For this year’s International Women’s Day, I was running 5km with thousands of other women on the evening of 8 March. Yup, it was the annual X-Bionic Venus Run held at the Marina Barrage area. Only for women (duh), it was an all-pink affair, making a pink freak like me really happy!
Participants were given a specially designed exclusive pink X-Bionic Venus Run Effektor shirt (valued at $180) and a pair of running tights (valued at $120), part of the S$2 million-dollar title sponsorship by Swiss premium sportswear brand X-Bionic. Most of the participants wore them and so did I, but I felt a little shy being in such tight attire so I wore another t-shirt and shorts over them.
I arrived a little before the flag off, so I had to line up at the back. This is the first time I’m doing a mass run in the evening (not counting Sundown Marathon that starts at midnight). As all mass runs go, there will always be a crowd at the start, but because this was a fun run, many started walking from the start. We ran through parts of Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands, and there wasn’t a lot of space. I could only start getting ahead around the 2km mark. It was a pretty straightforward route that involved going up the Barrage and down towards the end of the run.
The weather was really humid and the slight haze didn’t help much, but I wasn’t there to clock a personal best or to outrun as many people as possible. It was about coming together with other women in the spirit of International Women’s Day and being part of a good cause. Initiatives were implemented to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation and the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations, which includes the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE).
I definitely worked out a good sweat – I’ll have to take the Effektor shirt and tights out (without wearing anything over) for a run another time to do a proper review of it though. The finisher medal was really unique, looking more like a fashion accessory. I didn’t bump into any girlfriends so I ran it alone, but that’s ok, the atmosphere was friendly and happy. I did however, bump into Zheng Ge Ping, who was there to flag off the race. After I interviewed him for Yahoo!, he has become more than an acquaintance, saying hi to me when I see him at events. Too bad he isn’t a woman so he couldn’t do the run!
More information on the Effektor:
For wearing the Effektor shirt and/or tights, we were given socks at the event site itself too.
