Athlete profile: Derek 'Dr Shoe' Li
January 27, 2017
Long-time readers of Second Wind Magazine might remember an article we published in March 2015 featuring marathon runner Derek Li. The main focus of that story was how Li transformed himself from being a much-decorated triathlete to a pure marathon runner. This process culminated with the family doctor qualifying for the Boston Marathon – the unofficial marathon world championships – thanks to a 2:47 effort at the Gold Coast Marathon in 2013.
At the time of March 2015 article, Li hadn’t given up on the idea of triathlon altogether, but the running bug has since taken such a hold of him that returning to a swim/bike/run regime looks increasingly unlikely.
The 34-year-old Li now has nine marathons in the bank, with his current PB for the 42.2km distance standing at 2:42. He achieved that at the 2014 Boston Marathon, the very race that the pursuit of which turned him from a triathlete into a pure runner.
An interesting by-product of Li’s love affair with running has been an impressive accumulation of running shoes … around 100 pairs of them! And that doesn’t include the ones he’s chucked out. Even more remarkable is that he’s amassed his treasure of treads in a little over two years; that works out to roughly a pair a week
Long-time readers of Second Wind Magazine might remember an article we published in March 2015 featuring marathon runner Derek Li. The main focus of that story was how Li transformed himself from being a much-decorated triathlete to a pure marathon runner. This process culminated with the family doctor qualifying for the Boston Marathon – the unofficial marathon world championships – thanks to a 2:47 effort at the Gold Coast Marathon in 2013.
At the time of March 2015 article, Li hadn’t given up on the idea of triathlon altogether, but the running bug has since taken such a hold of him that returning to a swim/bike/run regime looks increasingly unlikely.
The 34-year-old Li now has nine marathons in the bank, with his current PB for the 42.2km distance standing at 2:42. He achieved that at the 2014 Boston Marathon, the very race that the pursuit of which turned him from a triathlete into a pure runner.
An interesting by-product of Li’s love affair with running has been an impressive accumulation of running shoes … around 100 pairs of them! And that doesn’t include the ones he’s chucked out. Even more remarkable is that he’s amassed his treasure of treads in a little over two years; that works out to roughly a pair a week