From Humble Beginnings In East Africa To HOKA Pro Runner: The Inspirational Untold Story Of Ahmed Muhumed
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.8 • 686 Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Versatile distance runner and HOKA professional, Ahmed Muhumed, joins the show today to discuss his humble beginnings and his ambitions for the future.
Ahmed was born and raised in Ethiopia, before coming to the U.S. with his family in 2011. He started running in middle school, and then became a cross country and track star at West Salem High School in Oregon. (Ahmed won back to back cross country titles in high school.)
At Boise State, Ahmed was the Mountain West freshman of the year in cross country in 2017. He was also the 2020 champion in the indoor mile in the Mountain West conference. Ahmed then went on to grad school at Florida state, where he similarly thrived on the running scene. He finished 20th at the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships; he also competed at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships his final semester.
Ahmed parlayed his college success into a professional contract, and in his rookie year as a professional for HOKA in 2022-23 he set PRs in the 3k, 5k and 10k. His list of PRs include a sizzling 13:08.73 in the 5k; 3:37.36 in the 1,500m; and 3:57.32 in the mile.
Ahmed had a successful 2024 campaign, as he started it with a third place finish at the USATF Cross Country championships, and then closed it out in the fall of 2024 with a second national title–this time at the USATF 5k Championships in New York City. His impressive range was on display as he won the Philadelphia Half Marathon in late November with a time of 1:03.15.
Ahmed earned a degree in International and Global Studies at Boise State before receiving his master’s degree in International Relations and Affairs from Florida State.
In today’s conversation, Ahmed takes me through his humble beginnings, how he transitioned into the states and went from soccer player to runner, how his upbringing shaped him, how he has built up and maintained self-belief throughout the years, his ambitions as a professional runner, and much more.
It’s hard not to listen to Ahmed and love the guy. I hope you all are inspired by this conversation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So the next thing that I would say is having joy, man, you know, just really enjoying everything of it, you know, every single process, especially the process, right? |
| 0:08.7 | Especially the beginning, especially the hardest parts. |
| 0:11.9 | Because the celebration and when you get to the finish line and when you get to, you know, to reach your goal, it's going to be great. |
| 0:19.6 | But I think what really creates the biggest growth |
| 0:22.7 | is the process to get there. That was Ahmed Muhammad today on the Running Effect podcast. Guys, |
| 0:30.9 | I love this conversation. Ahmed, I say it at the start of this episode, but anyone who knows him |
| 0:35.4 | loves him, he's got such a fun, joyful spirit, |
| 0:38.1 | but he also has such depth in complexity that he brings to our conversation today. I won't keep |
| 0:43.9 | this intro long because I'll just let you experience him in his story in full, but he was born and |
| 0:48.1 | raised in Ethiopia, came from very humble beginnings and scaled his way up through the US system |
| 0:53.2 | in high school, winning back-to-back cross-country state titles. |
| 0:56.0 | And then at his time as Boise State crushed it, his time as a graduate student at Florida State, crushed it. |
| 1:02.8 | And then in the year and a half, really fought to put himself in a position to get a pro-running contract, which he ultimately did as he now competes for Northern Arizona elite |
| 1:11.9 | that's sponsored by Hoka. So he's a Hoka sponsored athlete. This conversation was super inspiring to me. |
| 1:17.8 | Yeah, it's just really, really inspiring. I love his story. I think it's one of the best stories I've |
| 1:22.2 | captured in recent months. And he just has such a fun, joyful spirit about him as he shares his words, his story. |
| 1:28.9 | I know you guys are going to love this one. If you do, please share it with a friend or a family |
| 1:32.7 | member or a teammate. Share it with everyone, guys. I would greatly appreciate that. If you enjoy the |
| 1:36.6 | podcast, that's the easiest way you can help us out and help us expand our mission, grow reach, |
| 1:41.9 | the whole nine yards. Also, hit the follow button and the subscribe |
| 1:45.2 | button wherever you're listening so you never miss another episode hit the five-star review button |
| 1:49.1 | and then i'm hoping it's not sold out or maybe i am hoping it sold out because that'd be a good |
... |
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