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The Running Man Revealed

Back in 2007 I posted about “The Running Man“. He’s the guy most of you have probably seen running on the Gulf Road in the middle of the summer heat or in the middle of winter when it’s raining and freezing cold. I tried to interview him back then but after finally catching up to him I was out of breath and couldn’t communicate with him and he ended up running off again. Well Student Talk managed to interview him and it turns out he has a very interesting story. Since Student Talk don’t have a website I scanned the article and uploaded it online. You can view it [Here]

In case you want to pick up the actual magazine its the November issue, he’s on the cover. Here is a list of locations you can find the magazine [List]

51 replies on “The Running Man Revealed”

That man is awesome. I see him every morning, and we salute each other military style. I can’t believe he is 50. He doesn’t look older than 35.

whoa man…….this person is a rockstar….

I mean……the doctors who said that he can’t walk would be speechless right now…

The incident he had is a damm tragedy though…. :\

Courage is everything!

@#6, # 9: they all saw the attention he was getting and so they wanted to get in on the act.

Plus one of them is doing it just for the girls, it’s so obvious.

Mashallah. I’m glad his story was heard. I hope he gets more publicity.
As for “Student Talk” magazine, they need to brush up on their English. Or hire a proof reader.

This guy is a hero! “He runs so that other people smile back and salute him” that’s literally the best answer you can give. On another note, Student Talk need better writers cuz the MANY grammatical errors ruined the article!

Bo Shuaib is a popular face, his cause is negotiable, but the article is poor.

I smile everytime I see him and I will say hello the next time.

Thanks Mark

Has anyone seen the african american ( i am guessing) run around the gulf road in salwa wearing big head phones and weights on his legs?

Then there is also the the european guy that walks to work everymorning. He wears black pants and a white shirt. Around 8am you can find him in the Bida round about. : ) also, he has a back pack too.

These are the salwa usual suspects

I’ve seen that one so many times, jogging & exercising all along; but this is truely Forrest Gump. you never start appreciating what you have till you lose it, he was lucky to get it back! good teaching & thanks Mark!

@#11 the black dude doesn’t do it for girls or anybody else! He doesn’t hear anybody or talks to anyone. He has a huge headphones on and he is living in his own world!! I guess he is American if i’m not mistaken and he is old; you can say around 50s!

What an awesome attitude Bo Shuaib! Great story and very inspirational. Good luck forever! πŸ™‚

And then there are some, who are too lazy to get off the car so honk to the baqala guy to get them their Pepsi.

Kuwait:

Love your second comment, sealed it for me.

Truly and inspiration but what an injustice with the article. Who proofreads this stuff?

The article is rubbish from a quality perspective.

While the guy’s story is interesting, it does leave you with a lot of questions. Does the guy have job? Where does he get the time from to run so much? Has he ever run in organised events like marathons? Is there anything else he does but running? How exactly did he end up in Barcelona?

Questions I shoud have asked while interviewing him.

Really inspiring! @ Rob, I concur with you that from an editorial point of view the Student Talk interview is pathetic, but at least they took the effort. If the magazine can take any of the criticism constructively, I’m sure they can improve.

Reminds me of the General AC campaign created by DDB when I was working there in 1998 of Kuwait’s age old legacy with the airconditioning company. I’m sure there is plenty of interesting material that any decent magazine can source to fill it’s pages. Kuwait needs more human angle stories unlike the shopping mall visualization seen by visitors to Kuwait.

I LOVE this guy. Very few things make me smile in traffic in Kuwait and this guy is the one constant. He always salutes – always acts like he’s known you forever without needing to say a word.

Thank you SO MUCH for passing this along, Mark. You totally made my crappy day happy!

DG

Nice story and truly inspirational. Only one thing from the interview didnt make sense. The transcript said that he was never married yet his name is Bo Shuaib. Doesnt that loosely translate as Father of Shuaib??? So if he aint married how come he has a son.?? Just asking for the sake of it.

Other than that this man is truly an inspiration. Maybe like in the movie Forest Gump, people who enjoy a good run could join up with him at differnt points and run alongside with him. I am sure that the company would really bring joy to him

That’s great. He’s a real character of Kuwait. Good to profile these positive stories.

I hope that Adidas are paying him – he’s doing a good job of demoing their gear.

My kids always looked out for the black guy in Salwa. They called him ‘transformer man’ because of the clunky weights and headphones.

Luckily for us, the world is made up of characters of all sorts!

To all those that commented.. thank you for taking the time to read the article… and thank you mark for posting this… πŸ™‚

Bo Shuaib, is not married but he prefers to be called Bo Shuaib and that is how he is known as in Kuwait. Bo Shuaib is a legend, a man with an inspiration, a man that believes that he was gifted with the miracle of being able to walk and run again.

As for the questions asked, here are some answers:-
*Does he work? No he doesn’t work, his daily routine is waking up in the morning, having breakfast, runs his daily run from Bneid Al-Gar to Messilah and back, showers, manages his Baqalah (grocery store) in Bneid Al-Gar, back to his lonely home at 8-9pm, and his day ends.

Where does he get the time from to run so much? His time is devoted to running

Has he ever run in organized events like marathons? No not yet, he has been approached by many companies but he has rejected running with the restricted label or brand

Is there anything else he does but running? Yes, he manages his Baqaalah in Bneid Al-Gar, you can drive to Bneid Al-Gar and ask anyone there where is Bo Shuaib’s Baqalah and they will point you to it.

How exactly did he end up in Barcelona? Because he was a patient that needed serious care, he was taken to Barcelona for treatment.

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