Meet The First Hijabi Woman To Grace The Cover Of A U.S. Fitness Mag

Congratulations, Rahaf Khatib!

The Syrian-born, Muslim-American mother of three has become the first ever hijabi woman to not only be on the cover of Women’s Running, but to be on the cover of any health or fitness magazine in the U.S. ever.

According to Women’s Running, the six-time marathoner moved to Michigan from Damascus in the 1980s with her parents, but she didn’t start running until 2012, when she signed up to run a 10k with her son. After the initial race, she was hooked.

As she began signing up for more races, Khatib realized just how uncommon it was to show up to run in a full hijab ― so she created the Instagram account @RunLikeAHijabi, to inspire other Muslim women in her community to start running as well.

“I feel like [other] covered women maybe are hesitant to get out of their comfort zones,” she told the magazine. “Maybe it’s a lack of apparel out there; maybe it’s all the negative press about Muslim women.”

But neither lack of apparel nor negative press has slowed her down ― this weekend, Khatib will be running her seventh marathon in Berlin.

Get it, girl.