Over Forty Wellness Podcast

Vincent Hiscox from the “Over Forty Wellness Podcast” reveals the strategies for you to take control of your Health and Wellness into your 40s and beyond. Each episode, Vincent discusses a variety of topics with experts in the Health and Wellness Community and with individuals with strong health story. Discover how you can stay physically and mentally fit and healthy, into your 40s and beyond. Taking care of yourself shouldn't be complicated. Listen to conversations with health and wellness professionals and those with health stories. We extract their tips, tools and routines that you can use, if you so wish, to improve your health. The guests will inspire you to attain your potential in the different realms of health. Learn at least one new thing every episode to help you improve your health. Take care of yourself using practical advice using tried and tested techniques so you can Look Better and Feel Better. 🙂

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Over Forty Wellness Podcast

"Go First" with Chris Garvey

March 01, 2026 • vincent • Season 1 • Episode 182

0:00 | 54:10

Start with two words that change everything: "Go First". We sit down with returning guest Chris Garvey—National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, primary school teacher, and Hong Kong dad—to unpack how identity-level habits can turn good intentions into a life you can sustain. Chris shares why moving back into primary education felt like learning to teach again and how play, presence, and joy sharpened his craft. He explains how simple non-negotiables—Walking after meals, Protecting sleep, Setting device cutoffs—help him show up better as a father, partner, coach, and colleague.

The conversation turns to the "Weeze Walk", a 62-kilometer lap of Hong Kong Island that raises funds for youth mental health through Mind HK and Kelly Support Group. After losing a cousin to suicide, Chris transformed grief into action by completing multiple loops last year; this time, he walked two laps back-to-back for 120 kilometers. You’ll hear the full story—moonlit waterfronts, the calm focus of night miles, the midday struggle on Dragon’s Back without water—and the practical playbook that got him through: “jiking” for longevity, early-morning training woven into daily life, and a steady fueling plan built on water, salt, peanut butter oat balls, and nut bars.

Along the way, we explore the real bridge from "Knowing to Doing: BEING. Instead of short sprints and self-judgment, Chris urges tiny, durable changes that define who you are. That lens also drives his mission for youth mental health—building timely, accessible support so young people can recognize distress early and reach out before a spiral deepens. Want to help? Sign up for the Wheeze Walk, donate to active fundraisers like Chris’s, and—most of all—Go First: say hello, check in, offer support, and be the person who shows up.

If this conversation moved you, follow and subscribe, share it with a friend, "Make a Donation". Your single step could be the start someone else needs.

https://weezwalk.org/en/campaign/200

Chrisgarveycoaching.com

Thehongkongbookclub.com

Go First: Kindness In Action

Chris 0:00

Go first. Don't wait for an invite. Don't wait for the right moment to start training. Don't not join a fitness club because you want to get fit first. Don't wait for someone to be kind before you're kind back. Go first. Smile at your uncle as you're leaving your building. Say thank you first. Offer first. Donate first. Be the first person to go up to someone and say, Are you okay? But go first. Don't wait for an invite. It's not a zero-sum game. We're all in this together. We're all getting through our lives one way or another. And often people are fine and they just get on with their life. But be the person who looks out for others, be the person who says hello first, be the person who's kind first, because if if everyone could go first, we're going to be a lot better place.

Meet Chris Garvey Again

Vincent 1:09

Welcome to the Over 40 Wellness Podcast. We all have the ability to look better and feel better. Becoming healthy should not be complicated. On this podcast, I talk to health and wellness professionals who share their stories and their expertise so that you can optimize your health. The conversations will inspire and empower you with simple tips that you can put into practice to transform the way you feel. Look better and feel better with the Over 40 Wellness Podcast. My guest on the podcast this week is Chris Garvey. This is the third time that Chris is featured on the Over 40 Wellness Podcast, previously featuring in 2020 and 2021. Chris lives in Hong Kong with his wife and two children, and we get an update from Chris in the podcast. Chris has been involved in health and wellness since I first met him in 2019. And he updates us on where he is in that journey. He has recently moved into primary school teaching. It's almost like learning to teach again, he says. I'm enjoying it. We discuss health and wellness, and for Chris, it's life. He is able to show up as a better person. He is a National Board certified health and wellness coach, supporting others without pushing them into it, getting from knowing to doing. It's all about being, he says. Being is the way to be able to do things for the rest of your life. The Wheeze Walk was set up by a family in Hong Kong who lost their son to suicide. The Wheez Walk is a charity event that raises money for mental health. The Wheeze Walk itself is a 62-kilometer lap of Hong Kong Island. It can be completed in five stages, undertaken over a two-month period. And it raises money for local mental health charities. Schools get involved. It's family friendly. Chris decided to do it. This year he decided to do two loops twice in a row, totaling 120 kilometers of walking, starting on a Thursday evening and finishing after 19 hours of walking. He has currently raised 23k Hong Kong dollars. And he would like to push this to 25k Hong Kong dollars by March the 15th. And why not 30k Hong Kong dollars? Chris tells the story of his training and the completion of the Wheeze Walk in the podcast. So good morning, Chris. How are you today?

Chris 4:10

Very well, Vincent. Very well indeed. Thank you for inviting me along to your lovely apartment here.

Returning To Teaching And Values

Vincent 4:14

Yeah. Really great. I'm really, really excited about today. I mean, this is our third podcast together, and you actually are the first person to do three podcasts on the uh Over 40 Wellness podcast. So this is a first. Small wins, thank you. That's great news. So that's great. And I actually I looked, I looked at uh I looked back at your podcasts. The first one was in uh the August of 2020, 6th of August. Uh small changes, massive results. Then we did the second one uh on the 17th of January, 2021. When life happens. So that was the book that you did, When Life Happens. And I recommend from the listeners' point of view that if they want to, to go back and you know have a listen to those podcasts because they were really good podcasts, really happy. And also that makes it you know super interesting to do this podcast with you again. And I think what would be interesting from your point of view is what's changed since we did the lat last podcast, and that's a long time. 17th of January 2021. What's changed for you in that time?

Chris 5:23

Wow. Um, first of all, great. I I'm privileged to be on the third, first time to do three podcasts with you. Um I know you were telling me over 150 podcasts now. That's some going. What's changed? Uh children, I've had a second child since the second podcast. Um, there won't be a third child for a fourth podcast, I can guarantee that. Um, yeah, I I'm laughing slightly because when life happens, like life has happened. I've had a second child, uh, Thea, she'll be turning five in two months' time. I have actually closed my coaching company um and gone back into the world of education and teaching. Long story sideways there, but two children and COVID meant incomings and outcomings weren't quite matching up. So they're going back to my original career of teaching and utilizing some of the health work that I've been doing in in schools instead. Um, and life is getting into a nice little pattern now. Self-care, looking after children, some nice holidays, enjoying Hong Kong lifestyle. Yeah, life is good, life is enjoyable.

Vincent 6:36

Yeah, super. So uh a second child, Thea. And Thea already is uh five years old. Yeah?

Chris 6:45

Turning five in March, so next month.

Vincent 6:48

All right, okay, so close to five years old. And okay, the other one, back to teaching. I mean, how does that feel for you? I mean, you you know, you went off into uh doing more uh focused health and health and wellness uh activities, and now you've gone back to teaching. How does that feel?

Chris 7:10

You know what? I'm really enjoying it again. I like learning, I like um doing different things, I enjoy experiences. It's almost like one of my values, like new experiences of keep exploring, keep learning, keep keep trying to different things. And so it's I'm going back into teaching in a slightly different way. I'm going back into primary school teaching, um, which is something I thought I'd never ever do, never wanted to do. But having children, I realize that little people aren't too bad and I can work with them. Um so yeah, I've gone back into primary school teaching, gone back into leading a department. Um, but learning to teach little people is is almost like learning to teach again. I think you can get in some habits teaching older people, almost working with adults. We've always worked with my coaching. Um, but for little people, expose your weaknesses very quickly, and so you have to perfect the craft a little bit more. And I'm enjoying that part of things. I mean I'm enjoying being completely torn apart by six-year-olds because my lesson wasn't very well put together, or I didn't say things in the right way. Um, because they are such a mirror to how you want to be, it's it exposes your weak side in a nice way, um, and so you have to be top of your game, you have to continue to learn and strive to be better. So I like that side of things. And it's also nice going back into education with the health background. Um, I'm I'm going into a work environment, practicing what I preach. I am very much trying to put in place this balance of life, um, trying to juggle the children, the wife, my own health, um, learning, uh, a career. So it's very real and it's nice going into this profession, knowing what's important, that at the end of the day it is a job. I know we can talk about lifestyles and lots of different things, but I I leave work, I have holidays, and life will continue to go on. If I ever left the profession, they'd replace me with somebody else. And so enjoy what I do there, do the best I can do, but don't get too hung up on it and um make sure I look after myself and look after the family. I mean I'm enjoying going into it again with fresh eyes and starting over almost. Fixing all the errors I did first time round, um, and going more lightly at it.

Vincent 9:32

Yeah.

Chris 9:33

You can do a good job, but you don't have to get hung up on it.

Primary Vs Secondary: Craft And Play

Speaker 9:37

Yeah.

Vincent 9:38

So I mean, as you know, I was a teacher previously and I taught I only ever taught in uh secondary school. I did a bit of English tutoring to younger students, uh, which I really enjoyed. I mean what what's what you've gone into primary education now. What would you say is the big difference between doing that and then doing secondary?

Chris 10:03

I think with secondary, you can you can reason with secondary children a little bit more than you can do with with primary children. Um so what may be deficient in your lesson, you can override with with personality and relationships a little bit more. Within primary, if it's not fun, not enjoyable, then your lesson's gonna go south very, very quickly. And so it it really makes you perfect the craft. Are you able to teach in a way which the children want to be involved in, they they feel engaged in, they're they're enjoying themselves, that they're they're learning through play. Um play-based learning. And I think if ever I went back into secondary, and I potentially in my career I will do again, I feel I'm in a far better position to go back into secondary, having opened your mind to teaching and maintaining the fun. I think sometimes at secondary you lose a little bit of the fun, um, but it gets very much into is it in the exam? Am I gonna get tested in this? Or oh, there's no exam in this, you know, so I don't have to make an effort. And it's kind of that we're both in agreement, you know that you're not gonna test me, I know that I'm not getting tested, so we'll just get on with it and and fly through this course or fly to the end. Um while in primaries, it's nothing about testing. It's not about is there's an exam in this, it's like this is life. Am I enjoying this moment? So you have to be a lot more present.

Vincent 11:34

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my experience is is quite limited. But the the question that popped into my mind was okay, you're a dad, you're a teacher of young children. How does that affect your relationship with your children?

Parenting While Teaching

Chris 11:50

I think it's quite nice. I get first-hand knowledge of of what's going on. Um I feel more connected with them in terms of what experiences are they going through on a day-to-day basis that you have more shared areas that you can chat about over the dinner table. Um, doesn't feel forced. Also, what did you do at school today? I already know what they did at school today. As though you can actually get into the weeds a little bit more and go a little bit deeper in the conversations. I I'm laughing because I don't want to abuse my position of being in their same school. Like I have the power to just knock on another teacher's door and just say, Oh, so uh this happened with my child. Um, I don't want to be that that person, but occasionally I am. Because it works both ways. Like I get teachers come to me, oh, your son did this today or your daughter did this today. And they wouldn't do that if I wasn't at the school. Um, but in the same sense, as much as I don't want to abuse my position, I do every now and again. It's like oh, can you do this to Max today? Or Max mentioned this, can you can you pick this up with him? So it's a chicken and egg. I get the best bits of it, of um understanding what they're doing, shaping what they're doing, seeing them a lot more. Um, and and we're in a nice place that we can walk to school. So occasionally I walk home with them, or the wife will drop them to school, and I'll I'll see them as they come into the gates and we'll have a chat, or they might join me in the work early and they'll come and sit in my office and have their breakfast. Um, so little moments. It's a goldlocks time at the moment. Soon my children won't want to spend as much time with mummy and daddy when their friends become a bigger part of their world. So this is a perfect time to hold on to my kids as long as possible. Get in their faces in the nicest way possible, and keep a strong bond and relationship going. Because I think you've this is the perfect time to solidify now a real strong relationship with the kids that can hopefully last. And I compare to maybe other people who are going into the office at 8 a.m. and not back till 9 pm and maybe put their kids to bed once a week. I I see my kids every day a lot, and it's lovely. I I love that part of my life right now.

Vincent 14:08

Yeah, yeah, super. And and I guess the there there are two sides to that. There's the side of Chris as the dad and Chris as the teacher, and then sort of merging those two things together. Um, I guess at times that could be delicate, but also that I can see big advantages from that.

Chris 14:27

I must say I don't teach them. Yeah. Um there's two of us in our department, and I delegated that very early on to whatever class my children in there, your classes. Um, which it is nice. I have that luxury with with the two of us. It was just me, the solo teacher, it would be a bit more difficult. But yeah, I I think I want to try and give some separation. Um, just because when I go into their classes, it's oh it's the daddy, and it's Mr. Garvey.

Defining Health And Wellness

Vincent 14:52

That must be must be quite weird for them. So this is a health and wellness podcast. Um so you know, for the sake of people who are listening to this for the first time, what does health and wellness mean for you?

Chris 15:07

Uh health and wellness is life. With without health and wellness, you don't have life. It's um life is challenging enough and difficult enough. But if you didn't have health, if you didn't have wellness, then those things become very, very challenging. It's hard to separate those two entities now. I mean, health is uh physically. Are you looking after yourself? Are you moving? Are you eating well? Uh are you regular? Um, are you going to sleep at a decent time? Do you have relationships and wellness is that the almost the after-effect? How do you mentally and emotionally see the world? And I think by looking after my health and wellness, I I show up as a better person to everything I do, whether that's being a father, being an educator, um, being a coach. Get the health and wellness right, you get life not right all the time. It still throws curved, but it's like you we all still get it wrong. It's I'm not not preaching perfection, but um I'm a better person with health and wellness.

Vincent 16:15

Yeah. And so my follow-up question from that is are you still learning? Or and if you are still learning, what are the new things that you sort of you you learn? I mean, let's see, take it back. You know, what are the things you've learned in the last few years?

Coaching With Compassion

Chris 16:31

So since I started closing my health coaching company habitual and moving into education, um, I still maintained my uh one foot in the coaching camp. Um so since we last spoke, uh, I'm now a national board-certified health and wellness coach. There's I think only a handful of them in Hong Kong, um, maybe two or three, including myself. With that, I am still trying to better myself in terms of my own health knowledge. And I think a lot of my learning now revolves around what does coaching mean for others? Because I know what coaching means for me, but I think in the past it's felt like a process. It's felt like, well, I know what health is, I know what you need to do. Um, I know what other people should be doing, um, but why aren't they doing it? Um, and so now it's taking a more empathetic and compassionate view of coaching is that well, how does health and wellness show up in somebody else's life? How does their journey look? And so for me, it's it's it's that piece around how can you support people to develop their own sense of health and wellness on their terms, at their level, at their bus stop, as it were. Um, and so for me that's that's what I'm learning. How can you show up day to day, even if it's not in a health coaching company, as a teacher, as Chris Garvey, as an individual, how can I support others without pushing it onto them? And I think with health and wellness, everyone knows what they should be doing. Everyone has a very strong idea of what they they need to do, but uh shoulds and realities are usually a long way away. And this is like the mental wellness part of things now. Many people just can't see it because of life has got heavy, work is in the way, there's there's burdens, there's expectations, there's other shoulds taking them to other places. So, can we support others around us without pushing it? I think we can. I think it's how can you just show up? How are you in life? How do you come across, how can you be there for other people when they need it at the right time, right place? So that's the areas that I'm more exploring now. Some of it's philosophical, some of it's psychological, some of it is nuts and bolts of get eight hours sleeping and eat greens and and get some protein in your lifestyle. It's it's it's like a good book. Yeah. I could have read the best book, I offer it to somebody else and they said it was a terrible book. I think a book is right time, right place, right circumstances, and I think health and wellness is is the same thing. Being around people when they need it, want it, and call out for it.

From Knowing To Doing To Being

Vincent 19:28

Yeah, yeah. I mean for myself reflecting on that, you know, this the the gap between knowing and doing, both on an individual level and on a let's say on a client level, that that's always the you know, the the how do you make the bridge between the two, between the the knowing and the doing. Because there's so much information available today in terms of health and wellness. I mean you can go anywhere, you can go on YouTube, you can find whatever specific thing that you want to find, you can find there. So that's knowing. It's easier to know, but then it becomes difficult or more difficult, let me say, to do. So how what what should uh do you have any secrets on that getting from knowing to doing? That's my question.

Chris 20:19

Being.

Vincent 20:20

Being.

Chris 20:21

I think that's the bit we're missing. It's like knowing is is that everyone knows everything, it's available to us, it's on our phones. Doing can be easy because sometimes we do, because it makes us feel like we're making progress, we're moving things forward. Um it's like trying to run somewhere or running in place. Many people see running in place as the same as exercise or the same as trying to uh change our lifestyle because I'm busy, because I'm doing something, then then I'm I'm fixing things. But liken it to dieting. Um, I think thankfully it's going out of traction a little bit more. But there's been Atkins diet, the 5-2 diet. There's there's hundreds of different types of diets, and they never work because you always think of the next, the next, and you always return back to a place of status quo, which is where I think being is the only way that we can make long-term changes. So if you're gonna make a change, that change is gonna be something you do for the rest of your life. So it's not a short-term sprint, it's not I'm gonna do this for three months. This isn't hardship for a couple of months to get somewhere and then it's all done. You're gonna revert. So, how can you be? How can you show up? And if you want to make changes to diet, then then great, make the tiniest of incremental change that you'll keep ticking. Yes, you can have blowouts, yes, you can have rebounds, yes, you can do all this because you're human and life happens. Um, but what are the four or five things that you do and you are? And if you can get those fundamental things right, the rest of it will fit into place.

Vincent 22:05

Yeah. So what I'm getting from that is that you know the being is the important part of that. And the being is almost uh those steps that you make fundamental to your life. If you can make something fundamental to your life, and that fundamental thing might be, I don't know, going for a walk after you've eaten the meal, for example. Then those are the things that are gonna make a difference. It's the being that makes a difference rather than oh yeah, I'm on a crash diet because you know I'm going to somebody's wedding in summertime and I need to look good. You know, that's not being. That's that's doing.

Chris 22:45

Yeah.

Vincent 22:46

Okay, but it's not being. And fundamentally, you know, you can get positive benefits from that, and and that's for sure. But if you want to make it long-lasting, you have to get to the being stage.

Chris 22:59

And don't get me wrong, I think doing is great. You learn to be from the doing. Um, experiment, play around with things, go on your crash diets, go and experiment with your fasting and all sorts. But then what do we learn from those that we can take forward that just fundamentally becomes part of who you are? As you said, that I go for a walk after I eat. I get eight hours sleep a night, I turn off my devices by 9 pm, so I don't look at those. What are the fundamental things that make you who you are, that makes you a better person? The things that you when you don't do them, you wake up the next day and you feel groggy. When you don't do them, you start getting snappy with your people around you because you haven't fundamentally been being who you are that makes you a better person.

Introducing The Wheeze Walk

Vincent 23:43

Yeah, yeah. And okay, I I'm just gonna sort of share some things, some personal things. In fact, in terms of you know, health and wellness, what I've found is that if you know I can get to a stage where I'm gonna I say I'm gonna be hard on myself, I have to really push myself, push myself to do this and go off and push for it. But actually the the for me when it starts to work is when there's as well as that sort of uh pushing, there's uh there's the maintenance, the the doing, the the the sort of okay, pushing, let's say pushing to to sort of start going out running every morning, but then the doing is just going out and you know, doing some running and staying with that. And that is something which for myself it's much I find it much easier just to say I just get up in the morning and go out and I I don't say to myself, now you're gonna run one hour or two hours. I just go out and start running and then whatever I feel like, then I'll do it. And when I stop, I'll feel happy about it. And that's yeah, that's my doing. That's what I would share is with your concept, that would be my doing. And feeling good about it. Not not having to worry that you know, I didn't do it, I didn't finish everything in sort of 11.7, you know, minutes. Just saying, okay, I've just done it and I feel good, and that's it for this morning, and let's go off and do some other things now.

Chris 25:21

I I love all that, and and I would even go that step further. The it sounds like you're you're a get up, get out person, building that habit of just leaving the house. Because anything after that is a bonus. If if you show up and you feel great, then you'll go running. If you show up and you feel terrible, it might be a walk. If you show up and feel terrible, it might be okay, I'm just gonna be out the house for five minutes, then I'm gonna call it a day. Then great, you've already achieved. I think too often people are so hard on themselves that they have to be a certain way or they have to do so much, and it's it's not life's life's gonna go on for a long time, hopefully. Um, and then and if this morning I don't get a full workout, I don't get a full workout in. It's but be the person who shows up, be the person who goes out for that walk, be the person who uh enters the gym three times a week, and and anything else from there is you've already achieved. When things are going well, it'll continue to go well. And when they're not, don't be hard on yourself. There's tomorrow, there's the day after. I think we're too harsh on ourselves, we judge ourselves too much on our last performance, um, not our next performance. And I think it's in it's important that we distinguish those things of where we're trying to get to and what we're trying to always do and aspiring to be that that little better, or aspiring to be that person that works towards something. And if it's not growth, if it's status growth, then that's fine. But we're always aspiring to go somewhere rather than judge ourselves by non-earth performance.

Vincent 26:55

Yeah, sounds great. Sounds great. I can I can really empathize with that. Okay, so now I'm gonna switch gears uh because I understand that uh recently you've done something called the Wheeze Walk. So explain to the listeners what is the Wheeze Walk.

Chris 27:13

Um, so the Weeze Walk was set up a number of years ago now by a family in Hong Kong who they lost their son uh to suicide. And the original Wheeze Walk was the the father was the lost essentially in and just wanted to walk. Um he wanted to do something, and so uh he ended up walking around Hong Kong Island, and then, long story short, uh eventually came upon this idea of the Wheeze Walk where people could walk around the island in one go or in sections and raise money for various mental health programs within Hong Kong. It's been going for a number of years now, and and I picked this up um two years ago when I was working at uh West Island School. Um, and a number of the staff and students were getting involved in in the Wheeze Walk. His son was a part of the ESF community, so that's how it I got linked to this originally. Um yeah, the Wheeze Walk is a charity event to raise money for mental health.

Vincent 28:26

Okay, so the big question after that what is it? Would you explain the sort of details of it?

Chris 28:35

So the the walk itself is a 62-kilometre lap of Hong Kong Island. It gets tweaked every year with the new waterfronts opening up and changes, um, which you can do in five stages over a two-month period. So it's not like on March the 1st everyone does the Wii's walk. There's a two-month window where you can decide to do the walk, as you say. In one go, or you could do one stage one weekend, another stage, another weekend, another stage, uh, another weekend. And and throughout all of this, you raise money for um the Kelly Support Group, Mind Pay Decay. Yeah, it's a very wholesome event where you see many beautiful parts of Hong Kong Island that you would probably have not have seen previously if you if you didn't do the walk. So it's it's a it's a lovely family event now. Uh you're seeing people with their shirts on, uh, it's very bright, it's very colourful. There's some artwork down in Stanley at the moment. Um, you go through Wong Chukang and you see all the artwork around there. It's it's it's a it's a lovely walk.

Vincent 29:44

Yeah, and and what I got from that was that um really how you do that walk is is open to every individual. They can do it in their own way, basically.

Chris 29:55

You see people walking the dog on it, you see people, young families, as uh many of the ESF schools uh have have gone out and do done the walk. One of the the key partners, and I'm forgetting who they are now, and it's going to come to me in just one moment, um, is a school who are one of the main sponsors of the walk as well. So there's there's there's a big push to try and get schools involved and to make it as family-friendly, teenage friendly. Man and his dog tight walking is the best way I can describe it.

Vincent 30:26

Okay, so family-friendly, maybe you could talk about your experience in the Weeze Walk there.

The 120K Back-To-Back Plan

Night Lap, Sunrise, And Struggle

Chris 30:32

So last year I did the Wheeze Walk and I set myself a target of raising 10,000 Hong Kong dollars. And I did this through bribery essentially, and a little bit of self-flagellation. Go backwards a step. I lost my cousin to suicide uh a number of years back as well. So the the premise of this walk connected to me strongly, the the mental health, and especially news mental health. Um, my my cousin was a similar age to me, he committed suicide, he left three young children behind, uh, two of the children similar age to my own. And that that hit me quite hard when you start thinking what would life be if I was looking after my two children by myself, or my wife was to look after two children by yourself. And it's it it's tough, um, and it it's quite morbid thoughts, and it wasn't happy thoughts doing this mind experiment. And so that it kind of struck a cord to me that I wanted to do something. So I I said, right, I'm gonna do the wheeze walk, I'm gonna do it in one go. But if you got me to 10k, I would do it again. Um, so my friends being friends loved seeing me uh self-flagellate and and force me around it. So by the end of the first walk, um, they'd got me over the the 10k mark. So it's like okay, I'll I'll do it again then. So three days later I did the 60k again. Um, and by the end of that lap, they'd raised another 5k. Um, so I ended up doing it three times over a two-week window last year. So this year I thought, okay, well, I've got to do something different. I don't want to do it 5k every day because it takes up a lot of your time. And so to try and find times to do it all was was quite tough. So this year is that I'm gonna do it twice in a row. I'm gonna do it 120 kilometres, but we've got to raise 20k. So I thought I'd up the ante this time around, 10, 10k a lap, try and lean upon my my friends and their businesses and have got living with disposable income now as I'm getting a little bit older. Um, so I also managed to move all my lessons for that Friday, move them earlier in the week. So I started on a Thursday evening at 8pm and walked overnight to do the first lap, started the second lap the next morning at 5am and finished it around now, it's not around, exactly at 3.59 uh the next day. So all in all, it was 19 hours of walking, 20 hours out and about to do the 121 kilometres. It worked out with a nice breakfast stop in Rapport Spay with some some friends. And all going well so far. I'm up to 23k, and I'm hoping to push it over to 25k by March 15th, which is the end of the fundraising window. It was a great, great walk. Really enjoyed it. The first 60k was a lot more enjoyable. It was nice and cool, it was a beautiful, beautiful night. You could see all the stars, uh, the moon was out. Many awe-inspiring moments, and just turn the head torch off and just walk by moonlight. It was it was quite magical at times. There was nice and cool. See some wild boars out at night time, little eyes shining in front of me, far enough away not to scare me too much. And then get into Rapulse Bay the next morning. A good friend of mine joined me for quite a bit of the walk, actually, picked me up around Chaiwan and walked me into Kennedy Town essentially before he left me and went off to Rapulse Bay. So I'd managed to get to Rapulse Bay 80 kilometres in by 8 a.m. the next morning. Stopped for a breakfast with my wife and a couple of friends and then pushed on. The downside of it was by the time I pushed on again, so to get past Stanley, then go up into Dragon's Back. I got to Dragon's Back around midday. And during breakfast, I said to my friends, you know what, I'm going to be fine as long as it's not sunny today, and as long as I'm not at Dragon's Back by midday in direct sunlight, I'll be okay. So it's now midday. I'm at the start of Dragon's Back and the sun is absolutely beating down. I'd ran out of water by this point, so there was one little error in my planning for the day. So I was having to ask some of the hikers coming off the trail or going onto the trail for some water because there's no fountains by that point. So there's around 90k to 105k, probably not my highlight of the trip. That was a tough moment, but the rest of the walk was such a lovely walk. It was just so nice seeing Hong Kong. It was so nice having time away from people, from work. I always say to some people, what what do you do when you're out on these these walks? Well, you get to a point where you can just be. I know we were talking about earlier on. Previously, you're you're doing, you're listening to something, or you've got a podcast on, or you listen to a download of a few good books going on on the walk, but at some point you just you just stop all that and it's it's just you, it's it's your footsteps, it's breathing, it's when am I gonna get my next drink of water, or what when am I gonna have my next eat? And it there's something pure about it, it's so much nice that you forget all your other problems. It just gets fundamentally down to your next step.

Vincent 36:18

Yeah. For myself, the only the only thing I could relate to that was yeah, running running uh running marathons. And I ran a few marathons uh yeah, in London, in France, uh in different places. And and really there's that you get to that point in the marathon, and it's usually of course it's it's when you're getting to sort of 20, you know, 20 miles around that area where you're thinking, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, am I gonna be able to do this? And then suddenly something sort of opens up, and then that there's a kind of there's almost a blur between 20, 21 and 25, and then you think, ah, it's only another mile to go. So I can understand, you know, what you were saying about the sort of mental thing about it. It it just puts you in a different place. And I haven't certainly haven't sort of done anything like walking 120k. I can't imagine it. But for that, I mean how do you prepare for that?

Training Through Daily Life

Chris 37:28

So I I went for it into a very much a walking mentality, and maybe the three or four months leading into it, I just walked as often as I could. If you could take the MTR. Walk. If uh if there's a bus, you can walk. And so it's amazing how much you can do just in your normal daily lifestyle by just giving yourself a little bit more time to commute on foot. Um I'm a sports teacher, so I'm on my feet all day, every day, anyways. I I'm averaging like 16,000 steps a day just by doing my day job. And so to then add the longer walk to work or take the long route home from work or go up into the trails in Hong Kong uh before I start my day at work. So it's amazing how much you could get into a normal day without too much extra training. Um, I mean, the difficulty with something like that is it's hard to train for, especially with two young kids. You can't justify being outside the house. It's like, uh hi Adrienne, um, I'm off for a five-hour hike this morning. I think are you okay with the kids? It's like, no, she's not. Um, I haven't seen you all week. Is it okay if I now disappear off at the weekend? So it it's how do you just get that into your lifestyle as as normally as possible? I mean, the previous year I was I was at West Island School, so I used to park my bike at Kennedy School and then walk up the hill and walk back down the hill, and that's an extra 7k, 6k, just walking to and out of work. Uh, I now live 10 minutes from where I work uh at a school in Tin Howe. So it's you have to slightly go out your way to go up Braymall Hill and back down again, or you go along the waterfront when the waterfront opens at six o'clock, the gates come on, you can get in by North Point, and you might walk up to Central and back into work. So, what's a 10-minute walk is now an hour walk to work. Um, so getting up earlier is probably the shortest answer to how do you prepare for something like this. It's as much as possible get it into a lifestyle. It was difficult to train for it this time round. Um, it was a walking event, which I I call it jiking. Um, it's a hike in a jog. So when you feel good, you have a jog, when you don't feel good, you just walk and you do that as long as you can. Um, I probably walked more than I jogged, uh, but sometimes I might have jogged for, I don't know, six or seven or eight K before I realised that okay, I'll gonna have a break now, I'm gonna walk for a little bit. So um, and and it's not a fast run anymore. Um, I'm too old and broken, too many injuries now to push myself too much. I now do things for longevity, and if my body tells me it doesn't like it, listen to my body, walk, enjoy the scenery, don't be in a rush to get anywhere. But that's Edman, I was pretty happy with uh the pace. I managed to keep through most of it nine, ten minute kilometres throughout all of it. So yeah, I managed it in 120 kilometres. Uh I'm using track on on time now. It's around 20 hours to do the whole thing.

Vincent 40:31

Yeah, and I think you've been through that, but in terms of preparing for it, you just whenever you could walk, you walked.

Fueling Strategy And Pacing

Chris 40:39

Yeah, yeah, that that's pretty much it. Um I figure it was more of an eating event than a fitness event. And don't don't even it's it's all relative. I I've done a lot of um ultra events and uh in my time um I started out as a as a rugby player that was pushed into the cross-country team at school, so I knew I could run. After cross-country, it was like, oh, there's uh what's a sprint triathlon? That that sounds good. Learning to swim 400 metres, just uh get out the water, and then I can get on my bike and run. Because that's got to be easy. Then a sprint triathlon turns into an Olympic distance, then Olympic distance turns into a half, and then a half-iron man turns into a full-iron man, and then it's like, oh, what are these Spartan events? Let's let's do a Spartan sprint, or no, it's a Spartan beast and oh, a Spartan Ultra, oh, a 24-hour Spartan, let's do one of those. And so I I knew I could cope with a long event. Um, so mentally that wasn't ever gonna be a problem, but you realise now for a long event, the only things that get in your way once you've got a basic level of fitness is can you consume enough calories in these events without consuming too many calories and getting digestive problems? Uh it's one of those things that people don't talk about too much on these ultra-events is the number of people who have not finished an event because they've had the craps halfway through to an event because they've had too many gels, or they're drinking too much Coca-Cola and it doesn't agree with them. So to me, it was can I get my nutrition right? And over the years I've realized I can't consume gels, don't agree with me. I can't drink calories on these events, they don't agree me. So the amount of peanut butter oatballs that I ate on this fruit was was ridiculous. They're quite gut neutral for me. So I I would have a peanut butter oatball one hour, then the next hour I'd have a bee kind nut bar. Again, nuts seemed to be fine for me. So it was my own homemade peanut butter oatball, nut bar, peanut butter, oatball, banana, peanut butter, nutball, nut bar. And so every hour I'd eat something, every kilometre I'd drink some water, every second kilometre I'd take in salt. And so that worked for me. I I wouldn't recommend it to somebody else without them trying it. In fact, I wouldn't recommend what I do to anybody else because it's very personal to me. I think it worthwhile experimenting and trying out with it. But my eating plan worked well for 105 kilometres. There's 15 kilometres where it all went very wrong over the dragon's back. And also I stopped for a coffee and a breakfast at uh the neighbourhood coffee shop in Rapulse Bay. So uh if you've never been there, go there, it's a lovely coffee, lovely breakfast. I'm not on commission, by the way, but um that was a lovely little pit stop to stop for 45 minutes and have a coffee and breakfast with friends.

Vincent 43:36

Yeah, absolutely super. And again, I'd like to bring you back to the sort of why you did this, okay? And I want because I want you to share with the listeners how they can help in terms of why you did this.

Youth Mental Health Impact

Chris 43:50

Yeah, I mean, I alluded earlier on my my cousin commit suicide, and nobody should be in a situation where. Taking their own life seems like the only option they have. The Mind HK, Kelly Support Group, the Wheeze Walk themselves have worked hard on putting together the programs to support people. And hopefully these are timely programs targeting youth intervention. And the more these programs exist, the less likely is somebody who's going to feel that they don't have an option, they don't have an out. So through through education, through availability, through marketing to people, that there is alternative options for them. There's someone they can speak to, somebody that they can be around, somebody who has some experience, education programs to help give people the tools themselves to recognize when they are going through these moments where in the more positive moments they can reach out, they can realise that they need some support, that realise that there is somebody, something, some program that's available to them that before they go too far down into this black hole, that they can reach out to someone, that they can connect and feel that there are other options available to them. And for me, that's that's fundamentally it. No woman, no child, no uh no male, no husband, no wife, no brother, no sister should be left without a father, a mother, a brother, a sister. No one should be in that situation. But that the support needs to come early. So supporting youth, mental health, I think is so important, especially in a world of social media, which done well can be great, but it's so often done wrong, and it's so often our innate instinct to compare ourselves to other people is thrown in our faces, and we've thought that we're not good enough, we're not big enough, small enough, uh, eating the right things. And and for somebody who is vulnerable and is growing and is still learning and their brain is still developing, there needs to be a better way. And I I this Wheeze Walk is such a good tool or a good system to raise awareness, raise money, and and be proactive and divide in these programs. For me, this is why it's the Wheeze Walk over so many other things. Um, you can tangibly see what they're doing, and it it's it's a community. It's here in Hong Kong, it's right on our doorstep in a city which historically is not done very well for its youth mental health and and mental health programs. I don't want to say it's a cultural thing, because I don't believe that for one second. It's just something that hasn't been done. Um, and there's a few organizations who are really making a difference now in putting something together. So that that's why Wheeze Walk.

Vincent 46:55

Yeah. So that brings us neatly on to the next uh question. How can people who are listening to the podcast, how can they actually support

Chris 47:05

this initiative that uh that you've undertaken through the Weeze Walk uh for you know young children or young people's uh mental health? So how can people support it?

Speaker 1 47:17

One, go on to the weezewalk.org website and and sign up yourself. Get out, go for a walk, go and and see the beautiful parts of Hong Kong and tell people about it. And tell people why you're doing it, spread the word of Wheeze Walks. This is how these small events grow to bigger events. Uh and the more people involved in it, the more funds that can be erased. Uh erased, raised. Um so go on and and go out for a walk, go and sign up. And and if that's not you, and if you're not there yet, sponsor me. Give me some money. Um, I'm sure you can share the links. It's wheezwalt.org and there's uh which I won't repeat now, but go on and find Chris Garvey on the WeezeWalk website, click on my name and sponsor me. I would love to get to 30k. I I set up wanting to raise 20k, I'm up to 23k now, but can we get to 25k? Um, if you're listening to this podcast and you want to make a difference and you you walking isn't your thing, give me your money, even a place that do so. Or or tell some about it and tell them to give me your money. Um, the more funds raised, the more directly they can impact these programs and prevent someone from even considering taking their own life.

Vincent 48:33

Yeah, absolutely great. And what we'll do, Chris, we'll put into the show notes all of the links or where people can connect to uh all the things that you've just mentioned. And we're kind of coming towards the end of the podcast now, and I always give the guests an opportunity to pass uh a key message. So, what would be your key message to the listeners?

Parting Message: Go First

Chris 48:55

See, you've asked me this a couple of times now in 2020 and 2021. I think on both those times I was either trying to promote my company or or promote selling a book. And I uh I've got no agenda now. The the only thing I I would say is go first. Don't wait for an invite. Don't wait for the right moment to start training. Don't not join a fitness club because you want to get fit first. Don't wait for someone to be kind before you're kind back. Go first. Smile at your uncle as you're leaving your building. Um say thank you first, offer first, donate first. Be the first person to go up to someone and say, Are you okay? But go first, don't wait for an invite. It's not a zero-sum game. We're all in this together, we're all getting through our lives one way or another. And and often people are fine and and they just get on with their life. But be the person who looks out for others, be the person who says hello first, be the person who's kind first, because if if everyone could go first, we're gonna be a lot better place.

Vincent 50:00

Great, great, super message. So very simple, just go first. Okay, so next, maybe you can share your uh how people can get in touch with you.

Links, Newsletter, And Reviews

Chris 50:13

So I am a reluctant user of social media. I I have a uh an Instagram account, Chris at ChrisGarveycoaching.com, um is one way of doing it. Or um a little side project I've going is the hongkongbookclub.com. You can have a look at um my book club website. Uh, I haven't mentioned this to anyone, so this is the first time I've probably gone out with this now. Um book club, we've been going for about two years now. We we share our book recommendations. Um, they're all linked in that website as well. So if you're looking for a good read, go to the thehongkongbookclub.com or you can check me out at chrisgarveycoaching.com. Um I don't think I've posted on Instagram um since I did the last Wheeze walk. So if you do go there, you'll see all my Wheeze Walk posts um and links to to give me your money as well for the Wheeze Walk. So yeah, feel free to reach out from there on my website. You can email me or connect to me there if people want to get in touch. Um, but yes, I I won't be the quickest to respond, but I do look at them.

Vincent 51:19

Absolutely super, and I thank you so much, Chris, for for uh doing the podcast, our third podcast. You're the first person to do a third podcast, so there's another first for you. And yeah, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed talking to you, and I think from the listener's point of view, so many good messages and everything that you've shared that you've really added some value back into what people can listen to. Thank you very much.

Chris 51:44

No, I appreciate you, Vincent. The fact that this is our third podcast, and you've been going for uh six years now on this project. You're epitomizing the being. I love what you've done with the podcast. I love how you're getting health out to certain people. So hats off to you. Uh you are one of my role models, and someone when I grow up, I would like to be. Thanks, Vincent.

Vincent 52:14

I really enjoyed the podcast of Chris with some super takeaways. And here are my takeaways. Number one, go first. Don't wait for an invite. Number two, be the person who shows up. Number three, don't be too hard on yourself. Number four, build training into your daily routines, into your lifestyle. Number five, most importantly, support the initiative of the Wee Swalk. Links are in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review. Please share with your family and friends. You're welcome to email me with feedback, comments and questions at vincent.hiscox@outlook.com. Would you enjoy getting a short weekly email from me where I share simple tips that you can put into practice to improve your health? Subscribe to Vincent's Wellness Newsletter at vincent1cd.substack.com If you are looking to get into the best shape of your life, to look and feel your best, visit my coaching website procoach.app forward slash vincent-iscox. All of the references to the websites will be in the show notes. And don't forget to share the episode with a friend.