How Pinkathon Is Inspiring Indian Women To Run And Create Awareness On Women’s Health

Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” These three women dreamt of a healthy life, for themselves, and for all the women around them, and ran from Mumbai to Pune to help support their cause.

Sharmila Munj, Aparna Bhingarkar D’souza, and Sonia Kulkarni wanted to create awareness about Breast Cancer and women’s health issues. These Mumbai women decided that they would achieve their goals by running for the cause.They ran a distance of 160 km from Mumbai to Pune over a three day period from 9-11 November, 2016.

Their Motivation
Aparna, a corporate professional, and a mother of two teenagers, suffered a severe facial paralysis when her oldest was just three years old. With motivation from her little girl to see her mumma smile, she made a full recovery. She started running as a way to keep fit, and still be able to enjoy all the food she loves. Three years and many miles under her shoes, she decided to do the Mumbai-Pune run.

Sonia, a PR evangelist, and a single mom of two, battled sciatica, hypothyroidism and high blood pressure constantly. At a time after the birth of her second child few years ago, when she weighed her highest at 104 kg, she reached the lowest point in her life. She wanted to change this, and with encouragement from her sons and inspiration and strength from her mother, she started her journey towards a healthier, and fitter life. Today, she has overcome all her health problems and is an active runner.

Sharmila, an entrepreneur, and a mother, had high levels of anxiety due to a late entry into motherhood. Her child inspired her to get fitter and healthier, which brought her to running. She did the Mumbai-Pune run because she believes that all women should do a voluntary reboot to find new facets within them.

They started from Shivaji Park in Mumbai at 5 am on 9 November, and finished in Pune on 11 November towards the evening. Pulled muscles, blisters, injuries, the challenging terrain of western ghats, only strengthened their resolution and ignited their spirits. And after the successful completion of the run, they are now travelling for more volunteer work across the country.

All three women are Pinkathon Ambassadors, and have been associated with various activities of Pinkathon over the years. They did this run under the #SpiritOfPinkathon.

What is Pinkathon?
Pinkathon is India’s Biggest Women’s Run which started in 2012. The marathon aims at getting more and more women to adopt a fitter lifestyle for themselves and their families, and to highlight the need for increased awareness about Breast cancer and other women’s health issues that put their lives at risk.

The inaugural race in Mumbai hosted 2,000 runners. By 2015, the race also reached Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Guwahati.

The Logical Indian salutes these women for their indomitable spirit and willpower. We encourage all men and women to engage in an active and healthy lifestyle. Even a 20-30 minute exercise routine every day has proven to have many benefits in the long run. Health is after all the biggest wealth there is.