Runner blindfolded, barefoot marathon

Unlike other runners, Ramy took on a different challenge by running 42.195 km blindfolded and without shoes or socks.

Ramy finished the race in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 27 seconds and burst into tears as he removed his blindfold, which was secured with tape. "I'm still trying to find the words to describe my feelings. I think if someone asked me what it felt like to see God for a minute, I would say it was the same," said the Lebanese runner, who has lived in Dubai for the past seven years.

Ramy came up with the idea of ​​running blindfolded about two weeks before the 2025 Dubai Marathon, when Guinness contacted him and asked if he would do anything extraordinary during the race. As such, he didn't have much time to train and just "believed in the idea and the effort."

Ramy was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 25 in 2017, but has beaten the disease. He took on the Dubai Marathon challenge to highlight the idea of ​​"light, hope at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark it seems at the moment". The 33-year-old said: "Running barefoot is like life. Life is not always easy but you have to feel the pain and you have to keep going."

Ramy hasn't always been able to exercise because of chronic back and knee pain. Two years ago, he ran barefoot for the first time in his home country of Lebanon at a cancer awareness event. "It was painful at first, but I found comfort in the discomfort," he said.

Ramy was also inspired to take on the challenge through another pivotal decision in his personal life. “Until recently, I had been undergoing certain treatments that doctors said were necessary for the rest of my life, even after curing cancer. But two years ago, I wanted to stop all treatments. This was not due to ignorance, but rather understanding my body, my mind, and how you can actually heal yourself. I got my results before the marathon and they were all normal, proving that science supported my decision. That was when I finally saw a ray of light in my life that pulled me out of the darkness I had been living in for the past eight years,” he said.

Ramy also writes books and is an inspirational social media influencer. He is active in helping people not feel pressured or “not doing enough” through videos and other online content.

His book, Let's Live: Challenging Yourself is the Way, talks about his life changes, motivations, and experiences, drawing lessons that people can apply to their personal lives to make changes.

Ramy's advice for anyone struggling to reach their goals is to "do something simple" every day that makes them feel better. "That's why running is so important to me, because it's a way for me to prove to myself that I can be 1% better every day. I feel more accomplished if I run a little better every day," says the Lebanon-based runner.