From Stress to Strength: How Running Rewired Ahmad Fahmy’s Life
When stress pushed him to start running, Ahmad Fahmy didn’t expect it would change the way he thought, worked, and worshipped. Sixteen years later, he’s less interested in finish lines and more fascinated by what happens between them.
When you meet Ahmad Fahmy, it’s hard to imagine that the man who’s completed Ironmans, Ultramans, and hundred-kilometer runs once described himself as “not fit at all.” But that’s exactly how his story begins
In this first part of our series, we explore the origins of Ahmad's transformation and how a simple prescription for stress became the foundation for a new way of life.
“My fitness journey started in 2008. Before that I was not fit at all, not an athlete, not good at sports for the most part,” Ahmad shares. “As a result of stress and different things at work, I started running primarily as a stress reliever, and became hooked on running. Not because I like running. I like the feeling after the run.”
The suggestion didn't come from a deep-seated desire to compete, but from a colleague who saw the toll work was taking on him.
“My colleague suggested running because he saw I was stressed, and it was his own way of de-stressing.” says Ahmed
That first jog would spark a transformation that carried him from the quiet streets of Dover to endurance races across continents. Yet for Ahmad, the journey was never really about finish lines. It was about learning to silence the noise, both around him and within.
How to Fall in Love With Running
Many people try running and quit, defeated by the initial pain and breathlessness. Ahmad’s experience was different, thanks to a crucial piece of advice that changed everything. He was taught to start impossibly slow.
“I came to love running because I started running slowly,” he says. “My first run wasn't just go out and run as hard as I can and then pant because I couldn’t breathe… I didn't experience that. The person that got me into running, he told me, 'I want you to do one slow mile. So slow that you can be able to speak to somebody.' I think that first mile was maybe in 10 or 11 minutes. And at the end of that, I was like, wow, I could do another one of those. But he told me to stop.”
That gentle introduction was key. Instead of associating running with exhaustion, he associated it with clarity and accomplishment.
“At the end I felt better than I did before I ran,” he recalls. “Before I ran, I felt kind of like foggy and all this kind of stuff. And after that one mile, I felt good. And so that's how I got hooked.”
The Mind Game: Outrunning the “Inner Jerk”
Ask Ahmad what separates those who finish from those who quit, and he won’t mention muscles or heart rate. He’ll talk about “The inner Jerk”
“Running long distances is not really a physical challenge like people think,” he clarifies.
At the heart of this mental battle is a familiar foe he candidly calls the “inner jerk” that nagging voice of doubt and fatigue that urges you to stop.
That “inner jerk,” as Ahmad calls it, is the voice that whispers reasons to quit — fatigue, discomfort, excuses that sound logical but erode resolve. It’s the same voice that tempts anyone to give up when things get hard.
“That's when the giving up would start creeping in my mind,” Ahmad says. “When I feel like something is bothering me, it's nagging… that inner sort of jerk, that's trying to get you to stop. and there's a whole bunch of mental tricks I've acquired over the years to stop that.”
The In-Race Tactic
One of his earliest strategies was a simple, repetitive task to occupy the mind and drown out the negativity. “In a race... I used to start with just counting. I used to count from one to 100 over and over again.” This simple act occupies the mind, leaving no room for the negativity to take hold.The Long-Term System
Winning the mental game also means building a system of accountability that makes quitting harder than continuing. Ahmad engineers his environment to force consistency.
First, he commits before he's ready, creating an external deadline. “One of the most important things... is I register for the race first" he says. "That sense of like, the race is in the calendar, my boss knew I was doing it. My friends knew I was doing it. That probably created that sense of urgency and purpose.”
Next, he embeds running into his social life, transforming it from a solo chore into a community ritual. “I discovered community. I joined a running club... and it just became part of my life. Every Wednesday night I'd go running with them and every Sunday I'd go running with them.”
Finally, he tracks his progress, giving him tangible proof of his improvement. “I always track myself. I had a spreadsheet... and every week I would track and see, how am I doing my times?”
For Ahmad, the battle is constant, but the approach is clear. “The hardest part is what's going through your mind. Like, 'Oh, it must be hard.' The hardest part is overcoming that inner jerk in your head, that's trying to stop you from doing things.”
The Lessons Running Leaves Behind
For Ahmad, the rewards of his new discipline extended far beyond the finish line. The true transformation wasn't just physical, it was a fundamental rewiring of his mind and spirit, teaching him lessons that reshaped his life.
1.Forging a New Mindset
The first lesson was about possibility. By consistently pushing past perceived limits, he built an unshakable self-belief that spilled over into every other area of his life.
“When you run for long periods of time and do things that you think were not possible... that's what running and these events did for me,” he reflects. “I think I can achieve anything. As long as I have the time and the preparation... I was not like that before.”
2.A New Lens on the World
This newfound endurance even changed how he travels. He discovered that running slowly was the best way to truly see and understand a new place.
“When you can run slowly... you can really get to know a city,” Ahmad explains. “It made me a much better traveler, as opposed to taking those hop off, hop on buses.”
3.The Spiritual Marathon
But the most profound lesson was the parallel he discovered between the road and his faith. He realized that the discipline required for long-distance running was almost identical to that of memorizing the Qur’an.
“Memorizing Qur’an is a long-drawn-out process that requires discipline and consistency," he says. "It was very analogous."
He explains that both journeys begin with the same internal obstacle and demand the same mental resilience to overcome it.
“Memorizing Quran, like running for most people, starts with a mental block. Like, 'Oh, I can't memorize'... It requires overcoming the same negative self-doubt or the inner jerk... There's so many parallels between them.”
In a world obsessed with speed, Ahmad Fahmy teaches the beauty of slowness — the kind that clears the mind, disciplines the soul, and reminds us that strength isn’t built in the finish line. It’s built in every quiet moment you decide not to quit.
