It’s 4 A.M. on a Friday in early June when Hebah Hefzy, MD, lumbers into her kitchen in need of two shots of espresso. Hefzy is used to peeling out of bed before dawn, the only sliver of time when she can squeeze in a long run before a busy day as a vascular neurologist in Detroit.

Lately, she has been revving up her daily mileage—today it’s an 18-miler—in preparation for her first Western States Endurance Run on June 29, the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race that traverses the remote Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California. Commonly referred to as the Western States 100, it is regarded as the toughest ultra in the U.S.

The route, which starts with 2,500 feet of climbing in the first four miles, traces the historic Western States Trail, along Native American tribal land that was frequented by miners during the Gold Rush era. Starting from Olympic Valley and finishing in Auburn, the course is notoriously savage, known to be abusive to  quadriceps. In addition to running 100 miles, runners  must climb more than 18,000 cumulative feet in elevation, descend more than 23,000 feet, and reach the finish line on the Placer High School track—all within a cutoff of 30 hours. If successful, finishers are rewarded with a handcrafted bronze belt buckle. And, of course, lifelong bragging rights.

As a resident in Detroit though, a flat city with an elevation of 600 feet above sea level, sometimes a treadmill has been Hefzy’s best solution to acclimate her legs in anticipation for the steep inclines she will face throughout the course. (The race organization, by the way, recommends that participants practice running downhills for at least 3-mile stretches, because it’s the descents that really batter a runner’s legs over the course of the race.)

“I’m 50 percent excited and 50 percent terrified,” says Hefzy, who has completed 31 road marathons and eight ultra races. “I have the humility to know that anything can happen on race day.”

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Proud to be an Outlier

Three weeks out from stepping to the starting line for the Western States 100, Hefzy continues to fine-tune her master plan. Her fueling strategy will comprise coconut water, dates, dehydrated sweet potatoes, salt and vinegar potato chips, and GU Roctane energy gels. She has wear-tested her shoes: she’ll start in the Salomon Genesis before switching to the North Face Vectiv Pro.

And Hefzy’s signature racewear will be unlike other participants: a pink tutu over long running tights, a long-sleeved shirt, and a colorful hijab, a headscarf worn by many Muslim women. The outfit allows her to feel comfortable to run for hours while also abiding by the modest dress code—loose-fitting clothing that covers the arms, legs, hair and neck—that is expected of women in Islam, the third-largest religion in the U.S., and second-largest in the world, practiced by more than 1.91 billion people.

“We don’t really run marathons in our culture,” says Hefzy, first-generation Egyptian-American.

And while Hefzy says her parents don’t understand the concept of racing, she is, however, proud to be an outlier. Hefzy has figured out how to simultaneously prioritize her faith while participating in a sport she took up in 2012, at age 29, after having her third child. Back then, Hefzy could barely walk up a flight of stairs without losing her breath. So she decided to take control of her health. Her lunch hour became a window to building her fitness, initially by walking until she felt comfortable enough to progress into running a mile at a time.

And Hefzy kept going—across the finish line of her first marathon in 2014, followed by a succession of major marathons and eventually becoming a World Marathon Majors Six-Star finisher. For someone who admittedly “had no desire to become a long distance runner,” Hefzy chuckles as she reflects on her journey and irrepressible pursuit to keep showing up to a starting line, even despite the fact that she continues to be an anomaly.

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Trying to Change the Narrative

A disproportionate number of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) participate in trail running, an observation that Hefzy has personally noticed every time she has been on a starting line. She has rarely seen other women like herself in the sport. According to stats compiled about the landscape of ultrarunning, approximately 69 percent of trail runners are Caucasian, followed by 11 percent Hispanic, 9.8 percent Asian and Pacific Islander, 6.4 percent African, and 3.7 percent designated as “other.”

Hefzy wants to contribute to shifting this narrative. Her forthcoming participation in the Western States 100 is a step in that direction. Hefzy will be the first Hijabi on the starting line in what has historically been an event of predominantly male participation. As a minority woman and a single mother, Hefzy wants her inclusion to serve as encouragement and proof that the sport is for anybody, a realization that has she personally reiterated over the years.

When Hefzy and her husband divorced in 2018, and she became a single mother to three kids, she leaned into running as a way to cope and help process the life-changing transition. Hefzy would often run 10 miles, circling a quarter-mile loop in her cul-de-sac so as to remain within eyesight of her house.

“I’d have this hour where I was completely focused. Any negative thought I had I could just leave out there,” Hefzy says. “It truly was my therapy.”

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For the first time in her life, she could give running as much attention as she pleased, something Hefzy says wasn’t possible when she was married. Her husband at the time disapproved of her involvement with the sport.

“He hated that I ran. If anything, he would talk me out of it,” Hefzy says. “It came to a point where it was almost like I was having an affair with running. I had to keep it a secret because it upset him so much.”

That year of her divorce, Hefzy initiated herself in ultrarunning and completed the Fire Fest 50K in Logandale, Nevada. It was supposed to be a one-and-done experience, Hefzy says, but to her surprise, she became hooked on extreme endurance challenges.

On a whim during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when Hefzy was a frontline essential worker, she registered for the Rocky Raccoon 100-mile race in Huntsville State Park, Texas, the following year. Though she had no trail running experience and admittedly felt the challenge was out of her league, Hefzy wanted a major goal to keep her spirit up during a time of extreme uncertainty.

“The courage that I had to summon to tackle the challenge carried over to other aspects of my life,” Hefzy says. “It’s hard to go through life brave all the time. You have to teach yourself to be brave so that when you have to be, you know how to tap into that.”

Hefzy crossed the finish line in 28 hours, 49 minutes, and 58 seconds and earned a chance to apply for the Western States 100, a race that is exclusively capped at 369 entrants worldwide that attain entry through an annual lottery.

Though Hefzy has qualified twice during the past few years, she was not selected from the lottery on either occasion. So when GU Energy Labs—the performance nutrition partner of the Western States 100—announced an inclusivity initiative in an effort to increase access and promote diversity in trail running, Hefzy applied for the opportunity to be one of the brand’s two sponsored entries for this year’s edition.

As fate would have it, Hefzy was selected alongside Kenyan ultrarunner Ngugi Kihara. As a sponsor entry, Hefzy received a year’s supply of GU sports nutrition products along with a $5,000 stipend to offset travel and race-related costs.

“We were captivated by her story of proudly being the ‘unicorn in a sea of horses’ in so many areas of life,” says Amy Cameron, vice president of marketing for GU Energy Labs. “She is an inspiration not only to her daughters, but to everyone who questions whether they ‘belong’ in trail running. We believe that Western States, and the greater running community, are stronger for welcoming powerful voices like Hebah’s into the conversation.”

As Hefzy counts down to stepping out of her comfort zone once age, this time in pursuit of her most demanding athletic endeavor to date, she is confident she is programmed to handle the challenge.

“Your mind can quit so many times,” Hefzy says. “In ultras, you learn how to get through what you think is the hardest you’re ever going to have to get through. And then when you do, you are given this new sense of confidence that you can approach any problem and figure it out. That really helps with life. That’s what I love about ultrarunning.”

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