With arms triumphantly waving over her head, Cayman Brac-born mum-of-six Lady Rabia Abdul-Hakim crossed the finish line at the Dubai Marathon on Sunday, tearfully celebrating achieving that personal milestone.
The 50-year-old visually-impaired author and illustrator, who competed in the race to raise awareness about keratoconus, a genetic eye condition, placed 10th in the women’s age 50-55 category. She ran with the aid of a guide runner.
Abdul-Hakim, speaking with the Cayman Compass from Dubai, said completing the race, in which 30,000 people participated, was an experience she will never forget.
“It was also one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had – from the blessed help of my guide, to the warmth of the film crew capturing our experience and the overwhelming support of the crowds. And it was truly amazing to be amongst thousands of runners from around the world, all unified in a bid to conquer ourselves,” she said.
Marathons, Abdul-Hakim said, are a “burning quest for self-mastery and the Dubai Marathon offered its own unique challenges”.
She said the obstacles she faced were “physically and mentally braving the intense heat on that lonesome highway coupled with my personal challenges as a partially sighted runner”.
Abdul-Hakim, who represented the Cayman Islands along with her daughter Maliha, 25, who has the same genetic condition, entitled their effort, “Against All Odds: Cayman’s Relentless Sportswomen Go East”.
After the race, Maliha, who placed second in the women’s age 18-30 category, was grateful for the opportunity to take part in the event.
“All my hard work over the last few months definitely paid off because I felt mentally and physically strong to take on the intense heat on that long, lonely highway,” she said.
“Watching the sunrise over the buildings while pounding that steaming, pavement was phenomenal. Dubai Marathon 2023 has been my best experience yet!”
Original story: Spurred by the impending loss of her sight, Cayman Brac-born mum-of-six Lady Rabia Abdul-Hakim is running in the Dubai Marathon to raise awareness about the condition of keratoconus.
Abdul-Hakim, 50, an author and illustrator, who now resides in the United Kingdom with her children, departed for the marathon on Thursday where she will represent the Cayman Islands along with her daughter Maliha, 25, who also has the same genetic condition.
She and her daughter have entitled the effort “Against All Odds: Cayman’s Relentless Sportswomen Go East”.
“[Keratoconus] affects the cornea, basically the cornea grows misshapen and that causes blindness,” she explained, adding that most people with that condition can get their vision restored through new lenses and eyeglasses.
However, there’s “a certain percentage of people where this disease progresses more aggressively and, unfortunately, I happen to be one of those people, and I was blind by the time I was in my late 40s,” she said via Zoom interview Monday.
Marathon a personal triumph
In her late 20s, Abdul-Hakim was diagnosed with severe keratoconus and by 2015, she was using a white cane to guide herself around because her sight had deteriorated.
However, after cornea transplants in 2016 and 2019, Abdul-Hakim regained her sight, but she said her vision is declining again.
“My eyes are just delicate now, they will spontaneously do stuff…. they will just detach and [do] all kinds of things on their own. So raising a family as a single mom and dealing with all of that it was just horrendous, honestly. It was horrible because I’m so independent as well,” she said.
Using her eye issues as her catalyst, Abdul-Hakim, a founding member of Cayman’s national Taekwondo team, began running, not just to keep fit, but to work through the struggle she was facing with her sight.
Abdul-Hakim said it was “devastating” being told there is nothing that can be done for her sight and that she can no longer practise Taekwondo.
Last year, she trained and competed in the Shakespeare Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Kenilworth Half Marathon. However, this year she decided to go international and tackle the Dubai Marathon, which will be a test of her will, as she is losing her vision again.
“This is the biggest [race], and this will be the first one that I’m running with a guide runner as well, so it’s a little bit nerve-wracking. But I think it’s gonna be good,” she said.
She said she wanted to run the Dubai race because of her affinity for the Middle East, where she spent a great part of her life, even though she faced some trials while living there.
In 2010, Abdul-Hakim had to rescue her six children from Jordan where they were being held by her ex-husband.
The trauma from that event, she said, still bothers her kids, even though they are now adults.
However, she said returning to the Middle East as a family for the marathon will be a healing experience.
“When we saw the Dubai Marathon, I thought what a wonderful and more positive experience to take my kids back to the Middle East to,” she said, noting that the last time they were there “it was all this trauma and trying to escape… [but]… for them it’s like going home. That was home for them.”
She added they were all excited to be amongst the more than 30,000 people expected to participate.
Staying active
Abdul-Hakim is using her story to shine the light on the condition that she and her daughter share. She said she is on a mission to prove nothing can hold her back.
“The message I would send would be that anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself. But the other message I wanted to send is, especially to people who are not being active… I tried to be active my whole life and it’s helped me recover, I feel, from everything. It’s helped me achieve everything because allowing the body to move has helped me to stay mentally and physically fit,” she said.
She encouraged everyone to get active and to make that a lifestyle choice.
Abdul-Hakim said when she arrives in Dubai she will be introduced for the first time to her guide, and they will have a short period to train together before the Sunday race.
However, she said she is excited to take the step to regain control over her challenges and she is looking forward to her next trial, the London Marathon on 23 April.
For that race, she will be a member of the Fight for Sight marathon team; the UK charity is dedicated to funding research to prevent sight loss. Abdul-Hakim hopes to raise £2,000 for that cause.
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