Hello, my name is Vicky, I am a (late) thirty-something year old amateur runner and a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (Class of January 2018). I was born in Hong Kong and have spent a large part of my life studying and working in the UK. After graduating with a Master of Chemistry degree from the University of Oxford, I worked in banking for over a decade and had the wonderful opportunity to live in London, Vancouver and Madrid, made some great friends from all over the world and met my husband from Germany.
Run Well
Since moving to New York three years ago, I have developed a passion for running, which I believe and hope will stay with me for decades to come. I guess it is partly because Central Park is such a beautiful and challenging place to run, and more importantly, joining the New York Road Runners Group Training has made me a stronger runner, both physically and mentally. Over the past two and half years, I have completed 23 races across all five boroughs of New York City and picked up a few personal records along the way. In November 2017, I have done something I swore I would never do - running a marathon. How wrong was I and how glad that I was wrong! I felt so grateful to have participated in this world class event and to train with my fellow NYRR friends in this amazing city - what a true privilege, along with all the support from my husband, family and friends. I have already signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October 2018. My plan is to share my training experience as I continue on my journey as a life-long runner.
Eat Better
Training for half marathons and longer distances got me interested in nutrition, beyond fuelling and hydration on race day. I have considered (and I am still considering) taking on formal education in nutrition, or maybe become a professional nutritionist or dietitian some day. My intention is to be able to help my family, friends and myself to become healthier and stronger, and to lead a happier and longer life. As a way of dipping my toes into the subject, I have recently started an online health coach training programme with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Over the coming year, I will get to learn over one hundred dietary theories and various coaching techniques to help individuals make long term changes to their lifestyle and become healthier. Obviously I will be sharing more as I come to grips with various topics over time. Maybe I will even create my own recipes for runners and non-runners alike.
What else
One last and very important thing - I will be moving to my home city Hong Kong soon. I find this super exciting with mixed feelings that I will be missing NYC a lot. On the bright side, I will get to explore new running routes, different trails, new fitness classes and whatever else that takes my fancy. On the food and nutrition side, I expect there may be some reverse cultural shock as I move from NYC, where organic whole foods, farm-to-table restaurants and pressed juice joints are ubiquitous. Then again, we Chinese do take our food extremely seriously and it is a huge deal in our culture. Living in Hong Kong will be a real treat and I very much look forward to sharing my new discoveries in the culinary world of Asia. Let's see if and how I can strike a balance between eating well for my marathon training and not depriving myself of the occasional indulgences.
