Think back, I knew Jim Liu’s assistant Nicole since our childhood days. ?But, it’s because of them that I fell in love with running. It is also them that allows me to run to this day.Approximately 5 or 6 years ago, I met Nicole and acupuncturist Jim Liu during a dinner. ?Our conversation eventually led us to talk about how this generation’s people eat too much and don’t exercise. Then they end up having ?trouble eliminating wastes from their body. Rather humouredly, I asked him “What if you can’t eliminate the wastes”? Jim confidently replied “Don’t worry, just come to me and I can help you”. I thought that since Jim and Nicole would be in Hong Kong for a while, I might as well try the treatment. So, I told him “ I want to do the intense physical exercises you were talking about, but my legs kill me after just a few hours of walking. So how do I do the exercise you were talking about?” He told me to go to his place after dinner and the problem was bound to be fixed. To my surprise, he was right! Afterwards, I felt no pain and I wasn’t tired so I started running.
Now, 5 or 6 years has passed and I’m proud to say that I’ve run 1 half marathon and 2 full marathons. From being tired of walking for a few hours to successfully running marathons. What a contrast!
But nothing comes easy. When I first started running, I could barely run 50 meters. I knew it was good for me so I pushed myself and I kept running. Every day, I would run and try to best myself. After 2 years of incredibly hard work, I could successfully run more than 10 kilometers. A year after this which is 2013, I successfully completed a half marathon (21.1 kilometers). After this, I went to talk to Nicole and Jim and I asked them if my body could handle me running a full marathon. Jim assured me that my body would be fine and if something did happen, he would help me. That was a major boost for me and I started preparing for a marathon.
Things don’t go always as planned. After training for some time, I was waking up one morning and found out that I couldn’t get out of bed. The first thought I had was that it’s over, I can’t even go to work much less run a marathon. Not many choices, I called in for a sick day and dragged myself to a specialist. They took scans and said that a little bone in my spine had dislocated. Afterwards, the doctor advised me to see the physiotherapist. However, after an hour had past, I didn’t feel any difference. The physiotherapist asked me to come back later. The second I got home, I called Nicole and told her what had happened. She told me that Jim can cure my health problem and go to their place that day. I was highly doubtful but I didn’t really have a choice so I went. To my surprise, I was cured! I could bend, squat and bend over. The second day, I started training for my marathon again.
I want to thank acupuncturist Jim Liu and Nicole. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to move much less run a marathon.
Wei Li Chan wrote on??2015 November 20th