Wow okay now I’m gonna take you outside
into the world of sports I’ll begin with
just imagine you are swimming in an open
sea for almost four kilometres and then
you cycle for a hundred and eighty
kilometres and then at the end you
finish it with a full marathon 42.2
kilometres yes that is an Ironman race
on October the 2nd 2016 I became the
first Egyptian mother more importantly
over the age of 50 to finish a full
Ironman race I am Egyptian I am a mother
and I am an athlete three identities in
one back home in Egypt becoming an
athlete makes these three identities and
one appear to be paradoxical
incompatible even yet the three
identities have evolved from a simple
habit of responding with why not every
time I need a challenge that challenge
came was the Ironman and it was way out
of my comprehension out of my comfort
zone above all it absolutely did not
conform to the strict expectations and
norms of the society I come from this is
my story in 1990 I graduated with a
business degree and I went straight into
a banking career following my mother’s
footsteps and I remained in this career
for three years and I decided then after
the three years I am going to marry my
college sweetheart and move abroad and
stand by his side as he finishes his PhD
degree everybody around me why leave
your career why not my ambition was to
continue my postgraduate studies with my
husband but it didn’t happen
because of the birth of our two sons
still I was determined to find something
else for myself and I found it running
every day early in the morning I would
find people running in the street they
looked happy healthy and safe too and I
said to myself why not join them and I
started running with them and someone
noticed that my pace was very well and
they said would you like to join a 5k
community race with us and again why not
I joined the race this 5k led to a 10k
15k 21k and by the time my husband
finished his PhD degree I finished a
full marathon so we returned back home
in Egypt with a PhD degree and I earn
for a marathon medal and two toddlers
and the runner inside me wanted to
continue to run but I received the
biggest cultural shock in my life
running in Cairo Egypt in the streets of
Cairo Egypt is not at all like running
in Denton Texas whoa so it was a
frightening obstacle course really
something so different and I hardly
found anyone running early in the
morning let alone a woman but then again
I said that distinctive moment of why
not just give it a try and run around
the neighborhood so I would run around I
take my kids first down to the school
bus drop them off and run around just
the block was it easy no it was not it
was like showing up in a funeral wearing
a party hat
I received strange gazes yes strange
gazes what’s this crazy woman running
away from I was harassed I was even
grabbed unfortunately stray dogs running
behind me
cars viciously denying me the
right-of-way but I continued
and day by day it wasn’t the same as
Denton Texas but it did get better the
newspaper man the porter the the taxi
drivers who gave me a hard time in the
beginning now as they see me regularly
started to become my social network of
friends and support actually they were
more protected because if something
happened to me and they like seeing me
run every day they will protect me from
any harassment especially what happened
was that the most important thing really
is that they started respecting the idea
of a woman like me running early in the
morning and eventually I finished 17
full international marathons then my
kids graduate from high school and they
went straight into college and my
husband got tenured at university and
another challenge comes up I discovered
the world of triathlons why not
something new to me different but I
discovered it and I said why not so at
the age of 48 I go and I buy a bike and
I join a tri group most of them were the
age of my kids the sport at the time and
Egypt was dominated mainly by young male
athletes you can count on your hands how
many women and I was the only mother in
my tri group the outside voices again to
me are you kidding
mother on a race bike how ridiculous act
your age and I did not want that to
discourage me or intimidate me and deep
down inside I said to myself why not why
can’t an Egyptian mother be a triathlete
or do a triathlon in her own country and
so I continued training and I did my
first Duathlon race it was a combination
of cycling and running no swimming as I
was still learning how to swim but six
months later I was able to finish my
full Olympic Distance
that included swimming and not only that
I ranked among the top five women being
the only mother so these young athletes
come to me now they started really
believing in me and they said you know
we’re going to do double the distance
abroad something called a Half Ironman
and I said to myself why not Half
Ironman the outside voices again are you
crazy
you’re gonna go follow these kids dreams
the Ironman challenge started to become
a reality and you know was another case
of why not so I immediately registered
for the Half Ironman in Barcelona and I
received tons of sarcastic remarks the
one that hurt me the most was are you
leaving your kids and your husband
behind to do such a crazy race abroad
why not I now this comes from a society
that typically expects the mother to be
domesticated her sole purpose in life is
to take care of her husband and her kids
and I’m supposed to forego my dreams and
ignore my selves and I was not going to
let this happen
and so I continued training with my tri
group and five months later I travelled
to crush Lona for the race no words can
describe the horror and fear I felt when
I discovered the conditions I had to
face on race day rough freezing water
thousands of participants standing
beside me waiting to dive into that same
sea and I’m like you know most of my
training was done in a swimming pool
with a black line underneath and that
was it
I actually had anybody share the lane
with me but then why not just dive in
and one of those kayaks will save you if
something happens and I dived in I came
out to find another terrifying challenge
a mountain a mountain
I’m not used to mountains we don’t have
mountains and I’m at least in Cairo it
was all done on a flat route most of my
cycling but 45 kilometers going up a
twirling Mountain and 45 going down
without any walls or barriers to keep me
from falling off the cliff I wasn’t
trained for this and that was a
challenge again why not just take it
easy cautiously and pray that’s all I
did on that bike I prayed God please get
me up there
please get me up there and as soon as I
got to the top the worst was coming down
unimaginable was the speed to me and if
I could hold on to the handlebars with
my teeth I would have I just wanted to
stay on the bike and not fall and I
decided not to pedal that it let the
force take me down and to focus on going
to focus on controlling the bike from
going near the cliff so that I don’t
fall off and I made it down in one piece
and I find I have three kilometers left
to go and I say to myself calm down
enjoy this you’re done the worst is over
and to relax my muscles they were so
tense and I reached the end line and I
find the official coming to me and I’m
expecting he’s gonna give me a high five
for finishing this tough course and he
tells me I’m disqualified disqualified
why I came in one minute late after the
legal cutoff time and I was devastated
in tears I begged him please I had no
idea let me continue the run he wouldn’t
so I returned back home to Egypt
bombarded with we told you so we told
you so this was not for you and I again
decided why not why not another trial so
seeking my husband’s permission I was
able to get his approval and I went to
register for the Half Ironman in Porsche
Lona
say
challenging horse this time I said I’m
gonna do it the right way
expert help able to find Khadija Amin
who is the first Egyptian woman to do
the Ironman full Ironman and she was
going to coach me before I started to
the program with her I put in three
targets that I had to meet in order to
premiere prepare me for this challenge
the first target was I had to go and
look for a mountain in Egypt so I found
a group of cyclists mainly men again a
little bit above my kids age and I told
them they told me we’re going to were
training actually for a race to climb
the sada mountain where is this it’s in
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula it’s a 13
kilometer up right not like this up
right at an elevation of 800 meters
above sea level compared to 600 and
partial onnum and they were training to
climb this mountain and again why not if
I could make it up to that mountain
definitely I’ll be able to make pressure
Lona easier easily and so I trained with
them and race day comes and I go and I
find 36 men on bikes and only one woman
and that was me and I said okay forget
it I’m here for that mountain I went for
the mountain into the shock of these men
and myself I made it to the top and not
only that I ranked number 24 so yes this
49 year old wouldn’t mom with 12 men
still lagging behind her made it to the
top and target was the swimming swimming
was my weakest point and I needed a
long-distance swim so I found a 10k 10
kilometer swim and I told my coach 10k I
can’t do a 10k she said don’t worry just
reach the 3k and that will be more than
enough to get you to swim pochittona
comfortably so I dive into the water and
I swim and I reach the 3k and deep down
inside that why
not go for 5k and so I reached the 5k
why not another kilometer and another
and another and I made it in four hours
and 21 minutes
I finished ten kilometers now that was
way beyond my dreams not even my wildest
dream I returned back and I have one
more target to go and that’s the running
I needed a long distance run and I found
the Warsaw Poland marathon I registered
for that and I went and I did the run
and I finished it in a very good time
for me at least 3 hours and 51 but then
I found out it got me qualified for the
number one marathon in the world Boston
now that is any runners dream and I made
it to Boston I became actually the first
Egyptian woman not mother woman to make
it to Boston Marathon
I was ready the Egyptian woman / mother
/ athlete in me was rau ready to beat
the odds and I traveled to push Lona and
I get into that water and I finished the
swim and I climbed that mountain and
back down in 33 minutes less than the
last time and I finished my half
marathon in less than two hours and I
crossed that finish line in 6 hours and
55 minutes I made it I returned home to
Egypt and then another big Whynot moment
it was my birthday I just turned 50
years old
and I said to myself wow why can I not
do the fifth being 50 years old to do
this full marathon as a birthday gift so
I go to my husband and I ask him please
will you allow me to go for the full
Ironman as a for my birthday gift so he
looks me in the eyes and he holds me
really tight and he says okay now you’re
a crazy woman crazy mom actually but he
did agree and he did give me his full
support I registered for the full
Ironman in posh Lona
and I put in seven
grueling hours of intense workout daily
having to manage my training time with
my family in my household duties also
Ramadan came in my our holy month when I
have to fast from dawn to dusk so I had
to navigate my training around that time
fasting is not easy to train while
you’re fasting and then worst of all was
the summer heat of Cairo I had to
sacrifice the summer holiday with my
family and stay put
in Cairo’s heat that reached almost 50
degrees Celsius and I had to train in
that but I did my homework and I
finished it everything was done as
supposedly according to my program given
by my coach and I believe the ultimate
turning point in my life came when I
traveled with my husband and my two boys
to go to push Lana into the full Ironman
it was the same year and I went into the
water and I dived and I finished a 3.8
kilometres of swim smoothly and then I
went into the 180 kilometres of cycling
and came back way beyond my predicted
time and then my favorite part of the
race the running I go in and I find my
two boys waiting for me and they both
decided each one to run five kilometres
by my side of course outside the yellow
line so I don’t get disqualified again
and they started running they started
running beside me each one five
kilometres until I reached the kilometer
30 when I reached 30 something went
wrong my body was not functioning right
I was dizzy I was nauseated
my muscles felt like tonnes of Steel I
just could not move and actually I was
on the verge of collapse until my kids I
started listening to their voices
they’re not kids anymore they’re men but
they’re still my kids
and they kept shouting at me shouting
mom come on go you’re making history for
Egypt you have to go don’t quit now and
that really got to me it that Egyptian
woman and mother and athlete and me
became such a strong unit and it really
pushed me and I started running again
and running and running and they’re
right there beside me even singing songs
to keep my mind not worried about my
physical body at the moment and then I
catch a glimpse of my husband and this
wooden dance so much to me he was there
waiting for me in such a proud face and
he does not like running at all he does
not like running at all and he sees me
and he runs for 200 meters for 200
meters and he gets me to the red carpet
and as soon as I touch the red carpet he
pushes my back and he says ma knee
now you can go for your dream and I go
on that red carpet and I get my Egyptian
flag out and I wave it really high up
and I see the finish line I see my name
and the moment I’ve been always waiting
for to hear the announcer announce emini
you are now an Ironman and I passed the
crowd the finish line and I receive my
medal in tears of course tears of joy
but the impossible became possible the
three identities in me became the first
Egyptian mother to finish a full Ironman
this was my journey I broke the cultural
barrier I broke the age barrier I broke
the gender barrier I even broke my
physical and mental barrier just from
asking myself why not so now I ask you
the next time you meet the unfamiliar
uncertain uncomfortable challenge will
you ask yourself why not
people still ask me until today all the
outside voices what’s next emini what’s
next and my response is the same as it has been for years why not thank you
into the world of sports I’ll begin with
just imagine you are swimming in an open
sea for almost four kilometres and then
you cycle for a hundred and eighty
kilometres and then at the end you
finish it with a full marathon 42.2
kilometres yes that is an Ironman race
on October the 2nd 2016 I became the
first Egyptian mother more importantly
over the age of 50 to finish a full
Ironman race I am Egyptian I am a mother
and I am an athlete three identities in
one back home in Egypt becoming an
athlete makes these three identities and
one appear to be paradoxical
incompatible even yet the three
identities have evolved from a simple
habit of responding with why not every
time I need a challenge that challenge
came was the Ironman and it was way out
of my comprehension out of my comfort
zone above all it absolutely did not
conform to the strict expectations and
norms of the society I come from this is
my story in 1990 I graduated with a
business degree and I went straight into
a banking career following my mother’s
footsteps and I remained in this career
for three years and I decided then after
the three years I am going to marry my
college sweetheart and move abroad and
stand by his side as he finishes his PhD
degree everybody around me why leave
your career why not my ambition was to
continue my postgraduate studies with my
husband but it didn’t happen
because of the birth of our two sons
still I was determined to find something
else for myself and I found it running
every day early in the morning I would
find people running in the street they
looked happy healthy and safe too and I
said to myself why not join them and I
started running with them and someone
noticed that my pace was very well and
they said would you like to join a 5k
community race with us and again why not
I joined the race this 5k led to a 10k
15k 21k and by the time my husband
finished his PhD degree I finished a
full marathon so we returned back home
in Egypt with a PhD degree and I earn
for a marathon medal and two toddlers
and the runner inside me wanted to
continue to run but I received the
biggest cultural shock in my life
running in Cairo Egypt in the streets of
Cairo Egypt is not at all like running
in Denton Texas whoa so it was a
frightening obstacle course really
something so different and I hardly
found anyone running early in the
morning let alone a woman but then again
I said that distinctive moment of why
not just give it a try and run around
the neighborhood so I would run around I
take my kids first down to the school
bus drop them off and run around just
the block was it easy no it was not it
was like showing up in a funeral wearing
a party hat
I received strange gazes yes strange
gazes what’s this crazy woman running
away from I was harassed I was even
grabbed unfortunately stray dogs running
behind me
cars viciously denying me the
right-of-way but I continued
and day by day it wasn’t the same as
Denton Texas but it did get better the
newspaper man the porter the the taxi
drivers who gave me a hard time in the
beginning now as they see me regularly
started to become my social network of
friends and support actually they were
more protected because if something
happened to me and they like seeing me
run every day they will protect me from
any harassment especially what happened
was that the most important thing really
is that they started respecting the idea
of a woman like me running early in the
morning and eventually I finished 17
full international marathons then my
kids graduate from high school and they
went straight into college and my
husband got tenured at university and
another challenge comes up I discovered
the world of triathlons why not
something new to me different but I
discovered it and I said why not so at
the age of 48 I go and I buy a bike and
I join a tri group most of them were the
age of my kids the sport at the time and
Egypt was dominated mainly by young male
athletes you can count on your hands how
many women and I was the only mother in
my tri group the outside voices again to
me are you kidding
mother on a race bike how ridiculous act
your age and I did not want that to
discourage me or intimidate me and deep
down inside I said to myself why not why
can’t an Egyptian mother be a triathlete
or do a triathlon in her own country and
so I continued training and I did my
first Duathlon race it was a combination
of cycling and running no swimming as I
was still learning how to swim but six
months later I was able to finish my
full Olympic Distance
that included swimming and not only that
I ranked among the top five women being
the only mother so these young athletes
come to me now they started really
believing in me and they said you know
we’re going to do double the distance
abroad something called a Half Ironman
and I said to myself why not Half
Ironman the outside voices again are you
crazy
you’re gonna go follow these kids dreams
the Ironman challenge started to become
a reality and you know was another case
of why not so I immediately registered
for the Half Ironman in Barcelona and I
received tons of sarcastic remarks the
one that hurt me the most was are you
leaving your kids and your husband
behind to do such a crazy race abroad
why not I now this comes from a society
that typically expects the mother to be
domesticated her sole purpose in life is
to take care of her husband and her kids
and I’m supposed to forego my dreams and
ignore my selves and I was not going to
let this happen
and so I continued training with my tri
group and five months later I travelled
to crush Lona for the race no words can
describe the horror and fear I felt when
I discovered the conditions I had to
face on race day rough freezing water
thousands of participants standing
beside me waiting to dive into that same
sea and I’m like you know most of my
training was done in a swimming pool
with a black line underneath and that
was it
I actually had anybody share the lane
with me but then why not just dive in
and one of those kayaks will save you if
something happens and I dived in I came
out to find another terrifying challenge
a mountain a mountain
I’m not used to mountains we don’t have
mountains and I’m at least in Cairo it
was all done on a flat route most of my
cycling but 45 kilometers going up a
twirling Mountain and 45 going down
without any walls or barriers to keep me
from falling off the cliff I wasn’t
trained for this and that was a
challenge again why not just take it
easy cautiously and pray that’s all I
did on that bike I prayed God please get
me up there
please get me up there and as soon as I
got to the top the worst was coming down
unimaginable was the speed to me and if
I could hold on to the handlebars with
my teeth I would have I just wanted to
stay on the bike and not fall and I
decided not to pedal that it let the
force take me down and to focus on going
to focus on controlling the bike from
going near the cliff so that I don’t
fall off and I made it down in one piece
and I find I have three kilometers left
to go and I say to myself calm down
enjoy this you’re done the worst is over
and to relax my muscles they were so
tense and I reached the end line and I
find the official coming to me and I’m
expecting he’s gonna give me a high five
for finishing this tough course and he
tells me I’m disqualified disqualified
why I came in one minute late after the
legal cutoff time and I was devastated
in tears I begged him please I had no
idea let me continue the run he wouldn’t
so I returned back home to Egypt
bombarded with we told you so we told
you so this was not for you and I again
decided why not why not another trial so
seeking my husband’s permission I was
able to get his approval and I went to
register for the Half Ironman in Porsche
Lona
say
challenging horse this time I said I’m
gonna do it the right way
expert help able to find Khadija Amin
who is the first Egyptian woman to do
the Ironman full Ironman and she was
going to coach me before I started to
the program with her I put in three
targets that I had to meet in order to
premiere prepare me for this challenge
the first target was I had to go and
look for a mountain in Egypt so I found
a group of cyclists mainly men again a
little bit above my kids age and I told
them they told me we’re going to were
training actually for a race to climb
the sada mountain where is this it’s in
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula it’s a 13
kilometer up right not like this up
right at an elevation of 800 meters
above sea level compared to 600 and
partial onnum and they were training to
climb this mountain and again why not if
I could make it up to that mountain
definitely I’ll be able to make pressure
Lona easier easily and so I trained with
them and race day comes and I go and I
find 36 men on bikes and only one woman
and that was me and I said okay forget
it I’m here for that mountain I went for
the mountain into the shock of these men
and myself I made it to the top and not
only that I ranked number 24 so yes this
49 year old wouldn’t mom with 12 men
still lagging behind her made it to the
top and target was the swimming swimming
was my weakest point and I needed a
long-distance swim so I found a 10k 10
kilometer swim and I told my coach 10k I
can’t do a 10k she said don’t worry just
reach the 3k and that will be more than
enough to get you to swim pochittona
comfortably so I dive into the water and
I swim and I reach the 3k and deep down
inside that why
not go for 5k and so I reached the 5k
why not another kilometer and another
and another and I made it in four hours
and 21 minutes
I finished ten kilometers now that was
way beyond my dreams not even my wildest
dream I returned back and I have one
more target to go and that’s the running
I needed a long distance run and I found
the Warsaw Poland marathon I registered
for that and I went and I did the run
and I finished it in a very good time
for me at least 3 hours and 51 but then
I found out it got me qualified for the
number one marathon in the world Boston
now that is any runners dream and I made
it to Boston I became actually the first
Egyptian woman not mother woman to make
it to Boston Marathon
I was ready the Egyptian woman / mother
/ athlete in me was rau ready to beat
the odds and I traveled to push Lona and
I get into that water and I finished the
swim and I climbed that mountain and
back down in 33 minutes less than the
last time and I finished my half
marathon in less than two hours and I
crossed that finish line in 6 hours and
55 minutes I made it I returned home to
Egypt and then another big Whynot moment
it was my birthday I just turned 50
years old
and I said to myself wow why can I not
do the fifth being 50 years old to do
this full marathon as a birthday gift so
I go to my husband and I ask him please
will you allow me to go for the full
Ironman as a for my birthday gift so he
looks me in the eyes and he holds me
really tight and he says okay now you’re
a crazy woman crazy mom actually but he
did agree and he did give me his full
support I registered for the full
Ironman in posh Lona
and I put in seven
grueling hours of intense workout daily
having to manage my training time with
my family in my household duties also
Ramadan came in my our holy month when I
have to fast from dawn to dusk so I had
to navigate my training around that time
fasting is not easy to train while
you’re fasting and then worst of all was
the summer heat of Cairo I had to
sacrifice the summer holiday with my
family and stay put
in Cairo’s heat that reached almost 50
degrees Celsius and I had to train in
that but I did my homework and I
finished it everything was done as
supposedly according to my program given
by my coach and I believe the ultimate
turning point in my life came when I
traveled with my husband and my two boys
to go to push Lana into the full Ironman
it was the same year and I went into the
water and I dived and I finished a 3.8
kilometres of swim smoothly and then I
went into the 180 kilometres of cycling
and came back way beyond my predicted
time and then my favorite part of the
race the running I go in and I find my
two boys waiting for me and they both
decided each one to run five kilometres
by my side of course outside the yellow
line so I don’t get disqualified again
and they started running they started
running beside me each one five
kilometres until I reached the kilometer
30 when I reached 30 something went
wrong my body was not functioning right
I was dizzy I was nauseated
my muscles felt like tonnes of Steel I
just could not move and actually I was
on the verge of collapse until my kids I
started listening to their voices
they’re not kids anymore they’re men but
they’re still my kids
and they kept shouting at me shouting
mom come on go you’re making history for
Egypt you have to go don’t quit now and
that really got to me it that Egyptian
woman and mother and athlete and me
became such a strong unit and it really
pushed me and I started running again
and running and running and they’re
right there beside me even singing songs
to keep my mind not worried about my
physical body at the moment and then I
catch a glimpse of my husband and this
wooden dance so much to me he was there
waiting for me in such a proud face and
he does not like running at all he does
not like running at all and he sees me
and he runs for 200 meters for 200
meters and he gets me to the red carpet
and as soon as I touch the red carpet he
pushes my back and he says ma knee
now you can go for your dream and I go
on that red carpet and I get my Egyptian
flag out and I wave it really high up
and I see the finish line I see my name
and the moment I’ve been always waiting
for to hear the announcer announce emini
you are now an Ironman and I passed the
crowd the finish line and I receive my
medal in tears of course tears of joy
but the impossible became possible the
three identities in me became the first
Egyptian mother to finish a full Ironman
this was my journey I broke the cultural
barrier I broke the age barrier I broke
the gender barrier I even broke my
physical and mental barrier just from
asking myself why not so now I ask you
the next time you meet the unfamiliar
uncertain uncomfortable challenge will
you ask yourself why not
people still ask me until today all the
outside voices what’s next emini what’s
next and my response is the same as it has been for years why not thank you
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