{"id":732,"date":"2026-03-18T08:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/?p=732"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:01:19","slug":"the-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/the-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia\/","title":{"rendered":"The man who promised his wife a walk around Malaysia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim Shyang Guey is not a marathon runner \u2013 he wants you to know that upfront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has done a half marathon \u2014 one \u2014 and that is more or less the extent of his competitive running history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is 66 years old and has been retired for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every morning now, he drinks a protein shake, laces up his ASICS, and runs between 25 and 35 kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He does this because his wife cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joo Lee passed away in August 2024 at 63 \u2013 the cause was cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" id=\"instagram-embed-0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DVpTja2k7ud\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn.com&amp;rp=%2Fen-my%2Flifestyle%2Fother%2Fthe-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia%2Far-AA1YwrRp#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A4081.4000000059605%2C%22ls%22%3A3538%2C%22le%22%3A4078.1000000089407%7D\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"1385\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"background: white; max-width: 540px; width: calc(100% - 2px); border-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219); box-shadow: none; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 12px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2,200 Kilometres, 90 Days, One Promise To Keep<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two of them had talked, for years, about travelling around Peninsular Malaysia on foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was one of those dreams that couples carry quietly \u2014 not urgent, not scheduled, just&nbsp;<em>there<\/em>, waiting for the right time, but the right time never came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So on 28 March, Lim will set off alone from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uicc.org\/membership\/national-cancer-society-malaysia\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Cancer Society of Malaysia\u2019s (NCSM)<\/a>\u2018s Home of Hope in Penang and run the journey they had planned together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All 2,200 kilometres of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through all 11 states and federal territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finishing, if everything goes to plan, on 22 June \u2014 his 67th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has named it&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Run for Gold<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1YwhE2.img?w=720&amp;h=420&amp;m=6&amp;x=44&amp;y=34&amp;s=591&amp;d=241\" alt=\"Lim (centre, in blue) with friends and NCSM representatives at the Run for Gold press conference, held at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. (Pix: Fernando Fong)\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim (centre, in blue) with friends and NCSM representatives at the Run for Gold press conference, held at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. (Pix: Fernando Fong)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lim Is Raising Money, He Is Also Raising A Question<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grief doesn\u2019t always look like grief; sometimes it looks like a 66-year-old man making protein shakes and planning a 2,200-kilometre run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim doesn\u2019t use that word anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He uses love \u2014 plainly, without fuss, the way you say something you\u2019ve long since stopped doubting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is hoping to raise RM600,000 for childhood cancer awareness and support services through the NCSM \u2014 specifically for the Home of Hope, psychosocial care, and survivorship programmes for young patients and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Chair Beside The Bed Has Its Own Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Joo Lee was ill, she received treatment in Australia, where she held citizenship, at no cost to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim sat in those wards and waiting rooms for months, watching what cancer does not just to the person in the bed, but to the person in the chair beside them \u2014 the caregiver who stops sleeping, stops eating, and reorganises their entire life around the particular mathematics of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The awareness he wants to raise is not only about early detection or donation figures, but also about the full weight of what cancer costs and about building support infrastructure that catches not just patients but the people who love them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before all of this, Lim spent his career in mobile telecommunications, including helping set up networks in Vladivostok, Russia, in the industry\u2019s early days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He worked across borders and time zones \u2014 25 of those years based in Singapore \u2014 until he retired two years ago, not because he had run out of things to do, but because his wife needed him home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is, in other words, not a man who has ever done things by halves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" id=\"instagram-embed-0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DVpTja2k7ud\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn.com&amp;rp=%2Fen-my%2Flifestyle%2Fother%2Fthe-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia%2Far-AA1YwrRp#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A4081.4000000059605%2C%22ls%22%3A3538%2C%22le%22%3A4078.1000000089407%7D\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"1385\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"background: white; max-width: 540px; width: calc(100% - 2px); border-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219); box-shadow: none; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 12px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">He Runs, They Watch, That Is How Love Sometimes Works<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2,200 kilometres will take approximately 90 days, staying mostly with local families, running into major towns to share meals, shake hands, and listen \u2014 then running out again the next morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is looking forward, he says, to the stretch through Melaka \u2014 where his wife spent some years of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lim thinks more people his age should run \u2014 not marathons, not 2,200 kilometres, just a little more than walking \u2014 because when you run, you meet people, someone knows someone, you end up at \u2018yamcha\u2019 (tea session), and you end up with more life than you had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retirement, in Lim\u2019s telling, is not a closing down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His son is 28, and his daughter is 32; they both live in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They will be watching from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" id=\"instagram-embed-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUt0Tfdk3tf\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn.com&amp;rp=%2Fen-my%2Flifestyle%2Fother%2Fthe-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia%2Far-AA1YwrRp#%7B%22ci%22%3A1%2C%22os%22%3A4082.4000000059605%2C%22ls%22%3A3538%2C%22le%22%3A4078.1000000089407%7D\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"1010\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"background: white; max-width: 540px; width: calc(100% - 2px); border-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219); box-shadow: none; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 12px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0px;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Run for Gold begins on 28 March, from the NCSM\u2013MPPP Home of Hope in Penang. Donations and further information are available at runforgold.my. Members of the public are welcome to join Lim for any stretch of the run along the route.<\/em>&nbsp;<em>To donate, transfer directly to The National Cancer Society of Malaysia, Alliance Bank account&nbsp;<strong>1408 200 1313 2532<\/strong>, with the reference&nbsp;<strong>Run For Gold<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original Article:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-my\/lifestyle\/other\/the-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia\/ar-AA1YwrRp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The man who promised his wife a walk around Malaysia<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.therakyatpost.com\/news\/malaysia\/2026\/03\/13\/the-man-who-promised-his-wife-a-walk-around-malaysia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Man Who Promised His Wife A Walk Around Malaysia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lim Shyang Guey is not a marathon runner \u2013 he wants you to know that upfront. He has done a half marathon \u2014 one \u2014 and that is more or less the extent of his competitive running history. He is 66 years old and has been retired for two years. Every morning now, he drinks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":802,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions\/802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runforgold.my\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}