Who is Shaheer?

Shaheer is a Chicago-based runner who debuted his running journey in the summer of 2018.

Born and raised in Pakistan, he spent his childhood and teen years in the Southeast Asian country, exploring a couple of career pathways before deciding to pursue engineering, based on his love of understanding how things work — and more importantly, why things sometimes do not work.

He graduated from Froebels International School in the summer of 2013 and had plans to study abroad. He moved to the US at the beginning of 2014 and studied Electrical Engineering at Northern Illinois University, where he was also involved in several organizations including the Men's Fraternity of Delta Upsilon, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Hispanic Engineers. After graduating from NIU, Shaheer took a job as a quality engineer at a manufacturing company.

It was there where he met colleagues who introduced him to the sport of running. Once the thought of winning a medal enticed him, he went online and randomly searched for races taking place in Chicago. He found a 10K race happening during the summer of 2018 and, with a colleague, ran his first race — and fell in love with it ever since.

Eventually, he started his MBA at the University of Chicago during the closing times of COVID and met other like-minded runners, where he participated in larger races such as Ragnars and marathons, even leading the school run club for a full term.

Today, he lives in Chicago, working in the manufacturing industry, while aspiring to run and finish the ever-expanding World Majors. Aside from running, Shaheer also enjoys toying with electronics, coding, kick-boxing, and Star Wars.

Relive my first race →