Our real experience at the Acer Colorfest Electric AI Night Run

The Acer Colorfest Electric AI Night Run was technically the main event of our weekend, but looking back, it almost felt like there was just a random run in the middle of all our shopping, eating, catching up, and spending time together.

There were six of us: me, my boyfriend Elijah, my older sister Ate Camyl, her friend of 20 years Ate Hanie, my swimming and water polo teammate—and now very close friend—Ate Jobelyn, and Ate Jobelyn’s best friend, Ate Thet.

I was just so happy and lucky that my community wanted to spend this weekend with me. The run gave us a reason to meet up, but before we even started, we were already having so much fun.

Before the event, we were already making a whole weekend out of it

We wanted to have a lot of time to rest before and after the event because, you know, we are all basically 28 to 34-year-old people. We needed energy.

Even before the event, we ended up buying light-up things for ourselves. I bought star-shaped light sticks, while Ate Jobelyn bought colourful hair ties for everybody. Since Elijah was not exactly going to wear the same hair tie, I bought him this light-up star headband with two stars sticking out of it. It was so cute.

Because the event was in the Mall of Asia area, we decided to book an Airbnb nearby instead of forcing ourselves to travel all the way home late at night. That way, we had somewhere to get ready, leave our things, eat, sleep, and recover after the run.

Before checking in, we were already shopping and eating at restaurants we liked. We went to Decathlon to buy some last-minute gear because, obviously, you also have to be cute. What really worked best with my community was that we were all girly pops—except for Elijah, of course.

So even beforehand, all of my best friends already looked so, so sweet and adorable together. When we finally met up at the Airbnb, we were just chit-chatting, catching up, and talking about our lives. Then we started doing our makeup together, which was honestly already such a fun time.

It was very: “Do you have eyeliner?” “Can I borrow your blush?” “Should I wear this?” “You should buy this blush.”

That is really what womanhood—or girlhood, I guess—is about sometimes. It is just spending time with your friends, helping each other get ready, and being very happy with each other. I was even planning to make everybody breakfast the next morning, even though we all knew we would probably be too tired to function.

Once we were ready, we booked a Grab going to the event. It was still a bit of a walk from the Airbnb, and we did not want to be sweaty before we even got there. We wanted to save the sweating for the actual run.

We arrived early, got coffee, took photos, and almost got sleepy

We were a little too early for our gun start, but it was okay because we just walked around, got coffee, took a lot of photos, listened to the music, and continued talking to each other. As almost-30-year-olds, actual 30-somethings, and older sisters, we did get a little sleepy while waiting. Thankfully, the chattiness—and the tea we were talking about—really woke us up.

A few hours before the event, it had been raining heavily, so I was also thankful that the weather cleared. I am very spiritual in that way, so I was thinking, “Okay, inuubos na ni God yung ulan.”

Maybe that was His way of making sure we would not get rained on later. Parang, okay, since there is going to be a run, ilabas na natin lahat ng ulan ngayon para wala na mamaya. Thankfully, that was basically what happened, and we were able to do the run without heavy rain.

Then came the actual run

Before we started, we were interviewed near the starting line and asked what our message was for the runners.

As someone who is getting back into her fitness journey, I just wanted to remind myself—and other people—that I was able to do this safely and in a fun way.

So my message was: Be safe, and have fun.

Ate Jobelyn and Ate Thet were doing the five-kilometre run, so of course they were already ahead of us. I also told Elijah to go and run as fast as he could because I wanted him to enjoy his own pace too. I was so proud of all three of them.

Meanwhile, Ate Camyl and Ate Hanie stayed with me throughout my speed-walking journey, and they were really, really good to me.

We were just walking, talking, laughing, and making the most out of the route. When we could no longer hear the music from the main event, we made our own music.

At one point, we were singing Pussycat Dolls songs and trying to strut while walking. We were basically turning the course into our own runway because we still wanted to have fun, even when there was no music around us anymore.

That was really what the run was for us. We walked, talked, sang, laughed, and kept each other company the whole time.

By the end, we were honestly just very sleepy

As soon as we finished, we were already feeling a little uncomfortable because, obviously, we had been moving for hours.

We collected some freebies, and I think there was an email saying that some of the medals would be delivered. We knew there were concerns happening around the medal distribution, but by that point, we did not want to line up anymore.

Everybody was so sleepy.

So we decided to leave early, cool down, and walk back to the Airbnb.

Even while walking back, we were still talking and debriefing about what happened. We were already giving each other recovery advice like, “You should get a massage for that,” or “Your legs are going to hurt tomorrow.”

It was just so fun being together in all our pain.

The Airbnb became our very sleepy after-party

When we got back, we ordered simple food from downstairs—cooked noodles, eggs, and easy snacks that we could eat after the event and again the following morning. People were also making reservations for the bathroom. “I want to go first.” “No, I’m going next.” “Please hurry.”

It was so funny because everybody was tired, hungry, and just trying to recover at the same time. We talked a lot about our experience. Ate Jobelyn and Ate Thet told us about their five-kilometre run, while the rest of us compared how our bodies were feeling. More than anything, we were just happy that we got to work out together.

Then, of course, we all passed out.

The Airbnb room had six beds, and there were six of us, so everybody had their own bed. There were two people snoring in the group, and somehow, both of them ended up in the same corner bunk bed.

So that became the snoring area, while the other bunk bed became the quiet area.

It actually worked out because the people snoring were beside each other, so they did not bother everyone else as much.

Once we decided it was time to sleep, everybody was asleep within the next hour.

The next morning, we became PBB housemates

We woke up at around 9:30 a.m., and because there were six of us in one room, we started joking that we felt like we were inside the Pinoy Big Brother house.

Someone played the PBB theme song, and suddenly, we were all housemates waking up and figuring out our agenda for the day. Naturally, our first agenda was food.

After everything that happened the night before, we wanted to eat a lot, so we drove to another mall and ate at our family favourite hot pot place, Zen Bao.

We ate, talked, and continued discussing the run.

After that, we went back to Decathlon to do a little more shopping and invest in more fitness outfits and equipment. Then we got coffee because we were getting sleepy again, and we just continued talking.

It really turned into a whole friendship weekend. There was shopping before the run, shopping after the run, makeup, coffee, hot pot, sleeping, snoring, bathroom schedules, and a random athletic event in the middle of everything.

And honestly, that was what made it so fun.

The Acer Colorfest Electric AI Night Run gave us a reason to spend time together, but my favourite part was really having my community there with me.

I was happy that Ate Camyl and Ate Hanie stayed with me during my speed-walking journey. I was proud of Ate Jobelyn, Ate Thet, and Elijah for doing the run at their own pace. I loved that we could sing Pussycat Dolls songs when the music disappeared, make jokes while our bodies hurt, and somehow turn one fun run into an entire weekend together.

We signed up for the event, but what I really got was time with people I love—and that was the best part of the whole experience.

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PS: We also know about the medal situation and the concerns raised by other runners after the event. We are not trying to dismiss what happened or tell anyone how they should feel about their experience. This is simply what happened to our group and what we personally focused on throughout the weekend.