Watch: Dubai expat runs marathon blindfolded and barefoot, sets world record

While everyone in the Dubai Marathon ran in broad daylight on January 12, Ramy Naouss faced a different challenge as he sprinted through complete darkness with a blindfold on.

As he reached the finish line, the athlete broke down in tears while taking his blindfold off, that had been secured tightly with tape. "I am still trying to put into words how I felt. I think if someone asked me how it feels to see God for a minute, I would say this is how the feat felt."

The Lebanese expat who has been residing in Dubai for the last seven years set a Guinness World Record for running the fastest marathon blindfolded on January 12 as he ran the 42.2km marathon.

With little training before hand, the athlete decided to simply "believe in his idea and let go".

The reason behind Ramy's decision to run blindfolded and without any footwear? "I wanted to highlight the concept of how there is always going to be light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how dark life feels in the moment," said the 33-year-old who is also a cancer survivor.

"Running barefoot is like life. Life is not always easy but you have to feel pain and you have to keep pushing."

When Guinness reached out to him two weeks prior to the run, asking if he would be doing anything extraordinary during the marathon, the idea dawned upon him.

For almost two years, Ramy has been focusing on tapping into his spirituality and finding his strength through meditation. Closing his eyes has played a major role during this journey, which prompted him to create this concept of running without the vital and primary sense of vision, and relying on whatever is left after it.

Diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 25 in 2017, Ramy who is now cancer-free, didn't always have it easy when it came to fitness, as chronic back and knee pain always got in the way. Two years ago, he decided to take off his shoes and run barefoot.

"It was painful at first, but I got comfortable in the uncomfortable," said the expat, who first ran barefoot two years ago in Lebanon at a cancer awareness event.

The survivor was also inspired to take on this challenge through another achievement in his personal life. "Until recently, I had to undergo a certain treatment which doctors said was needed for the rest of my life, even after my cancer was cured. But two years ago, I decided I wanted to stop all treatments. This was not out of ignorance but from understanding my body, mind and how you can really heal yourself.

"I got my results sometime before the marathon and they all came back clear, proving that science backed my decision. That is when I finally saw a bright light in my life that lifted me out of the darkness that I was in for the past eight years," said Naouss.

Ramy, who is also an author and a motivational figure on social media, is quite vocal about helping people not feel pressured or like they're 'not doing enough' on account of his videos or other content online.

His book, 'Let's Live: Challenging Yourself is the Way', talks about his life changes, motivation, and his experiences in ways that are lessons that people can apply to their life to make a change.

"It is okay to feel this way. I also felt these feelings. You're always going to do small steps in the beginning that won't have immediate results and nothing in the short term, but there will be results in the long term. You just have to believe in it."

Ramy's advice to anyone struggling to reach their goals is to "do the simple stuff" every day that makes you feel better. "That's why running was so important for me, because it was a way for me to prove to myself that I can become one per cent better every day. I feel more accomplished if I run a bit better every day."