What is sports for? Winning competitions? Losing weight? Keeping fit? Elco, who spent 10 years in advertising watching her health decline, changed her life path into sports. She said, no matter what you’re running for, the most important thing is to fit sports into your everyday life and make being active a habit. No matter at what age you start, you can run to forever….all the way to infinity.
From 0 to 100 kilometres
Elco had been working in advertising since she graduated. But due to the erratic working style of the industry and the notoriously long hours, she often ate meals at irregular hours, and ended up putting on a lot of weight, and seeing her health gradually decline. But then she got lucky. She met Morrisey. His past experience of transforming himself from a fat guy into a fit guy inspired her to get into sports. Under Morrissey’s guidance, she changed from someone who could barely finish a 5-minute run, to a super-fit runner who could whizz through 10K runs, half-marathons, full-marathons and even a 100-km mountain race. Now Elco and Morrissey are married and are running their kilometres together.
Elco has now traveled to many different parts of the world and participated in lots of international competitions. She has run over 30 marathons and mountain races, and won the 1st runner up in the 2017 China Coast Marathon (woman category). With more and more racing experience, Elco found that long distance running can be a risky sports without the right skills. So she started to study the sport formally, and gradually attained professional qualifications as an Advanced Personal Fitness Trainer, a long distance running instructor, and also in nutrition and stretching. She hoped to help herself and friends practice sports safely and enjoyably.
From runner to trainer
Sports has not only become a passion for Elco, but also brought her to a different path in life. At one point, her good friend, Sammy asked her to be his personal trainer. She agreed, and over the next six months planned and witnessed his transformation from a fat guy to a marathon runner. This experience brought her lots of satisfaction, and became a turning point in her life, she decided to quit advertising and work full-time in the sports field.
Two years ago, she started the “Ironman Family” with her partner, and created a regular programme of classes that combine both sports and fun elements specially designed for kids. “I wanted to encourage kids to be more active, as the age between 5 and 10 is a very crucial time for respiratory and muscle development.” She said. “And since the study and exam pressures on kids is so heavy nowadays, we hoped to create a relaxed and fun atmosphere for kids to learn running happily.” She thinks, whether adults or kids, we should all train to give ourselves strong bodies and take sports as part of everyday family activity.
From inspirations to infinity
When it comes to her personal dreams, Elco really wanted to organize an annual charity running competition. With the knowledge of marketing and promotion she gained in her years in advertising, together with her experience as a runner, she successfully co-organized the “Run For Infinity” programme two years ago. It was first held in Lan Kwai Fong. Having a running competition in a venue famed for partying, eating and drinking was quite a revolution. Through this competition, apart from achieving her fundraising goals, Elco also created a fun competition for those who love running.
“Run For Infinity” has now been held for two years, and Elco hopes this will be an annual event that will keep going. She says that the spirit of infinity is that when one competition ends, it simply marks the beginning of the next one. She wants to inspire people to embrace the spirit of infinity. No matter what age you are, you can fit sports into your everyday life and keep it up as a lifetime run.
Going for a healthy life with no limits, are you ready? Get set, go!
Run For Infinity Fan Page
Ironman Family Fan Page
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