My Books of 2021

Its been another year of joyful reading and at the close of the year, I list the best books I have read.  These books are not necessarily published this year but given the volume that I go through and the criteria I use to select the books, there is a good chance that some of these will appeal to you.  Admittedly, I only read popular books, as there is nothing worse than picking up a book, investing time in it, and then deciding whether to finish the book or put it down.  As such, the base criteria is that all books I read have a 4 or more rating on Goodreads or is something that comes highly recommended by a fellow reader.  Sometimes even this fails as we all have our moods and inclinations.  But by and large, this gets me by.

Of the 84 books I have read this year, these are my Top 5 Fiction.  

The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman (2020)  A story of a set of septuagenarians, living in a luxury retirement home in Kent, who set about solving murder mysteries.  The police sometimes gets in their way, but they cleverly work around them.  Part comedy, part serious.  Written by BBC personality Richard Osman.  His follow up book, "The Man who Died Twice", outsold this debut novel, and is reputed to be even better.  I will get to this in 2022.  

Anxious People - Fredrik Backman (2019).  A comedic story of a bank robbery turned into a hostage crisis set in Sweden. Only thing is that the bank robber never wanted to be one, and is an even worse hostage taker.  The victims end up developing a relationship with each other, and ends up helping the hostage taker.  They devise a novel way to blindside the police, so as to let everyone go home free of any trouble. Including the bank robber.   

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (1846).  I never read this book in my younger days, and I finally had to pleasure of understanding why it is hailed as a classic.  This story is set in 19th Century France, and is a story of betrayal, heartbreak and revenge.  The fact that it remains readable almost two centuries on, is testament to the story telling powers of Alexandre Dumas and that human nature does not change. I can hear Antoine de Carbonnel telling me to read "The Three Musketeers".  Perhaps in 2022.
 

Dune - Frank Herbert (1965).  I picked up this book in anticipation of the movie and it did not disappoint.  Herbert must be credited for building a whole new universe in his head around the political themes of control and power.  I found myself referring to fan sites to make sense of the landscape, machines and weapons that were introduced.  These eventually came alive in the movie.  And the movie is at best half way through the book only.   

The Black and White Club : Illuminology - Peter Bergeron (2021) Written by a classmate of mine, this is a high pace thriller about law enforcement agents hunting down a criminal organization masquerading as a religious one in the South.  It reads very much like a Tom Clancy novel.  I finished this in three days which makes it very much a page turner.  It hardly seems fair given that he worked on the book for over a year. 

My Top 5 Non-Fiction are as follows.  

A Promised Land - Barrack Obama (2020).  Whatever your political leanings, it is useful to read the memoirs of the ex President of the United States.  It is a story of decision making under stress, and of the horse trading that takes place in Washington.  Obviously, not all the warts are disclosed, but it is sufficient for one to understand the challenges of being the most powerful man on the planet.    

Being Mortal - Atul Gawande (2014).  Probably the best book I have read this year.  It is about growing old and dying and how this has changed over the last 100 years.  It is also about the choices we make in our final years, the quality of life when old, and how to die with dignity. This book has won multiple awards, and the people I have recommended it to have universally said they were moved by it. 

About Face - David H Hackworth (1989).  This is the best war memoir to be published about the war in Vietnam.  I would say that this is compulsory reading for all folks in uniform to learn about leadership, soldiering and how organizations can become dysfunctional if integrity is compromised.   I felt sorry for Hackworth as he is one of the good guys that had to leave, having been forced out by Westmoreland.  

The Bomber Mafia - Malcolm Gladwell (2021).  Gladwell does not write bad books.  This one is deadly interesting as he revisits World War II and the topic of bombing.  Two schools of thought - precision bombing vs carpet bombing - competed for dominance.  This had tragic consequences for crewmen and civilians alike. This book emerged from the podcast "Revisionist History" that Gladwell hosts.  You are sure to learn something new from this book.

Humankind : A Hopeful History  - Rutger Bregman (2019).  This is a truly delightful book written by a young Dutch sociologist and historian.  The common view of human nature is that humans are intrinsically selfish and brutish. Without an overarching superstructure called the state, we would end up killing each other. Bregman spends the whole book calling this into question and relates stories that show this may actually not be the case.  And if so, perhaps we are better of organizing  ourselves differently.  Interesting!  

Many other books came close, but these were the ones that moved me.  I hope that they do that for you too. 

What I learnt about CPF Life

CPF Life is a black box.  It is a financial annuity plan, but there is no term sheet to really explain the workings of it.  I asked friends and very few of them were capable of answering basic questions of the scheme. Websites are no big help either.  In one recent article written by NTUC Income, it concludes that doing a quick search online “may leave some even more confused”.  I have come to believe that if this product was offered by any other financial institution in Singapore, it would be taken to task by MAS for mis-selling.  But because this is a compulsory government scheme and it is guaranteed by government, one can make a logical assumption that the scheme is not only fair, but far more “efficient”.  It has the largest pool of subscribers, avoids adverse selection and since there is no middle man or distribution agent, it must be cheaper to run, and should be the “best” in the market.  But I was curious to understand more.  I thus made two separate trips to speak to CPF officers to try and make some sense of it.  I got partial insights.

The intentions of CPF Life are both virtuous and correct.  Singapore, by and large, is a society that insists that the financial needs for life is a personal responsibility, even in retirement.  The state should not and cannot be relied on to meet each individual citizen’s basic needs. So one should save for it.  CPF Life is akin to the progressive idea of a UBS – Universal Basic Salary – only that it is personally funded from savings that is made compulsory pre-retirement.  After 65, CPF Life allows every citizen to get an amount in his golden years, no matter how small, to get by.  This does not exclude society helping out the poor.  As a mechanism, the Government and CPF Life should help those that cannot even reach the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS), given that this amount is far too small to live on. 

CPF Life has multiple scenarios to cater to different people in different circumstances, which leads to confusion.  For this entry, I use my own position to give an insight into how the scheme works.  On my 55^th birthday, a Retirement Account (RA) will be set up to lock away a tidy sum of money for my later years.  To fund this, CPF will first empty my Special Account to zero and then withdraw as much as it needs to from my Ordinary Account till the RA reaches the Full Retirement Sum (FRS) amount. The Medisave Account (MA) remains untouched. As of today, the FRS Amount is $186,000.  All this happens automatically on my birthday.  From 55 up to the age of 65, I can choose to top up my Retirement Account to the Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS) at any time.  This is capped at 1.5x the FRS.  So in this example, as my FRS is $186,000, the ERS at 2021 is $279,000, a top up of an additional $93,000 at maximum.  

The RA earns a high risk free rate of 4+% interest (its 4+% as there are different tiers of interest payments) for the ten years between 55 and 65.  This is substantially higher than anything you can find elsewhere in the market.  As an illustration, the FRS amount of $186,000 would grow to become $278,000, while the ERS amount of $279,000 would grow to $417,000 - over ten years. But remember this is money that you cannot touch.  You certainly never see it back in a lump sum.  You only see it coming back in the form of enhanced monthly payments after 65.  So the question is, is it worth topping up? 

To answer this question, I calculated what the payback period is.  I relied on the CPF calculator found on the CPF website.  Under FRS I will receive $1530/month.  Under ERS I will receive $2230/month.  So for an initial additional outlay of $93,000 on my 55^th birthday I stand to receive an additional $700/month from my 65^th birthday onwards for life.  If I calculate a straight payback period, I will get the entire $93000 back in 93000/700 = 133 months, or about 11 years or at 76 years of age.  But perhaps it is more correct to not use $93,000 but $139,000 as the starting amount, which is $93,000 + Interest accrued at age 65.  Now my payback period is longer.  It is now 198 months or 16.5 years.  I will break even at 81.5 years of age.  Now if I take the final step and discount the stream of payments from 65 onwards, using 2% as the discount rate ($1 today is not the same as $1 when I am 80 years old), I will only attain the Present Value of $139,000 in 20 years or at 85 years of age. In short, my payback period is at life expectancy.

These numbers are all back of the envelope, but they are not far off.  This exercise shows a little of how the CPF Life scheme is run.  There is no free lunch in this annuity scheme (except during the initial period where an enhanced interest rate of 4% accrues to the RA).  For the money that is transferred to the fund manager (termed as the Lifelong Income Fund), payback will be around life expectancy, which in Singapore is today 83.5, and tomorrow possibly 85 or 86. As breakeven is attained at life expectancy, the fund needs to find “extra” money to pay the annuity for those who live longer than life expectancy. [If one passes before life expectancy, CPF Life will return the "unused" portion of the RA, although the calculation of this is not disclosed.] This must come from two ways.  First, it must come from the fund retaining a portion of the initial premium as a “fee” for joining the scheme at 65.  This is fair, and I suspect this is under 5% of the initial amount, although once again, I have been unsuccessful to learn what this amount exactly is.  Second, it must come from the fund manager beating the discount rate of 2% which I have assumed in this example.  Given that a sizeable amount of money that is locked up for a long duration, this should not be a problem for the fund manager even when investing in safe assets.  The amount should be sufficient to offset those centenarians amongst us, and pay for the overheads for running the scheme.

So back to the question. Is it worth topping up?  The RA is a forced and safe savings plan.  For those who are bad with money – the spendthrift, the gamblers, those susceptible to the duplicitous charms of foreign or local women or men, those completely reluctant or unable to make risky investments – the act of locking up the extra cash in the RA is not a bad one.  It will come back to you in one way or another over time, in a fair way.  But for those who fall outside this category, it may be worth thinking of how to build a personal RA outside the CPF.  With your personal RA, you can decide to draw an annuity or adjust the capital base at any time.  And this also means that the sum can grow even after a certain age.  It is entirely flexible.  So if you have excess cash, form two RAs.  Treat CPF Life as your fixed base, and your personal RA as your flexible base.   

To be the Top 10% of Golfers

Since attending the Australian Golf School in 2015, my golf game has plateaued.  Although I play often and my game I feel has progressed (I feel that I hit it longer, have greater shot variety, hit out of the bunkers and generally play better), score wise I have clearly stagnated. My handicap remains 9.6 at year end, where it has been for the last couple of years. If there are any more ambitious goals I desire to achieve in golf, this will have to be done in the next few years.  I am not getting younger.

My first golf instructor in 1994 told me to aim to be a single handicapper - the top 5% of all golfers.  I became one around 2010.  But he clearly exaggerated. I am not even close to being in the top 5% of golfers.  USGA stats show that 30% of all golfers have a single handicap.  To be the top 5% of all golfers, I need to attain an index of 2 or below.  To be top 10%, I need to be index 5 or below - which is perhaps more achievable. But the handicap is the outcome of a better game.  The real improvement occurs when I improve on each component of my golf game and generally make less mistakes. 

These are therefore my component golf targets for 2021

Driver Distance:  In the tropics, the carry matters. A handicap 5 has an average drive of 240yds/220m.  A 220m drive requires me to gain around 10m in distance.  
Fairways Hits:  I want to hit 50% of all fairways.  Or 7 fairways out of 14 in a standard course.  This will mean I need to get the irons and fairway woods right.  
Greens In Regulation:   I will settle for hitting 40% of all greens. 
Scrambling:  I want to be a short game master.  50% of all scrambling shots (my definition as being from 40m in) landing within a flagstick of the pin. The bunker shots will be more demanding, but so be it.      
Putting:  Will want to make 50% of the putts from within six feet and two putt the rest.   This I am told is the average of good golfers.  
Mental:  This is the biggest challenge.  To have a consistent routine for all shots, to stay in the moment, and have clarity in having only one shot thought when addressing the ball.  

This will be demanding, as I am pushing against my limits again. Progress would be more and more games under 80 each month.  And I will present the stats as we go forward!  

Wish me luck!

Best Books Read in 2020!

These are my Top Reads for 2020

Fiction

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is one of the most delightful books I have ever read.  This is a period story, set in early 20th century Moscow, about a aristocrat caught on the wrong side of the Bolshevik revolution.  Count Rostov, the hero, is placed under "house" arrest at Moscow's finest hotel, where he lives life for the best part of 30 years. Count Rostov makes the best of this, showing that joy can emerge from strange circumstances.  The story has history, humour, and a series of heartwarming relationships.  Amor Towles actually wrote this book living in the same hotel.  This is a true classic and will bring a smile to your face!

Pachinko is a multigenerational classic written by Min Jin Lee.  It traces the life of a illiterate girl born to poverty in Korea, tricked into a relationship, and escapes to Japan in the midst of WWII to seek a better life for her child.  It details the turmoil that the people of Korea were exposed to, and the discrimination and hardship that ethnic Koreans endured in post-war Japan.  This is a moving story about the determination and the will to survive.  It also unveils a little of racism in modern Japan.  

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is one of those books that leaves you catching your breath at the very end.  The last ten pages are the most important. There is artistry involved in writing a high paced thriller in a short story format.  There is no wasted moment, and every bit of the book falls together at the very end, keeping you guessing who the villain in this "who done it" novel is.  Alex Michaelides is actually a Hollywood screenwriter and this is his debut book.  It is not surprising that he has a Hollywood flair for drama.  

Non-Fiction

Alexander Hamilton is a biography of the man written by Pulitzer Prize winning historian Ron Chernow.  This is also the book from which the script of the hit Broadway play "Hamilton" was composed from.  This is a long book of over 700 pages long, but reads like a novel.  It transports you to Nevis in the Carribean in the 1700s, and then tells the tale of the amazing life of Alexander Hamilton who was born out of wedlock.  Hamilton was an autodidact, a lawyer, a soldier, the first Secretary of the Treasury, a General of the Continental Army, and a leading proponent from the Federalist camp. I learnt so much from the book and felt inspired by Hamilton.  Chernow's writing is exceptionally readable.  

I loved Educated by Tara Westover.  This is an autobiography of Tara growing up as the youngest child in a strict Mormon family in Idaho, where the father's word - justified by religious beliefs - was the law.  The children were brought up to be suspicious of everyone.  They were forbidden to use modern medicine and the family had to make preparations to "defend" itself from the Federal Government.  Tara was supposedly homeschooled and had no formal education.  With the help of her other siblings and mother, she left home for the first time at the age of 17 to go to college.  She graduated from Brigham Young, and then studied at Harvard and Cambridge where she attained her Phd.   You come to admire Tara for the courage to question her understanding of the world, and the conviction to forge her own path.  Such rural families no doubt continue to exist in modern day America.  

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is a really fun but also life changing book to read.  It is quite obvious that lengthy periods of sleep is an evolutionary disadvantage since one can get eaten during sleep.  But yet ALL animals sleep. There must therefore be a very important function of sleep that trumps the possibility of getting eaten during those periods.  Walker puts forward some hypotheses and tests them in a series of sleep deprivation experiments.  The findings will make you do one thing very clearly - appreciate the importance and power of sleep in your daily routine.  I now sleep very well!

Do Enjoy!

Resolution 2020 : To Read Three Books a Month.

My 2020 New Year resolution was to read more.  I was inspired to do this after I watched the Netflix Docu-series "Inside Bill's Brain".  Bill Gates does not read books, he gobbles them up.  He packs a suitcase of up to forty books when he goes on holiday.  He also reads widely, delving into topics that he is unfamiliar with.  As I was not reading regularly, I resolved to do something about it.

 I set a target of reading three books a month.  As an average book is about 300+ pages, I reasoned if I made time to read 15 pages in the morning and 15 before bed - 30 pages a day - it would take me about 10 days to complete a book, or about three books a month.  Easy peasy.

There is the tricky part of choosing titles.  There is nothing worse than reaching half way and not knowing whether to invest more time to finish a bad book.  To avoid this, I resolved to seek recommendations, either from friends or booklists, AND only read those that had a rating of over four on Goodreads.  This generally worked although it did not completely sieve out the duds.   

I finished three books in Jan.  Then Covid hit and I found even more time to read.  I also noticed I was getting faster,  doubling my reading speed.  Reading was no longer a chore.  It became something I looked forward during my down time.  I have learnt to gobble as well.

I surpassed my 3 book a month target by a mile.  Reading has brought joy and clearly broadened my mind on on multiple issue, making me at least more informed, if not wiser.  

The entire list of books read is shown below.  Fiction titles are in red, non-fiction in black.  I bolded 23 titles which I felt had an impact on me.  And yes, the focus on the Christmas theme in December was deliberate!

I will follow this with my Top fiction and non-fiction books for this year, in the hope that some will benefit from reading them.   Happy reading!

List of Books Read in 2020 most recent first.

83. Letters from Father Christmas (2004) - JRR Tolkein

82. How the Light Gets In (2013) - Louise Penny
81. Hercule Poirot Christmas (1939) - Agatha Christie
80. A Christmas Memory (1956) - Truman Capote
79. The 13th Gift (2014) - Joanne Huist Smith
78. One Day in December (2018) - Josie Silver
77. The Polar Express (1985) - Chris Van Allsburg
76. Last Christmas in Paris (2017) - Hazel Gaynor, Heather Webb
75. Deacon King Kong (2020) - James MacBride
74. Alexander Hamilton (2005) - Ron Chernow
73. Breathe (2020) - James Nestor
72. The Gold Mine Effect (2013) - Ramus Ankersen
71. A Line in the Sand (2011) - James Barr
70. Mythos (2017) - Stephen Fry
69. Know My Name (2019) - Chanel Miller
68. The Away Game (2019) - Sebastian Abbot
67. A Gentleman in Moscow (2019) - Amor Towles
66. The Beekeeper of Allepo (2019) - Christy Lefteri
65. Shoe Dog (2016) - Phil Knight
64. Talking to My Daughter About the Economy (2018) - Yanis Varoufakis
63. The Book of Joy (2016) - Douglas Carlton Abrams
62. The Vanishing Half (2020) - Brit Bennett
61. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017) - Neil deGrasse Tyson
60. Spymaster (2016) - Martin Pearce
59. The Travelling Cat Chronicles (2018) - Hiro Arikawa
58. The Midnight Library (2020) - Matt Haig
57. When Breath Becomes Air (2016) - Paul Kalanithi
56. What Money Can't Buy (2012) - Michael J Sandel
55. Never Split the Difference (2016) - Chris Voss
54. Educated (2018) - Tara Westover
53. Know Your Way Pilgrim (2020) - Christophe Cambillard
52. Last Tang Standing (2020) - Lauren Ho
51. Blue Moon (2019) - Lee Child
50. Ministry of Moral Panic (2013) - Amanda Lee Koe
49. Singapore : A Very Short History (2020) - Alvin Tan
48. The Club (2018) - Jonathan Clegg, Joshua Robinson
47. Kochland (2019) - Christopher Leonard
46. The Ride of a Lifetime (2019) - Robert Iger
45. This is What Inequality Looks Like (2018) - You Yenn Teo
44. These Truths (2018) - Jill Lepore
43. Good Economics for Hard Times (2019) - A. Banerjee, E Duflo
42. Talking to Strangers (2019) - Malcolm Gladwell
41. This is Going to Hurt (2017) - Adam Kay
40. The Hidden Life of Trees (2015) - Peter Wohlleben
39. The Rosie Project (2013) - Graeme Simsion
38. Where the Crawdad Sings (2018) - Delia Owens
37. War is a Force that Gives us Meaning (2003) - Chris Hedges
36. Destined for War (2017) - Graham Allison
35. Has China Won (2020) - Kishore Mahbubani
34. The Courage to Be Disliked (2013) - I Kishimi, F Koga
33. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (2017) - Gail Honeyman
32. The Humans (2013) - Matt Haig
31. China : A Modern History (2010) - Michael Dillon
30. Becoming (2018) - Michelle Obama
29. Law : A Very Short Introduction (2008) - Raymond Wacks
28. Adaptive Markets (2017) - Andrew Lo
27. Zonal Marking (2019) - Michael Cox
26. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing (2007) - John Bogle
25. Prepared (2019) - Dianne Tavenner
24. Little Fires Everywhere (2020) - Celeste Ng
23. Sapiens (2011) - Yuval Noah Harari
22. Born a Crime (2016) - Trevor Noah
21. 17A Keong Siak Road (2017) - Charmaine Leung
20. China in Ten Words (2011) - Yu Hua
19. The Fire Line (2016) - Fernanda Santos
18. Normal People (2019) - Sally Rooney
17. The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything (2010) - James Martin
16. The Silent Patient (2019) - Alex Michaelides
15. The Numbers Game (2013) - C Anderson, D Sally
14. Green Island (2016) - Shawna Yang Ryan
13. The Body (2019) - Bill Bryson
12. Soccermatics (2016) - David Sumpter
11. The Black and White Club (2019) - Peter Bergeron
10. Cybersecurity - Time Magazine Publication
9. Football Hackers (2019) - Christophe Biermann
8. Exhalation (2019) - Ted Chiang
7. Bad Blood (2018) - John Carreyrou
6. Exponential (2016) - James Hewitt, Aki Hintsa
5. Pachinko (2017) - Min Jin Lee
4. Range (2019) - David Epstein
3. Why We Sleep (2017) - Matthew Walker
2. Billion Dollar Whale (2018) - T Wright, B Hope
1. The Infinite Game (2019) - Simon Sinek

Merry Christmas!

Lessons I have learnt after running 20 marathons

These are things that I have learnt over the years of running marathons:

Myth No 1 - You need to be super fit to complete a marathon

In any marathon, you will see all sorts of people - fat, thin, old, young, pot bellied, male and female. With the exception of elite runners, you pretty much will not be able to estimate where a person will finish by their physical outlook. I was outrun by a beer bellied Australian in Sydney. I have accepted all this with no shame. 

The marathon is nothing but an endurance race. With a reasonable base of running, - about 26km in longest distance in training, you should be able to finish a marathon within the seven hour cut off most Marathons allow for. 

What you need is an optimistic outlook to laugh at yourself and the pain, and to know your limits. There is no glory in driving yourself past limits. Walk if you have to. Finishing is winning. 

Myth No 2 - Marathon running will cripple your knees.

I gave up running the marathon once because my knees hurt. Doses of glucosomine and chondroitin did nothing for me, and so I quit.

Knee pain is largely due to poor running form. It took me ten years to run the marathon again. On the encouragement of a friend, I learnt to run properly. Its simpler than you think. The long distance runners' posture is a forward lean - head in front of chest in front of feet. The run style is more a glide as opposed to a gazelle like bounce. Some describe the stride as a shuffle - small steps moving feet back, rather than reaching for the front. This running style is distinctly different from sprinting where high knee lifts and long back kicks are key. Focus on a midstrike on the sole instead of a heelstrike. This long distance running form can be trained. (NB: There are exceptions. I have seen elite runners, especially African, having a super long stride, with a bouncy form. But they are also 20kg lighter and their motion is very efficient. Its not for us.)

Myth No 3 - It is possible to run a perfect race from start to finish, sprinting at the end like Chariots of Fire.

For us mere mortals - and I mean those who run it more than 4 hours - which is 90% of us - we simply do not have the hours to train to do this. I know this after 20 attempts. To run a perfect marathon, with balanced or negative splits, you need to be running loads, up to 450km in ten weeks leading up to the marathon. Because we are a lot slower than the elite runners, the time sacrifice for training is impossible without social or work repercussions. 

Its not going to happen. The goal for us amateurs is to complete the marathon with as little pain and with the broadest smile as possible.  I see so many people disappointed when they are forced to walk. Don't be. 

The enemy of a good run is cramp. (Abrasion is as well, but easily solved with fitting outfits and vaseline.) Many will be pushing lampposts after 21km. Avoiding cramp has thus been my race obsession. The most important pre-race technique to avoid cramp is mileage. The more frequent and the longer you run, the lower the probability of cramp. This is pre-race Plan A. But most of us never clock enough. So in-race Plan B is important. Three things to remember are: drink, eat and recover. 

Drink : The rule of thumb is to drink about a litre of fluids every hour, with electrolytes being half of this, adjusting up or down in hotter or colder climes accordingly.  Everyone is different, so determine this during training. 

Eat : You can lose up to 3000-4000 calories during the race. This needs to be partially put back. Eat once at the 21km mark. Bananas and granola bars are great. Gels and chocolates are ok every other 10km. I have eaten burgers as well at the 30km mark, but this is not recommended.

Recover : Cramp is caused by a lack of electrolytes (solved through drinking well), muscle fatigue (solved and conditioned through training) and build up of lactic acid.  So the last is the real enemy. The build up of lactic acid can be avoided by introducing periods of walking over the 42km. How much depends on prior training. My formula: Walk for two minutes at 10km and 15 km. Then really take a break for 5 min walk at 20km or 21km, patting yourself on the back for making it half way. This is the start of the rest of your race.  Cramp starts to hit the less conditioned runners after 21km, the dreaded wall (extreme fatigue) somewhere between 26-35km. So approach this section of the race with deep respect. Adopt 100m-200m walk for every 2km from here on. Its breaks the race up to 10 digestable small sets. Be disciplined, and you will be surprised how well you do.

If cramps set in, go to Plan C.  Cramps can be walked off, but requires shorter run-walk intervals. Break a km into three parts. Run 300m, walk 50m and repeat. The cramp will  eventually disappear. I suffered a cramp in the DC Marathon at the 16km mark (lack of training). I used this and still finished respectably.

Most importantly run across the finish line with a smile on your face. The crowd will be urging you to sprint. Do not be tempted. Go easy in the last km, even walking. Then in the last 200m do your Chariots of Fire thing. The photographers will capture the moment for posterity. 

---

So why have I chosen to stop? 

Well partly its because it is an extreme sport and it worries my loved ones. Partly to do with the fact that I did this to get fit, and I now realise you don't have to be that fit to complete it.

I need a new challenge. 

There are two circumstances under which I will run another marathon. The first is because one of my sons decide to do their first marathon.  The second is if I manage a drastic weight loss.  

Timothy, who ran this last race with me, believes weight is the key factor in performance in a marathon.  He has a point. Most good marathon runners have a BMI of under 20. Most mortals like us are 25 and above. If we can get the BMI down, the experience could be revolutionary. Last important lesson learnt : Marathons do not help you lose weight. The incredible energy expended during training simply makes you very hungry and you eat. It nets out. 

So weight loss must precede training.  This is a worthy goal. So we have both set a target weight for the middle of 2019. Drastic loss. If we hit it, you will see a write up for the 21st run! I hope it happens. 

My 20 Marathons

Athens Authentic Marathon 2018

Gold Coast Marathon 2017

Vancouver BMO Marathon 2016

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2015

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2014

Jakarta Mandiri Marathon 2013

Bali BII Marathon 2013

Tokyo Marathon 2013

Bali BII Marathon 2012

Washington DC Marine Corps Marathon 2011

Laguna Phuket Marathon 2010

Blackmore Sydney Marathon 2009

Taipei ING Marathon 2008

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2007

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2006

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2005

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2004

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2003

Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon 2002

Singapore Mobil Marathon 1992

The 36th Authentic Athens Marathon

On 11th Nov 2018, I completed my 20th marathon in Athens, my swansong. There was no better place to call it a day. The race retraced the route ran by Phiedippides in 490BC from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory at the Battle of Marathon. Athens is the hardest marathon I have run. 

The first reason is because of the long and gradual hills which seem to go on forever. The route is generally uphill all the way to the 28^th km, even if you can't see the slope. I thought that I had a very good half marathon as I felt strong.  When I checked the clock, I was shocked. I crossed the 21 km mark a good 15 minutes slower than my expected pace.  Hills also strain the quadriceps a lot more than flat ground. If I had to do this again, I would definitely train on undulating terrain. 

The second reason is because of the Mediterranean sun. It beats down on you relentlessly over the 42km. The route has no shade.  It was a cloudless, warm day (high teens low twenties) with the flag off at 9am.  This all combined to make the environment somewhat sapping. The low humidity worked both ways. It made it more comfortable to run in, but resulted in a larger loss of salts and fluids. I probably screwed up on my hydration plan as I was dehydrated.

Tim also complained about the early wake up to travel to the start line – we left Athens at 545am, and endured a long wait before the start at Marathon.  Not ideal, but not exactly sapping. I made sure I had something to eat to pass the time.

The highlights? There are three.  First, this is a large race. 35000 people ran the full marathon - first timers, high performance runners, Chinese man carrying extra loads, folks dressed up like a Greek hoplite and average people doing it for fun. Plenty of friendly faces cheer you as you past the towns with cries of "Bravo" - same meaning in Greek as it does in Italian or Spanish. I collected plenty of photographs. 

Secondly, things uniquely Greek. This is the first marathon where I had to take the Athlete's oath.  This was led by the Mayor of Marathon before the flag off. It reads:

"In the name of all the competitors I promise that I shall take part in this race, respecting and abiding by all the rules which govern the sport, in true sportmanship, for the glory of the sport and the honour of our teams and our countries."

Quite moving. Also, the 99 victims of the July Athens fire, which engulfed an area between the towns of Nea Makri and Rafina along the route, were remembered. The area is still devastated with the scars are clear to see. We all ran with green headscarfs to remember the dead.

Thirdly, there can be no better finish line in the world. The last two km take you down the wide boulevards of Athens to the grand and historic Panantheniac Stadium, the home of the first modern Olympic Games. No words can adequately describe the view turning the corner and entering the stadium for the last 125m. It was worth every penny of the price of entry. No other finish line comes close. 

I committed in my mid-thirties to run a marathon a year till I was 50. And I have done so. And so ends my adventure. Will I ever run the marathon again? Click on my next blog "What I have learnt about running marathons after 20 races." where I will consider this question.  

A Dive into the Past in Sabah

Confrontation Monument Tawau

I knew that my father served in Sabah during Konfrontasi but I knew little else. Recently, he asked if I would take him on a trip to see the places where he deployed over 50 years ago. I agreed, and the elaborate road trip turned out to be an education and an appreciation of Sabah.

In 1963, Sukarno vehemently opposed the formation of the Federation of Malaysia for reasons that is truly only known to him, and launched Konfrontasi.  Outwardly, it was to oppose the consolidation of the British influence in the region. Others believed that it was to create an external issue to distract from rising opposition at home. Thus began the undeclared war between Indonesia and Malaysia, primarily focused along the border area between Indonesia and East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. The conflict was characterised by small group guerrilla action and isolated light infantry ground combat.

The Garrison in Tawau today

My father was sent as part of a Brigade rotation to protect the infant Federation in Sabah. Newly commissioned in 1962, he was notified that he would be sent on a six month rotation which would begin in Oct 1964.  My mother insisted that my father marry her and leave her with child, just in case he did not make it home. He married her in May, she became pregnant in June, and my father left in Oct 1964, returning only in March 1965, thus missing the birth of his first son.

Tawau Golf Course Today

2nd Lieutenant Albert Tan was platoon commander of Platoon 7, Bravo Company of the 1st Malaysian Infantry Regiment (1MIR) the unit that would revert to become the 1st Battalion of the Singapore Infantry Regiment. 1MIR had the pioneers of the military in both countries after separation. The Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel Mohd Ghazali Mohd Seth, affectionally known as Gary, would go on to become the Malaysian Chief of Defence Force.  For the Singaporeans, Battalion Signal Officer Captain Winston Choo would go on to be Chief of General Staff of the SAF, Battalion Intelligence Officer Captain Edward Yong would go on to become Chief Infantry Officer, Platoon Commander 2nd Lieutenant Clarence Tan, would go on to become Chief Commando Officer. (My father would become the equivalent of Chief Armour Officer.) At independence, British officers continued to serve in the newly formed armed forces. Bravo Company Commander was Maj Brian Whitworth - whom my father has memories of - and the 2i/c was Captain George Mitchell, a Singaporean. 

Garrison Photo 1964

1MIR was deployed in the south eastern tip of Sabah to prevent infiltration of Indonesian KKO (Korps Komando Operasi) or Special Forces. The Battalion HQ was based in Tawau, the Tactical HQ in the island of Pulau Sebatik in Wallace Bay with forces deployed in Simpang Tiga on the same island, and further afield in Semporna and Lahad Datu.  Any look of the map would show the impossibility of the task of that single battalion to prevent incursions across the sea and land borders. As such, the presence was more to bolster confidence in the locals, and the frequent patrols in the jungle used to conduct surveillance and deter infiltration. These were the days of Alouette helicopters, SMG rifles and pistols.

   

Map of Sebatik

Pulau Sebatik was his main place of operations. It remains a curiousity. The island, even today is divided on a straight line along the 4deg 10min latitude between Indonesia and Malaysia. This was the wisdom Colonial masters employed in dividing up the spoils amongst each other - in this case between the British and the Dutch - using straight lines to divide islands and communities.  This made for undefendable borders. The curiousity is that even today, there is no border control on the island.  My father recalled a logging company with elaborate operations on the island - probably the North Borneo Timbers Company -  with an expatriate community and a sawmill in Wallace Bay, where the wife of the manager would provide tea and coffee to troops.  Today, this is all gone, and there is a remnant of a British house which locals are unsure who it belonged to.  Pulau Sebatik is today not easily accessible with only one boat ferry per day from the mainland.

Airport 2018

Airport in 1964

The more important town was Tawau, the major population centre. The old airfield where the DC3 would land troops there is today abandoned, but sits next to the Army garrison, unrecognisable because the original buildings have all been demolished. The old British Army golf course remains and so does the Yacht Club. Curfews were imposed during the confrontation period. My father recalled a mortar attack killing a fellow Major and soldiers in the transit camps. This meant that the KKO forces, probably with 60mm mortars, was within 2km of the camp, probably using the hill just behind the camp Someone must have been sacked for such poor security. A monument lies in the centre of town to remember those that gave up their lives during confrontation. 

Tawau suffered badly during the Second World War - with the belfry being the oldest surviving building - meaning it was flattened. But today, it has developed to become the third biggest town in Sabah with a population of 300000 with dual carriageways and modern malls. I was authentically surprised to find such a jewel in an isolated corner of Sabah, a place worth spending a relaxing weekend simply because of the food and laid back feel.

Kalabakan Today

We also made the detour to a village called Kalabakan. It is immortalised in folklore of Konfrontasi as the location where 8 soldiers from the 3rd Malay Regiment lost their lives to Indonesian assailants on 29 Dec 1963.  

Hills of Sabah

The long drive to visit multiple cities along the ring road around Sabah allowed us to talk, eat good food and appreciate the scenery - mountains, valleys and beautiful seas.  The road conditions were not the best but was good enough to make it a pleasant drive - no need for a 4 x 4. . And although the towns of Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Semporna were disappointing, there is always something there that would make you smile. As a human being the drive made me sad.  Sabah has seen incredibly large swaths of the rainforest give way to palm oil plantations. I can imagine what the pristine rainforest used to look like. We can only hope that the forest that remains gets preserved for posterity and that we protect the precious wildlife in there that continues to call it home.