SINGAPORE – Sofie Chandra’s love for running began with a romance.
As a young girl, she was not sporty and disliked physical education lessons. That changed 11 years ago when she met her boyfriend Eugene Lim and realised the key to his heart was running.
“When I first met him I couldn’t even run 10 minutes,” the 40-year-old recalled. “He was always (interested in) girls who run, so I wanted him to look at me instead.
“Eventually, I was also running for myself. I was becoming healthier, fitter and happier.”
Her passion for the sport has evolved, and now she is a member of three running crews – Adidas Runners Singapore, where she is the captain; the charity-driven High Panters; and Happy Pace Club, an all-women club she started.
Co-founder of a marketing agency, her flexible working hours allow her to run four times a week – on weeknights and weekend mornings.
Chandra admits she is not a fast runner, but she cherishes her leadership roles and being an inspiration to the community of runners around her.
“My biggest takeaway is to inspire others, even those who aren’t fast runners,” she said.
“That has been meaningful. There are new runners coming in and seeing me struggling, and it feels real. Even faster runners come to me and tell me being able to shave 40 minutes from my first half-marathon to my second is inspiring.”
Her role as one of three captains in Adidas Runners involves managing the crew who lead the runs, and planning running routes. The club has up to 100 active runners, who run fortnightly.
The experience has been “life-changing” for her. She added: “My entire life is surrounded by runners. We make friends and are close to one another, so that’s been fulfilling. It’s all about sharing past and current experiences, like training for my first marathon and how we recover from injuries.”
Through High Panters, she also hopes to raise awarenesses for a variety of causes. She is currently looking into helping a charity that provides a home and education for girls in Chiang Mai’s villages, adding that “we want to spread the message to others”.
Happy Pace was also started to give women a platform “that can help them not feel intimidated” when running, she said.
But her running journey has not been all smooth sailing. In September 2022, she had an operation for acid reflux which left scars on her body and caused indigestion.
Revealing that she vomits every other day, she said: “I embrace it as best as I can, even though I struggle sometimes... Running has been such an important part of my life.”
She is now gearing up for her biggest challenge – the Boston Marathon on April 15. Chandra has completed four half-marathons and one marathon and is ready for the task ahead, noting that “training for a marathon helps me become more disciplined and committed, so that drives me”.
