Safi Diagana is training for the United Airlines Half Marathon while fasting from sunrise to sundown, and she would not have it any other way
13.1 Miles During Ramadan
On Sunday, March 15, 2026, more than 30,000 people will run the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon, one of the premier spring road races in the country. Among them will be Safi Diagana, a 26-year-old nurse and NYU graduate who has been training for the race while observing Ramadan — the Islamic holy month of fasting that requires participants to abstain from food and water from sunrise to sundown. Diagana is not letting the combination slow her down.
Running as Identity and Community
Diagana has been running for more than eight years, an activity she discovered through Run for the Future, a program designed to introduce women and girls to the sport. She credits the program with transforming her relationship to running from something she never imagined doing into something she loves and has made central to her life. Now a working nurse in New York City — one of the most demanding professions in an already demanding city — Diagana has continued to find time for running as a form of both physical maintenance and personal joy. Her training schedule during Ramadan has been adapted rather than abandoned. She runs during the day while fasting, a practice that requires careful attention to hydration and energy management in the hours surrounding the daily fast. She plans to return to her regular three-days-per-week schedule after Ramadan concludes.
The Brooklyn Bridge Moment
When asked what she is most looking forward to on race day, Diagana pointed not to the finish line but to the Brooklyn Bridge crossing, one of the most iconic segments of the course. “Going through the Brooklyn Bridge, which I am a huge fan of,” she said. “If you know as a New Yorker, it’s always crowded, but for the first time it’ll be empty.” That observation captures something genuine about what large-scale running events offer participants — access to the city’s iconic spaces in a mode of experience that is simply not available at any other time.
Fasting and Athletic Performance
The relationship between Ramadan fasting and athletic performance is a subject of growing research interest. Muslim athletes at every level of sport from recreational to elite have developed individualized strategies for maintaining training and competition during the holy month, and sports science has produced a body of literature on how fasting affects energy metabolism, hydration, and recovery. The New York Road Runners supports a diverse participant community in the NYC Half Marathon, including runners observing religious practices that affect their training and race-day experience.
What Makes This Story Matter
Safi Diagana’s story is worth telling not because it is exceptional but because it is quietly representative: a young Muslim woman of African descent, working as a healthcare professional, training for a marathon while observing her faith, running a race she was not sure she could even love eight years ago. The Run for the Future organization that introduced her to running continues to recruit young women and girls from New York City communities, and Diagana is herself now an advocate for the program. Her encouragement to others — “Just do it, run for the future, applications are open now” — reflects the way that community running programs can create ripple effects that extend well beyond any single participant’s personal story. The USA Track and Field national governing body has expanded its outreach to underrepresented communities in distance running, recognizing that the sport’s demographics have historically not reflected the diversity of American society.
