A man from Hacienda Heights will run his 36th LA Marathon this weekend but he's not your average man.
"Steve Gregory"
"Hi."
"How are you sir?"
Meet Moo Lim...
"I came over here in 1980 from Korea."
He's a bit short, in great shape an athletic build....he's also run 176 marathons.
"I'm 72 years old."
Yep, 72 years old and he's got an impressive track record.
"New York, Chicago, Berlin, and then London, and then Boston Marathon."
Moo owns Nellies Exercise Equipment in Diamond Bar. He bought it 34 years ago. Back in 1980, Mo's sister convinced him to come here from Korea. When he got here, he worked at a supermarket, hen he opened his own convenience store before getting into the exercise equipment business. Moo's journey has been a tough one. There was that time in 2007, he wasn't feeling so well, had a hard time breathing, he couldn't eat, and he was weak. Doctors first thought he had a bacterial infection until he went to a blood doctor.
"So I went there I checked in a blood test. Then he said I got leukemia."
Moo says he went through a rollercoaster of emotions and couldn't bring himself to tell his wife.
"I was too scared. I'm sad, afraid, get mad. I cry in the car, I sit in the car."
Moo ended up in a hospital he experienced more complications and even slipped into a coma. Weeks later...
"And then they pushing my wife. They need a signature for take it off everything's and I can die."
"They were forcing your wife to take you off life support."
"Yes."
Thankfully Moo's wife never pulled the plug and seven months and ten days later Moo left the hospital. 27 days after that....
"You ran another marathon less than a month after you got out of hospital and being in a coma and having leukemia, you ran the marathon?"
"Yes, I did."
"And I can barely walk up the stairs."
So what's Moo's advice for younger athletes and runners?
"Cardio. First the cardio and then build up the muscle. That's important."
Moo says diet is very important. He eats a lot of fish and rice.
"You know a big bowl of chili or a big chili cheese dog?"
"I do that. You know once in a while, once in a while."
For Wake Up Call, I'm Steve Gregory KFI News