Sami Qatami – My Story with Sports and Running, Part 2/1
My name is Sami Qatami. My story with running isn’t a long one—I still consider myself a newcomer to the sport—but it began in a strange way I hadn’t expected, which is why I wanted to share it with others to encourage them to exercise.
The story began within the walls of my workplace, where I would go out with some friends and coworkers to smoke during breaks. At that time, I didn’t really care much about health or what I ate; all I cared about was enjoying my time with my friends.
One day, I was standing outside with some friends during a break to smoke. A group of foreigners in athletic clothes and gear walked past us; they were heading to the gym that our workplace provides free of charge to all employees. I looked at them and noticed that they were all older than me, some were in their forties and others were over sixty. I admired their physiques, which showed their commitment to exercise, and it was clear to me that they possessed a level of fitness and flexibility that I wasn’t used to seeing among my friends.
I asked myself, “Are you happy with what you’ve achieved at the age of thirty-six? Does it make you happy to see a man approaching seventy who seems more agile and flexible than you?” I felt a pang of jealousy, and I was overcome by an inner desire to make a change in my lifestyle—a real, radical change, not just a temporary one like I’d done in the past. Yes, I wanted exercise to be a way of life for me, just as it is for that man in his sixties—or even seventies—who just walked past me.
I returned home that evening and told myself once again: Starting tomorrow morning, I’ll be a new person—someone completely different from who I am today. Those foreigners I saw this morning aren’t in any way better than me or us as Arabs; Our current situation is of our own making, just as theirs is of theirs. By adopting an active lifestyle and a healthy diet, I’ll become better than them, and I won’t let this time be like the others. Starting tomorrow morning, I’ll be a new person, and nothing will stop me. I set my phone alarm and went to bed.
My alarm went off around 5:00 a.m. I opened my eyes and remembered what I had resolved to do the night before. I jumped out of bed, washed my face and brushed my teeth, put on my workout clothes, and left the house around 6:00 a.m., heading straight to the gym at my workplace. This went on for several days in a row until I began to feel that my physical fitness had actually improved, which motivated me to quit smoking at the end of 2018—though I later resumed in mid-2020, but only on special occasions.
One day, while I Run on the treadmill and had set a goal of running for fifteen minutes—that was the absolute limit for me. I glanced at the machine next to me and saw a man who I thought was over seventy, running on the treadmill as if he were a young man in the prime of his life. My curiosity prompted me to watch him, He ran for over a full hour at a pace I couldn’t even maintain for the fifteen minutes I’d recently managed to reach after grueling efforts. I wondered, How could someone over seventy be so strong and agile? How could he endure all that running at his age? I thought about those questions more than once and found no answer other than determination, training, and commitment. I decided once again that this was what I would do, and I made a firm commitment to going to the gym.
