Man wins Med City Marathon on his first attempt

(ABC 6 News) – The Med City Marathon brings in many first-time visitors to Rochester, but there are few who finish their first full marathon in first place.

“I wasn’t really intending to do a marathon for a long while, it didn’t sound exciting to me. but like a few months ago my friends told me, ‘Hey Ali, do you want to do this marathon in Rochester, in May?’ I was like; ‘sure, why not?”

Ali Ali and his friends made their first visit to Rochester from the Waterloo, Iowa, area to participate in the med city marathon Saturday. their expectations were not to finish first but simply to have a good time.

“It was awesome. I and Ali ran together for about 17 miles so it was awesome to have him there and yeah, then he took off.”

Ali’s training regimen was not a typical one for someone preparing themselves for a marathon. from march 22 to April 20, Ali was partaking in Ramadan. fasting every day for a month changed how he had to approach his preparation for the marathon.

“I wanted to be proactive about my training during Ramadan and set myself up for success. I didn’t want to be, like, self-defeating with it, just like, I’m gonna do two miles every day, be consistent, and it worked out.”

the results of the marathon are still surreal for Ali and his friends and they’ll remember their first trip to Rochester for a long time.

“I’m proud of him. it’s really impressive. we train together a lot so I know he’s really good.”

“It still hasn’t hit, it still doesn’t feel real, but like, yeah. I’m really happy about it.”

Ali and his friends hope to return to Rochester again this summer to take in the city’s scenery under more relaxing circumstances.