How Malek Ibrahim Went From Hating Cardio to Taking On an Ironman 70.3

They say the biggest love stories start with hate, and running turns out to be no exception.

Malek Ibrahim's relationship with the sport has been unconventional from the start. The 24-year-old got into it through a conversation with a friend who was equally uninterested, the Pyramids Half Marathon, and a bucket list item they both wanted to tick off.

"I randomly stumbled into running. I absolutely hated running, or rather cardio. But I hated the idea of hating something purely because I don't know how to do it, even more."

What began as a one-off challenge snowballed. "My friend and I thought of it as a one-time thing, but that was all it took for me to get hooked," says Malek.

The original plan was simple: train for the Pyramids Half Marathon in December. He signed up in August 2025 with plenty of time, and built up his runs without putting much pressure on himself.

Then, towards the end of September, he did what has since become a pattern. "It's mostly been a process full of 'just buy the ticket and then figure it out'," he admits.

This time that meant signing up for the Alexandria Marathon on October 31, 2025. A race in Alexandria made sense to him even with only a month's training, because what Alexandrian would pass up the chance to run a marathon on home turf. The half he had been preparing for took a back seat, leaving him just over a month to get ready for his first full marathon.

He did it. Having gone from barely running at all in August to a full marathon just over two months later, he crossed the line in Alexandria on October 31 in roughly five hours. In December he went back to the race he had originally signed up for and completed the Pyramids Half in two hours and eight seconds, this time in Cairo, where he is now based.

The buy-the-ticket-and-figure-it-out approach hasn't gone anywhere. It has just taken a different form. This time it is the Ironman 70.3 in Sharm El Sheikh on October 13, 2026.

With six weeks to go, Malek is well into training for the 1.9-kilometre swim, 90-kilometre bike ride and half marathon that await him on race day. When the race was announced, signing up felt like the natural next step. True to form, there wasn't much deliberation, just another ticket bought before figuring out the rest.

Somewhere between signing up for races and figuring them out, he also found himself making content.

When he first started running, Malek found himself watching athletes who had already made it. "I'd always come across well-established and accomplished people within their sports, constantly sharing their stories and content," he says.

What he rarely saw was someone documenting the beginning, the pitfalls and the small everyday milestones instead of the finished product.

"I'd never come across someone who would post 'normal' content with more realistic day-to-day accomplishments. I just wanted to take people on this journey with me."

It was also a chance to use his filmmaking background. "That's how I got into content creation, by making use of the filmmaking skills I developed from my university degree."

That has since grown into an Instagram following of around 34,000, and he now works as a full-time content creator. What started as documentation of the build-up to his first races is now an ongoing series following his Ironman preparation, with each workout, swim and ride adding another chapter.

Training for the Ironman has meant swapping one discipline for three. Running was the catalyst, and swimming and cycling have brought an entirely new learning curve with them. With two new cardio disciplines in the mix, Malek has found a new least favourite: cycling.

Running is now the familiar part of his routine, and the swim is what weighs on his mind most. He had always known how to swim recreationally, and that was about the extent of his experience before this. Making it out of the water before the cut-off has become his biggest focus.

There are moments when the training gets the better of him. He jokes that almost every cycling session has him rethinking the whole thing, and by the next day he is back at it.

That consistency, he says, is one of running's biggest lessons. More than fitness, the sport has taught him a discipline that now shapes how he approaches things on and off the course.

"The idea of me pulling out of something halfway through isn't even an option. To me, the race isn't starting at the beginning of that race line, it's already started with my training."

Sharing it online has become part of that commitment. Having documented everything from his first runs to his Ironman training, Malek says putting his goals in public has become an added incentive to keep showing up.

The biggest surprise has been the response. What started as documentation of his own progress has landed with people who saw themselves in the early stages of it.

"Never in a million years would I have expected people to start messaging me telling me that they started running because of my content," he says. "I received a lot of messages from people saying that my content encouraged them to get into running and that it helped them. This is beyond anything I could have expected and it's worth so much."

It has changed him in ways he hadn't anticipated. Beyond the kilometres and the finish lines, Malek says it has reshaped his focus, determination and discipline, and he carries those into everything else.

As race day approaches he is keeping his expectations grounded. His first goal is to make it through the swim before the cut-off. Finishing in six hours would be a bonus.

His route into endurance sport has been unconventional and he is quick to say he wouldn't recommend copying it. The lesson isn't to sign up for races on a whim. It's to take the first step.

"It's easier than you think. Anyone who watches someone crossing the finish line can only see the end of the journey. They never see the level of preparation and progress that goes into something like this. As long as you take the decision and take that first step towards a specific goal, that's enough to get started."