Westland's Mustafa Ahmed

A New Home

Geographically, Somalia is a horned nation that juts out into the Indian Ocean, creating the bottleneck that forms the Red Sea to the north. Somalia’s East African brothers, Ethiopia and Kenya, stretch alongside its western borders, and tiny Djibouti sits to the north. Across the strait lays Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, the Mecca that so many Somalians pray towards each day. This is a region of history and prehistory, tribes and kingdoms; ancient Somalia itself is a nation centered in a diverse land of savannah and desert, city and sea. It is a beautiful land, nestled against the cradle of civilization.
In a land of such wonders, human history has seen some of its worst. Colonialization once tore the region apart, pitting neighbors against neighbors as European powers staked a claim on these territories. The Eastern slave trade passed through these lands, and dictators and warlords have fought over the landscape. While neighboring governments have grown and strengthened themselves from the trials of the past, Somalia has remained a land of chaos. “Somalia, over there, there is a fight going on,” Westland senior Mustafa Ahmed says of his boyhood home. “You’re going to hear the gun every day.” Like many of his countrymen, Mustafa can only dream of the perfect Somalia. The reality is far too grim.

What makes him tick:

“Ugali, that’s one of my favorite foods,” Mustafa tells us. The East African meal, loaded in carbs, is the main fuel of many Kenyan, Ethiopian, and Somalian athletes. For Mustafa, though, it is sambusa that gets his mouth watering. “It’s like a pizza roll,” Coach Barkeloo says of the Somalian treat. “I’ve had them, and they’re good.”

Coming to the States after fleeing Somalia and living as a refugee in Kenya for several years, Mustafa settled with an aunt, uncle, and grandfather in Columbus in June of 2004. Ohio would be his new home. Somalia, however, would remain his parent’s home. “It took time getting used to it. When I came here, my English wasn’t that good,” Mustafa admits of those hard, early days in the States. “Summer was good, but winter is another story,” he continues. Confronted with the bitter chill of a Midwestern winter for the first time, Mustafa discovered that there were some things about the States that he didn’t prefer over his old home. “Winter is very bad here,” he says. The chill of isolation from one’s family was all the harder in the face of such conditions. All the same, he did manage to keep in touch with his family back home near the equator about once a month, a happy habit that he has been able to maintain to this day.
Beginning school at Franklin Heights, Mustafa did what came

most natural to him: he went out for the soccer team. “I’ve played as long as I can remember,” he says. “My whole family plays soccer. My dad played, my uncle plays. No one runs.” For that first semester of his high school experience, Mustafa followed suit, charging up and down the soccer fields of Ohio as he’d once done back home in Somalia. The soccer pitch offered him a familiar home in a new land.

Mustafa’s PR’s

800m: 1:59
1600m: 4:31
3200m: 10:16
5k XC: 15:53

First Steps

“We got in trouble at practice one day,” he says of his inauspicious start as a distance runner. “Coach punished us with a run. Three, four miles. I took second.” A friend watched Mustafa’s fluid, easy stride, and it hadn’t taken much for him to convince Mustafa to put his talents into a new sport. Mustafa would be running track for the first time that coming spring.
As it turned out, track practices were brutal, and Mustafa questioned his desire. It wasn’t a matter of hard work, though. Track practices were held outdoors, and the early season runs were held in sleet and snow. “I saw cold and snow, and I thought I can’t do this,” he says. Growing up alongside the equator, heat was all that Mustafa had known in his life. Still, he persisted. It’s not in Mustafa’s character to quit something that he’s begun, and he would see this track season through. Mostly, that meant running the 400m over and over. Exploding around the first curve, Mustafa learned the important lessons of the runner through trial and error. By going out too fast time and again, he found himself dying towards the end of races. “When Coach finally put me in my first 1600m, I went out too fast,” he says. “I died. I ran a 5:20.”

Still, Mustafa enjoyed enough success that first year, including a 2:06 run in the 800m, to entice him to stick with the sport. In the fall, he lined up with the others on the Franklin Heights team to take a stab at this cross country sport that he’d heard about. He came out for the team with a bit of trepidation (“Cross country? Am I going to be running around the world?!”), but a friend had assured him that the sport didn’t entail any runs quite that long (“Just a 5k? That sounds pretty good.”). Like that, Mustafa had met his fate. He was a cross country runner. His first season, that sophomore year, may have been cut short as he fasted for Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, but he was hooked all the same. Here was a sport where he could excel. All that it took was hard work and an innate belief in one’s self. Mustafa was ready for the road ahead.

On Winged Feet

Heading into the state cross country meet, a senior making a showing at the championships for the first time, Mustafa comes in with as strong a resume as almost anyone in central Ohio.

Undefeated in the regular season, despite fasting for Ramadan throughout a month in the midst of the season, Mustafa’s confidence is high. He has defeated all-state runners while depriving his body of any sustenance from sunrise to sunset. “My times could have been faster,” he says of his winning efforts during the holy month. “Hunger isn’t bad, but you get thirsty. When you run, you’re going to feel it. It’s hard to watch others drinking water or Gatorade.”

     Josh Barkeloo, Mustafa’s coach at Westland High School ever since the runner transferred over from Franklin Heights, agrees. “I fasted for a day with him…It’s the thirst that gets you. As soon as the sun set, I downed a gallon of juice,” he says with a laugh. Fully supporting his star athlete, Coach Barkeloo worked Mustafa’s workouts and races around his needs. “I have to hold him back,” he even says. “He’ll do too much.”
      With the fast of Ramadan behind him now, Mustafa has progressed through the post-season to earn a berth on the line at Scioto Downs. The state meet has been his ultimate goal all along, and both he and his coach are excited for what is to come. “It’s very rare to find someone who has the ability, the drive, every piece of the puzzle, and knows where he wants to go,” Coach Barkeloo says. “Mustafa has that.”
     “When you grow up in Somalia,” Mustafa says, “you see little kids with guns outside your window. When you run, the pain you feel is just nothing compared to that.” It’s a motivation that few American-born runners can comprehend. It’s an inspiration that Mustafa can’t run away from. When he goes to the starting line at Scioto Downs on Saturday, he’ll be bringing with him the experiences of a lifetime and the hope for something better. He’ll be ready to run.

SIDEBAR
      Mustafa has shown that anyone can make it this sport with persistence and hard work. Starting from the bottom, he’s worked his way up despite the road blocks. “You get nervous when you think about doing all those practices,” the senior says. “I’m always confident when I’m running, though. You give it 100%.”
      Specifically, Mustafa has improved through running more mileage each year. Going into his senior year, after a disappointing junior track season where he felt that he underachieved in the 3200m, Mustafa consistent 70 mile weeks to create that base that would allow him to dominate his senior season. “It feels good when nobody beats me,” he says of the undefeated regular season that followed. “I felt so slow at (track) regionals, so all I did all summer was running.” Looking back on the successes of his senior season, Mustafa wonders about the previous years. “If I’d done this training last summer before, that’d be good.”
      Not one to look back for long, Mustafa shrugs off the past and looks back towards the future. “The longer that I go, the faster that I’m going to get,” he says. “You have to pay attention to what coaches tell you. When you do practices, think about your races. Don’t ever give up. You’re going to be there someday.” Great advice from a runner who’s been through it all.

Coaches/Parents - Do you have any standout athletes that go the extra mile? Spotlight them at the Columbus Running Company! During the season, we will periodically showcase athletes in our high school section within the store and on this webpage. Nominations can be taken through our Contact Us page, through info@columbusrunning.com, or by simply giving us a call. We will then briefly interview you and the selected athlete.

Nominations do not have to be the fastest athletes - nominate those who demonstrate qualities such as a strong work ethic or leadership skills or have something unique that sets them apart.

The sport of running is a great one. We'd like to help glamorize it in the eyes of the youth who are the future of running. These athletes deserve recognition!