ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Joseph Michael KaiTsu Liu (JMK). You’re a Canmore resident undertaking a project called Run2theEnd. What is this?

JMK: Originally it was a run from Montreal to what is called the End of the World, Ushuaia at the bottom of Argentina. I did a section from Montreal to the bottom of Mexico in 2013. It was my first time doing anything like it and I didn’t know what I was doing at the beginning. I’ve learned a lot of things and I think that a better way to do it is in sections. I’m now doing Leg 2 and I’m going further up north. I’m starting from the Arctic Circle now and I’m going to make my way down. Every year I’ll do a leg.

RM: The Arctic Circle to the Yukon, and I understand you’re going to be documenting this journey on film?

JMK: Two friends, they’re filmmakers and they have their own company. They’re going to film every step of the way and they’re going to make a documentary. Their mission is to start the conversation about mental health. I think it’s a topic that is very hot these days, because we never wanted to talk about mental health. We found it too intimate, or makes you vulnerable, but now we’re finding that people are starting to talk about it. That’s the whole point of the documentary.

RM: How does the run tie into mental health?

JMK: After the first run I moved back to Canada, to Whistler, and I had it snowboarding accident at work. I was hired as a professional photographer in Whistler. One day I caught an edge and tumbled down a very steep section. I bumped into multiple trees and shattered my femur in four pieces. In my thoracic spine I had a compression fracture and a concussion. That changed my life. The bones took 11 months to heal, so I was in bed for several months and unable to walk, using a wheelchair and then crutches. That was a huge deal for me. It was a roller coaster. I hit rock bottom. I went to very, very dark places. All of a sudden mental health became a daily thing in my life. Now that I’m 90-95% recovered, I still have chronic pain in my spine. Running is one of the few activities that take the pain away. I just want to finish what I started with the initial run.

RM: Are you looking for some support?

JMK: Anna and Helen, the two filmmakers, started a Kickstarter campaign. If people go to my website they’ll find a link to the Kickstarter campaign so people can support that way.

RM: When do you hope to start this run?

JMK: August 1st. I’m planning on running about 30 to 50 kilometers a day, five days in a row, taking one or two days off. It’ll take me roughly 60 days to complete. It’s about 1500 kilometers from Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, all the way to Teselin at the bottom of a Yukon.

RM: That sounds like a pretty incredible journey. Thanks so much for joining me on the program today.

JMK: Thank you so much for having me, and I look forward to see people following my journey on social media.

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