Her health ordeal merely slowed, but never stopped, her insatiable hunger for running.
The former lawyer, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in July 2017, returned to running two months after her surgery and ran up to three kilometres during her chemotherapy.
Upon being declared cancer-free, she took part in the 2019 London Marathon, adding to her exploits at major marathons in Berlin (2013), Chicago (2014), Sydney (2016/2018) and Shenzhen (December 2017/2019).
Penang-born Karen has completed 85 marathons since she first ran 42km at the Penang Bridge Marathon in 2010 at the age of 41.
She blazed through 48 marathons, one a month, between 2011 and 2014, once running 42km and 10km on the same day.
In 2011, Karen completed an extraordinary challenge: she ran her first ultramarathon (50k) in Singapore in the morning followed by a 10km night run in Putrajaya on the same day.
She took up a challenge with a friend to compete in the ultramarathon and to then run in the Putrajaya Night Marathon on the same day to raise money for the Orang Asli.
“Running for me is a human thrill ride, a means of expression and emotion,” said Karen who now runs 21km on weekends.
Karen is geared up for the 10th anniversary of the Malaysia Women Marathon (MWM) in Petaling Jaya on May 29, followed by Ipoh (July 31) and Iskandar Puteri, Johor (Oct 2).
She said this year’s races were limited to about 1,000 runners in various categories due to Covid-19 protocols, compared to pre-pandemic times when there were some 8,000 participants.
As in all MWM events, money will be raised for various purposes as athletes run to shed light on stigmas and revolutionise women in sport.
Karen is the face of MWM, which she founded in 2013, to empower and inspire women and girls to break mental and physical barriers in long distance running.
The highpoint of the inaugural MWM that year was a visit by Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon officially with a bib in 1967, at a time when people thought running could affect a woman’s womb, hence making her infertile.
Legendary Kenyan marathon runner, Catherine Ndereba, twice winner at the world athletics championships, four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and twice silver medallist at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, provided more inspiration at MWM in 2014.
MWM, the brand owned by events company IronGirl Malaysia, of which Karen is the CEO, built its name on the sorority of women in running on International Women’s Day.
Within 10 years, MWM changed the outlook of Malaysian women’s marathoning. It’s one nobody predicted.
According to Karen, the participation of women in most marathons now in Malaysia is about 20%, compared to 12% a decade ago.
She said in MWM runs, the number of women participating was usually 75% for full marathons, 80% for 21km half-marathons and 100% for 10km (a category only for women).
“It is also encouraging that more women now run ultra-trails (more than 42.195km) without batting an eye,” she said, adding ultramarathons did not require a faster pace and allowed runners to sustain their stamina.
Asked what was needed to encourage more women to take up the activity, she wondered if it was on the radar of the ministries of youth and sports as well as women, family and community development.
Karen is known in the running world as equal parts fierce competitor, positive thinker and woman who constantly encourages Malaysian women to run.
She said pushing the barriers of human endurance should not be about individual egotism but for health, solidarity, discipline and perseverance “which cannot fail to be uplifting”.
Running a marathon, she added, was no easy feat and since training was essential, time management was important.
The mother of two sons and wife to former advertising industry supremo, Fred Liew, said when she began training to run the marathon her youngest son was four years old.
“I woke up at 4am on weekends to run at 5am and returned home by 9am to make breakfast for the children,” she said.
Karen took a break from practising law in 2005 to look after her children, Liew Kaizer (now 19) and Liew Koen (now 15) “but couldn’t find the mojo to return to the profession”.
She said her cervical cancer was discovered when she was running, “so, fitness does not equal to being healthy all the time”.
“The cancer was removed during a hysterectomy but as a precaution, chemotherapy had to be administered and fortunately I am now cancer-free.
“I don’t feel like a cancer survivor because my chemotherapy was a preventive measure but having endured the ordeal, I am able to empathise with people who are undergoing the treatment,” she said, noting that her oncologist was also a runner.
Karen is a keen supporter of cancer awareness programmes, helping ROSE Foundation in its efforts to eliminate cervical cancer in Malaysia.
She has also assisted with the vaccines programme for the human papillomavirus (HPV) which is the main cause of cervical cancer.
As Karen continues to put in the miles, she hopes more women will become members of that tiny percentage of the Malaysian population that has run at least 42 kilometres.