Running with horses: Running across Malaysia 2014

Sometime in the beginning of last year, I chanced upon Raymun's post on facebook regarding Dean Karnazes' latest solo 354km run in under 2-3 days. Almost instinctively, I made a random comment about us running from Perlis (the most northern state in Malaysia) to Johor (the most southern state in Malaysia) together sometime in the future. Raymun, being child-like and enthusiastic at heart, responded immediately with a resounding YES! Other friends who saw our post also joined in the madness thinking that we were just joking; one of them whose hometown is Taiping offered us Chee Cheong Fun (literally translated as pig's intestine) if we make it past his hometown. It's one of those times when you don't think too much about what's being said and you just go with the flow of the conversation. But when all the fun eventually settled, the reality of what was said was beginning to sink in and it's time to get serious and think about what we just said. Later that day, Raymun sent me a message asking: 'Bro, are you really serious about this?'

Ideas, they say, are a dangerous thing. They are more stubborn and resistant than the most fulminant disease. In this case, i cannot agree more.

We did not talk much over the next few months. I think we both kinda know that this project has struck a very deep cord in our hearts, such that it almost felt like a life mandate that we have to fulfil. It's as if we were summoned to carry this out, entrusted with the gift of running to bring this to completion. In the meantime, we just let the idea slowly gain more strength and form in our hearts and minds as we carry about our daily business.

But, what purpose is big enough for us to do this? Surely it's not about setting records, nor is it about being the first persons to do this and the kind of bull-crap. I was just reading Roe Grant's book recently (Ron was the first person to run around Australia, he completed the circumnavigation of 13,383 km in 217 days for an overall daily average of 61.67km), and i noticed how self-centred and individualistic his goals were. Yes he said he was doing it for charity and ya-da ya-da, but it seemed clear from his writing that his deepest motivating factor is he wanted to be the first person to do this, he wanted finish everything in the fastest time, he wanted to set national and world record, he wanted the significance that comes from accomplishing a major feat. His ambition was governing him like a ravenous beast, making him go from a feat to another, to the point where he neglected and lost his wife and family in the process. Later on, there were other similar individuals such as Gary Parson and Pat Farmer who also arrived at the ultra-running scene and attempted similar crazy feats. You would have thought that they would be good friends, since they shared such similar passions. But no. They are not. There is too much ego and rivalry involved such that they can't see eye to eye.

Personally, I don't think there is anything glorious in accumulating accolade or achievement. Life is not measured by what you could do for yourself. Whether you can run 10km, or 42km, or 100km, or 100 miles, or beyond 100 miles in a single day, really has no bearing whatsoever to the person sitting next to you. Yes there is nothing wrong in doing these things, but if that's all you are all about, then you are a sad person who has nothing else important in life.

So come back to our story, we thought hard about why we wanted to do this. Or more like - what do we really want to accomplish out of this? To raise fund for refugees so they can continue to pay their rent for an educational centre? Or for orphanage for the kids to buy some food and stationery for their daily needs? Or to raise fund for other charitable organisations or cancer foundation?

From 30 Nov to 3 December 2012, we both decided to take a short 3-day retreat to the Blue Mountains, Sydney, to discuss about this. We spent our day discussing the objectives, mapping out the route, plotting the time line etc. Every now and again, we would head for a leisure run in the trails, exploring the mountains around. I wish we could do this for a living!

At Three Sisters

Mt Solitary from a distance

Brain-storming activity

As you might have guessed, our education and involvement with patients in the hospital on a daily basis have a huge influence on everything that we do. As such, we both contemplated on the subject of health of our fellow countrymen. We both know that when a patient ends up in the hospital with heart attack, it's usually not because he was 'unlucky' or have bad family genes or this is just an accident. He lands himself in the hospital because he decided to, i.e all the past 30-40 years of his life, he had made decisions which he thought were seemingly trivial eg adding extra sugar to his teh-tarik, eating nasi lemak or roti canai or bak-kuk-teh frequently for breakfast, smoking, leading sedentary lifestyle and not getting his bum up to do exercise. These decisions ultimately result in him having a heart attack, or having a diabetic foot, or having kidney failure, or losing his visions, or having a major stroke. For some, it cost them their lives or results in permanent disability. Not to mention heaps of other problems such as obesity, chronic joint pain, lung disease, depression, insomnia, all of which are easily preventable if you pay attention to your lifestyle.

Hence, we thought this is what we are going to do: We are going to run from one town to the other, starting from Kangsar in Perlis, and educate the local people on how to lead healthy lifestyles. More than that, we want to radically define meaning of health to the people. We will focus on children, housewives, families, or anyone who is willing to listen to us, and give them easily digestible tips, practical advice and resources on health. As such, we are not in the rush to finish the whole project in the fastest time possible. We need to make sure we still have energy left at the end of the run to talk to the people in the town that we pass by.

Recently we read of a Malaysian doctor - Dr Ghantan, who walked over 1000km from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Johor Bharu to raise awareness on organ donation. The newspaper article of his feat is available here. He battled adverse weather conditions, blisters in both his legs, and sometimes he even had to sleep in bus stations, just to collect pledges for organ donation from the people that he met along the way. We were really encouraged by his sheer determination and courage, and we know we are not alone in this. There are doctors out there who, despite the apparent flaws in our national health care system, believe in playing a part at contributing to the health of our nation.

As you can see, the focus is not really so much about the run. 'Running' is sort of like our means of transport to get from one point to another. Of course, if a kid sees us running and wants to pick up running as a hobby, we will be more than happy to run with him or her. Running also shows to people that we humans need to always be on the move, to allow better blood circulation and cardiovascular health, brings down your blood sugar level and blood pressure, and elevate your mood at the same time (the best cure for depression!).

So what transpired from our discussion in Blue mountains are the following,

The primary purpose of the run is simple: We want to go around peninsular Malaysia and radically define health to our fellow countrymen. To educate, raise awareness on this topic of HEALTH in general.

This will take place in December 2014, across 40 days, covering approximately 1400km. We will run anywhere between 30-50km in a day, and we will finish each day in either a major landmark or smaller towns to bring to people the message of HEALTH.

We will both take 2-3 months off our work to run around peninsular Malaysia.

The tentative route is as shown in the map. (See below).

With regards to fund-raising, we are still undecided. We have given a lot of thoughts to this topic of charity fund-raising, and recent examples of misuse of fund has not been very encouraging. I will write more about this in future post when i have time what i think about charity bodies like cancer research foundation, non-profitable organisations etc. For now, we don't see the dire need to raise fund as yet. We may change our mind later on.

We need a crew of members. For now, we already have a sport nutritionist, a free-lance professional photographer, a videographer, and three ladies capable in administrative matters. We still need two more persons. First is someone who catches the essence of this project, who will be our leader and oversee the entire project from head to tail. The next person is someone who is skilled in IT and internet website designing. Anything related to social media and publicity will be handled by this person. If you think you have what it takes, please contact me at tee_jimmy@hotmail.com, and i will explain to you more.

We want to make a video documentary out of this project, detailing the entire journey from the beginning to the end.

My dream (i am not sure if this is possible) - is to write a book with Raymun on this project as well. I just want to share a little on who we are, why we want to do this, and the people that we have met in this journey.

Let me reiterate that there is no tangible (eg financial) reward for anyone who wishes to join us. The only reward is knowing that you have made an effort to touch the soul of another human being, and potentially save the life of another person because the person heeds your advice on looking after his or her own health.

As i said before, and i will say it again, the focus on this project is not the run. The run is merely a tool, a method to attract people's attention to the true message that we carry in our hearts, i.e. we want to bring across the message of HEALTH to anyone who is willing to listen! What better way to do this than to run from one town to another from north to south and back to north again in our own country! :D

Now let's hope everything come to pass!

Dear heavenly Father, You know our heart desires. You know our dreams, as well as our selfish motives - nothing can hide from You. If there is something displeasing to You, please make it clear to us. Break us Lord, if necessary, that we may not persist in our foolishness. Otherwise, grant us the strength and the wisdom to do this, and do it well, to the glory of Your name. In Jesus' name I pray and ask of You, Amen.