Cedar Boys' Primary School. You mean, they carried on after we left? I found that Cedar Boys' Primary School had ceased to exist, it had been combined with Cedar Girls' Primary School to form Cedar Primary School. And like almost every schools and institution by then, they had a school website and I went on to browse it. I then clicked on a tab that said 'Community'. What I saw made me fall off my chair. The page on Cedar Primary School's official website said, "As Cedar Primary School recognises the need to inculcate in our pupils the value of 'Care', our pupils are dynamically with the community. Our partners in the community are: Society of the Aged Sick The most significant partnership that the school has established is Society of the Aged Sick. Since 1978, Cedar Primary has been organising visits to the Home, which include putting up of performances and donating of dry groceries. The feeling of LEGACY When I read that Cedar Primary School had carried on the annual visit to Payoh Lai Home for the Aged Sick (subsequently changed name to Society of the Aged Sick), for almost 30 years because of what I a restless 9 year old kid, together with my friends in 'Social Seven' started in 1977, I became emotional, I teared. I then suddenly had this very 'strange' feeling when I realised that. It was not a feeling of pride or this adrenalin rush when one feel a sense of achievement, instead it was a very humbling feeling. I can only describe it as a very warm feeling, an emotion that connected with the core of one's soul. A feeling of a sense of great privilege, of knowing how privileged that I was, together with my supportive friends and members of the Social Seven in 1977, to be blessed with the opportunity to have contributed something good that continued to live on and grew for 20+ years without our knowing or subsequent doing. A feeling of 'gladness' that I had inadvertently done some good somehow despite my 'smallness' in the whole scheme of things. Now I know That Legacy can actually be felt and that was how it felt like. The True Meaning of Legacy From that day on, I had a whole new perspective of Legacy. That Legacy is not about one's greatest achievement or contribution to an organisation or group of people when one is there But that real Legacy is really about the good things that happen and live on when we leave and are no longer involved. Good things that happen that we would not even know about but for which we had a a role in sowing and seeding, whether knowingly, intentionally or not. This 'little' incident' changed my life, it led me to understand the true meaning of legacy and gave me greater motivation to continue to try to sow and do good as much as I can, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, no matter whether I was able to see the fruits of my sowing or not. My hope and my wish I hope that by my sharing this story, this perspective of Legacy would sow a seed in you. That you would go out there and continue to do good and have faith that you would be as privileged as I had been in the story above to have the opportunity to leave a Legacy, intentionally, accidentally or whether you eventually get to see the fruits or not. Have faith. Leave a legacy.
The World does not need another blogger
"Why did you start blogging? There are so many bloggers now, the world does not need another one." This was what a friend said to me recently and it got me thinking. Why am I blogging? I treasure privacy a lot and yet why am I putting myself out there, sharing with the world many of my very personal life experiences and adventures? Who are the people reading my blog? Are they people who appreciated my sharing and took something meaningful from them? Or is my blog just read by voyeurs and stalkers who are just amused by my folly and naivety? Going back to when the seed for this blog was planted My friend's remark about "The world does not need another blogger" got me thinking back to when and why I started this blog. I know many who read my blog may not be Christians, but I am and therefore I cannot help but view everything I do in my life, everything that happened in my life through the perspectives of me being a Christian, everything as part of my walk with God. So for those of you who are not Christians, I ask for your understanding when I share from my personal perspective as a Christian, as part of my walk with God. Although this blog is about 2 months old, the seed for this blog was actually planted more than a year and a half ago in early 2014. In early 2014, I was 'grumbling' to God, I kept asking God whether I had 'wasted' my life in doing so many different things in my career, unlike many of my friends who stayed on course in one single path for most of their lives and were already in semi-retirement, cruising at the pinnacles of respective chosen careers. I practised as a family physician for many years before I did a mid-career switch and joined Economic Development Board and then went on to spend a good many years in Singapore Tourism Board, and then took the leap to be an entrepreneur in my late thirties where I got involved in many roles and ventures, including being a consultant to businesses, a SME business owner, a CEO leading the construction and launch of a property development. I asked God if my many faceted career was as a result of my own sense of adventure or were my journeys directed by Him and if so why did He do so because each of the different roles in my career were not quite connected to the others and each time I took on a new role/challenge, I had to start almost from scratch and it was really really challenging. Is that really you God? Then one day in early 2014, I 'heard' God's reply, "There are no wasted journeys in your life, not even a single one. The journeys are not just for you, they are for other people. You are to share them so that others would learn and benefit from them." Don't ask me how I hear God. I do not know how to answer you. I am not a theologian, I am not a pastor, I am just an ordinary Christian who every now and then hear from God and just know and believe that it is from God. So for one whole week after I heard God saying that to me, I was very unsettled and restless, I kept wondering if that was really from God or was it from my imagination. And if it was really from God, what was I supposed to 'follow up' from it? Was I supposed to write a book? was I supposed to start a consultancy and go teach people about life's lessons? Was I supposed to become a speaker and share my journeys? Although I heard from God, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I just waited. Then that very Sunday, when I went to church and the speaker went on and on talking about "There are no wasted journeys", I knew I didn't hear wrongly, although I still didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I just waited. Then a few weeks after that, when I was hosting a gathering of church friends at my place, a pastor from our church came to visit, he was new to the church and we were meeting each other for the first time that night. And that night when we were praying together, he said to me, "God wants you to speak up, you have so much to share, young men and young women could learn from you and your experiences." When I heard what he said, I was both surprised and also not surprised at the same time. 'Surprised' because that was the first time we met and he knew absolutely nothing about me or what I had been going through or what I had been grappling with. 'Not Surprised' because that I've been hearing that since I started asking God about why I had gone on such a varied and challenging journey in my career. Although I was by now quite sure that God was telling me to share my journeys so that others may learn and benefit from them, I didn't know in what way and how to share them, so I just put that in my 'parking lot' and waited. The day I started to blog. Fast forward to June 2015. And by this time, I found myself 7 months into the role as an accidental chef running a start up F&B. And during this time, many of my friends and even customers been asking me about why and how I ended up being a chef. And since so many people had been curious about and wanted to know why and how I became an accidental chef and I did not have the time or means to explain and share with the people who asked me, I thought of starting a blog to share my journey. I then recalled what I had in my 'parking lot', I recalled how God had 'spoken' to me about sharing my journeys in early 2014, so that others may learn and benefit from them. So I woke up one every early morning in early June 2015, I went to buy a domain name, signed up on blogger and started writing my first blog post. And that very morning, I shared what I wrote on my blog with my friends on FB, and my blog 'Whatscookingdoc.sg' was born. I blog to share so that no journey is wasted My friend's remark "Why did you start blogging? There are so many bloggers now, the world does not need another one" started me thinking. And my answer to him is just this. I blog to share so that no journey is wasted. I hope that through the sharing of my many faceted journeys and adventures, someone would learn and benefit from them, including and especially from the mistakes I made. Even if just one person in the world benefit from my sharing of my journeys, then all the time, effort that went into this blog and the sacrifice of privacy for both my wife and I, would be well worth it. The next question is ... Should I continue to blog? I've been asking myself this question lately, should I continue to blog? Is anyone even reading my blog and if they are, who are these people? Are they people who appreciated my sharing and took something meaningful from them? or is my blog just read by voyeurs and stalkers who are just amused by my folly and naivety? I have so many more 'stories' and 'adventures' to share. But that would mean sacrifice of time, effort and privacy. Also, every time I share a story, I do feel very exposed and vulnerable. But I do not know how to or want to write any other way, I just want to write and share from the heart. I would really like to hear from people who are reading my blog. I would really love to know
Thanks much. It means much and would help much.
I accidentally ran the full 42 km marathon more than 30 years ago when I was 12 years old.
This was how it happened. We were a bunch of restless kids looking for 'free' things to do I had just finished my PSLE and my brother TM and I were spending the carefree post exam days hanging out with the boys in the neighbourhood, most of whom were older than I. A motley bunch we were, a group of Chinese, Malay, Indian kids aged between 12 - 18 years old, my brother TM was 15 and I, at 12 years old, was amongst the youngest of the group. Looking back, I realised how 'uncommon' it would be to find such a 'grouping' today, the parents of today wouldn't have approved. 'Good' kids of today would not be found hanging out aimlessly with other kids in the neighbourhood, they are too pre-occupied with the parents approved and 'funded' enrichment programmes, school CCAs and overseas holiday trips with their parents. All of us didn't have any 'electronic gadgets' to occupy us, there was no such thing as computers, video games or mobile phones then and many in the group didn't even have TVs at home. So we did what kids then do, we spent our days looking for outlets to expend our boundless energies, We joined and represented the neighbourhood Community Centre (Kallang CC) in inter-CC competitions. We also formed our own informal teams and competed amongst ourselves in soccer, basketball and other non-Olympic sports we created, such as the 'Throwing Slippers Contest' where we would draw a line on the ground and stand in a line about 20 metres away to then try throw our slippers to land as close to the line as possible, with the losers having to piggyback the winners as a penalty The only thing we had in abundance was time and restless energies. We didn't have much money, so we had to look for things to do that were 'free' and went to places within walking distances or nearby places where the bus fares did not cost too much. So one fine day in December 1980, one of the guys suggested we go join this 'mass run' on a Sunday that would start off from the old National Stadium which was about half an hour walk from our neighbourhood, it was called a 'marathon'. The full run was about 42km long but we could stop at any point along the way without completing the full 42km if we could not take it. I thought why not, I had joined the neighbourhood gang on a number of 10km walkathons, jogathons before and thought this would be no different. 'The Third Singapore Marathon' in 1980 So on the 7th of December 1980, which was a Sunday, together with my 15 yr old brother TM, a small bunch of us gathered at about 4 am and walked to the National Stadium for the start of the 'mass run'. I didn't plan to nor thought I could run the full 42 km, the plan was for me to stick close to my brother during the run and try to run as far as I could and see where we would end up, probably at the 10 km mark or at best the 20 km mark. I brought along v little money and I didn't bring my student bus pass. There was no such thing as EZlink cards then, and we had to buy a monthly student bus concession stamp to stick onto our student bus pass for free student travel but it being the school holidays, we didn't buy the monthly bus stamp. So it was critical for me to stick close to my elder brother so that we could make our way home together from whichever point of the run that we end up stopping. So at about 5 am or thereabout, together with thousands of other runners, we were flagged off at the National Stadium. So off we went and as according to plan, I stuck close to my brother, jogged along behind him, always keeping him within my sight. Brother, brother, where are you? Then it happened. It was somewhere between the 5th to the 10th km mark. I suddenly realised that I was separated from my brother, I could not no longer see him amongst mass of runners in front of me. I was not worried, I must have been too slow for him and he must be just a bit ahead of me and all I had to do was run a bit faster to catch up and I should be able to find him in no time. So I upped my pace and continued running. And soon I reached the 10km mark. Although before the start of the run, we had agreed to just try to run as far as we could manage, I had thought that 10km would likely be where we would stop as that was longest distance I had ever run up till then. But then my brother was still nowhere in sight. And I had a decision to make, if I did not stop then to exchange my runner identification for a 1/4 Marathon certificate, I would have to continue running till the 20km mark before I can have the chance to get a certificate. And once past this point, if I did not manage to complete the 20km, I would not get any certificates at all. I decided to continue running. I was sure my brother was running or waiting just a little ahead of me. Brother, brother, where are you? I realised that I no longer had a choice. I was fast tiring. And before long, I wasn't able to run continuously any more and had to stop to walk to rest a bit every now and then. But my brother was still nowhere in sight. So I continued running. Midway through the 10th to 20th km mark. It dawned on me. I am now in unfamiliar territories in many ways. I had never run beyond 10 km before, I had no clue where I was, my brother was nowhere in sight and I didn't know how to get home even if I were to give up and stop running at that point. I no longer I had a choice. I either catch up with my brother who must be just a little ahead of me in the run or I had to complete the whole marathon to end up back at the National Stadium so that I can walk home from there. For the first time, I began to panick a little. I must find my brother soon or I could be 'stranded'. So despite my tiredness, I pressed on and resumed running. I had no choice. Lamp post by lamp post. Soon I was approaching the 20 km mark. However it was no longer a matter of deciding whether I should stop to exchange for a 1/2 Marathon certificate any more. I needed to find my brother fast or risk being stranded in some unfamiliar place without any clue or enough money to get home. I still vividly remember this particular stretch in the route. I think it was somewhere in Ang Mo Kio, it was straight, long, sloping upwards and lined with trees and street lamp posts. I was in pain and had wanted to give up but I knew I had to keep going. Every time that I entertained thoughts of giving up, I would look for some lamp post ahead and tell myself that my brother could be waiting there at that particular lamp post and I just needed to continue running that little bit more to reach that lamp post to find him. But then of course, he was not there and I would then look for another lamp post a little further ahead and told myself the same thing and made myself aim for that new lamp post target. So I began to choose lamp posts about a hundred metres ahead, kept encouraging myself that my brother must be waiting under that lamp post, aimed for the lamp post only to find, as expected, that my brother was not there. So I kept repeating the same drill. Focusing and targeting a lamp post a hundred metres ahead at a time, I just kept running. It was getting more and more painful but focusing, one at a time, on a target that's visible ahead helped me forget the pain. Orchard Road By the 20th to 30th km mark, I no longer entertained any more hope of finding my brother and accepted that I had to complete the marathon in order to get home. Soon I realised that there were fewer and fewer runners around me. I was falling way behind in the pack. I didn't know the time, it must be late in the morning as it was certainly getting brighter and warmer quite quickly. Before long, I found myself running somewhere along Orchard Road. I was so far behind in the pack that many of the drinks and first aid stations along the route had already started packing up when I reached them. I was getting cramps and had to take longer and longer breaks in between my run. The old National Stadium flood lights towers -So near yet so far The last 5 km was along Nicoll Highway leading to the finish point of the 42km marathon, the old National Stadium, which has since been torn down. Soon the National Stadium's iconic flood light tower became visible in the distance. I was elated, the finish point was finally near and within sight! But the final stretch was the hardest. The cramps in my legs were getting more frequent and more excruciatingly painful. I was in so much pain and the National Stadium's flood light towers, unlike the lamp posts I had used as target boards earlier, they discouraged instead of encouraging me. Many many painful minutes of running would go by and the flood light towers would still not look any bigger and the National Stadium itself would still not come into view and the finishing point would still look nowhere nearer. It was really discouraging. So I decided to stop looking at the National Stadium flood light towers in the distance and instead went back to my earlier 'strategy' of looking for lamp posts about a hundred metres ahead to use as short term target boards to aim at. So lamp post to lamp post I pushed on, again. I finally made it. I was not sure how many hours it took, but I finally made it to the National Stadium, ran that final lap around the running track and crossed the finishing line. I made it. Finally. I must be one of last few hundreds that day to cross the finishing line before the cut-off time that the organisers had allowed for awarding the official certificate for those completing the marathon. I remember I was not even elated when I collected the certificate for completing the full marathon issued by the organisers, the Jogging Association of Singapore (see picture below). I was just too tired and in too much pain, I just wanted to go home.
I carried that day's 'lamp post by lamp post' with me ever since
Ever since that day, in the more than 30 years since that accidental marathon, I've carried a 'lamp post by lamp post' attitude with me. Every single time that I was faced with a seemingly impossible task or challenge, I would recall that fateful day running along that arduous uphill stretch somewhere in Ang Mo Kio when I first experienced how to keep myself going by targeting one lamp post at a time. I would also remember how I got discouraged by the 'so near yet so far' National Stadium flood lights tower. So whenever I am faced with adversity or a painful journey or season, I would keep the 'stadium lights' (the end point) in my mind and but at the same time focus my sight on the next immediate furthest yet visible 'lamp post' (next manageable milestone or target) and just press on lamp post by lamp post. It had since helped me overcome countless seemingly impossible challenges that I would otherwise not be able to. Brother, where were you? Oh, back to the story of the accidental marathon. So after collecting my full marathon certificate at the finishing point at the National Stadium, I embarked on the 30 minutes' walk home. When I finally reached home, I saw my brother at home. I asked, 'Brother, where were you?!!???' My brother replied, 'I lost you somewhere before the 10km mark, I thought you had given up and gone home, so I stopped and came home to look for you after the 10 km mark." Me, '............................................................' *Advice to young readers To young readers, I would not advise you to attempt what I did above. It can be damaging to your health and even dangerous to attempt the marathon at a young age, especially without proper training, adequate preparation and physical conditioning. By the way, I was bed bound and wasn't able to walk for 3 days after the marathon. |
My Passion
- Waking people up to The Power of Lifestyle to Heal & Destroy, helping them to maintain wellness & regain lost health through informed lifestyle & food choices >> My Medical Practice where Lifestyle & Dietary modifications is the first go to medicine >> My 'School' - Engines of Health - where I run workshops and programmes >> My Advocacy - The TV & print media where I have the priviledge to advocate the power of Lifestyle as Medicine Why & What I Blog about
Blog's Top Posts
Lifestyle as Medicine - my journey, my passion, my pain How & Why I became a Lifestyle Medicine Doctor, Trainer and Advocate Doctor turned Accidental Chef turned Incidental Chef Reflections of 'The Food Doctor' How I lost weight 'accidentally' Doctor turned Accidental Chef - How it all began The birth of The Bento People I made this Tom Yum Daikon-'noodles' because I was 'angry' with how the love for noodles was affecting one of my patients. No wasted Journeys - Why I Blog Buay Chye, God & I. The day God sent me a cook. Behind every adventurous man is a long-suffering wife Legacy How I accidentally left a legacy as a 9 year old boy The day blogger Leslie Tay (ieatishootipost) came to visit The accidental marathoner - how I accidentally ran the marathon when I was 12 They call me a Maverick. I say I am an Explorer. Why & How 'Advocating Healthy Eating' became my purpose, mission & passion. Sharing about the power of food on Diabetes Lifestyle magazine |
Dr CHan tat hon
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