Running+Bio+on+Mohammed

Running Bio on Mohammed

Mohammed has been running since 2005 and bridged over from hiking trails. His love for nature and for the woods of Appalachia made the bridge into ultra marathons feel natural. At first he started with 5k’s, and 10’s, and then ran his first half marathon in just under 2 hours. Once he started, he couldn’t stop running, and continues to explore new adventures for himself thru this vast world that we live in. He writes a [|blog] on his adventures which help him document his experiences and at the same time share them with whoever is interested in reading about his experiences.

Soon after he started going the distance Mohammed paid a visit to the Grand Canyon with a rim to rim crossing in 120 degree heat from the North rim to the South rim. He fell in love with the mountains and began to get involved with high altitude mountaineering summiting both large and small mountains. He climbed up Humphreys Peak, Mt. Baker (twice), ran his first Marathon in Montreal, summited Mt. Rainier, and then ran his very first ultra marathon on 10.7.2006 in Greensboro, NC at the Triple Lakes 40 miler.

Not knowing what to expect, Mohammed ran thru the woods and lakes of the Greensboro watershed planting a seed that would shape his life to come. Later that year he would run his hometown marathon, the Thunder Road, and finish his first ALTAR ultra; 32 miles on the Art Loeb Trial on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. He knew he would be back for more!

Mohamed then planned a few back to back adventures in early 2007. On new year’s Mohammed went for a 24 mile run in the Smokies with new friends Adam Hill, Carl Laniak, Matt Kirk, Brian Bedun, and Sarah Alomodovar. Only a week later Mohammed runs with Mickey Mouse at the Disney Marathon for fun. A week later he travels to the other side of the world an runs the Dubai marathon and climbs Kilimanjaro. Then Mohammed runs his first Mount Mitchell Challenge, and then a Umstead marathon. Later Mohammed attempts his first 100 miler at Umstead and drops out at 75 miles. Later he runs the Crowders 50k and attempts another 100 at Massanutten Mountain, going only 76 miles this time. That summer he runs the uphill Grandfather mountain marathon in Boone and heads to the hills of the Morocco the Atlas Mountains summiting Jebal Toubkal and then running from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, a self created 77k on the roads of Northern Morocco. After returning from Africa he runs the Laurel Valley run on the foothills trail. Later he continues to climb, this time Mt. Olympus and Mt. Baker again in the Cascades. Then he attempts a burly run desiged by Adam Hill the Table Rock to Montreat, and finishes the 68 mile PITCHELL run (Mt. Pisgah to Mt. Mitchell). Only a week before PITCHELL Mohammed ran the Hinson Lake 24 hour classic, a NC must run ultra, pumping out 65 miles. After all this mileage, Mohammed sets his own PR at the Columbus Marathon with a time of 3:30:41 and decides to run what many call a Caribou migration, the NYC marathon.

Mohammed was determined to run a 100 miler after two failed attempts in 2007 and decides to run the Coyotee Two Moon 100. With over 24,000 feet of elevation gain, this is an insane run for a first time finish. Earlier that year he runs the Umstead marathon again, and spends a week with the family in California preparing for the C2M. Finishing his first 100 in 38:00:53 and buckle was finally under his belt, or over his belt that is. Two weeks later Mohammed shows up at the Umstead 100 to run in 50 miles with wobbly legs. Later that year Mohammed attempts a few more 24 hour and 100 mile runs with the Black Mountain 24 hour, and the Keys Ultra 100. Wrapping up the year again with the Thunder Road Marathon and the ALTAR as in previous years.

2009 brings on new adventures and new challenges. New years day was rung in on a Pitchellesq monstrous Mitchell Marathon of 53 miles with 13,000 feet of gain from Woodlawn to the Summit of Mitchell and back all on the MST. A few weeks later Mohammed turned 30, and to celebrate put on the Birthday 50k at South Mountains. Mohammed recently completed the 5 day, 126 mile Marathon des Sable in the middle of the Sahara desert. Not helping him much with this acclimatization of the heat, he ran the coldest Mt. Mitchell Challenge in 2009 with a snow blizzard at the summit forcing some athletes to drop out due to hypothermia! Also Pre-MdS Mohammed ran a 70 mile two day adventure thru Hot Springs, NC on the AT.

Later in 2009 Mohammed plans to run the Hardrock 100 miler in the San Jaun Mountains of Colorado. He plans to kick things into high gear with a great speed hike thru the Benton MacKaye Trial.