This nun ran the canceled Chicago Marathon on a treadmill to benefit a food pantry
A Chicago nun ran an entire marathon on a treadmill Sunday after the Chicago Marathon was canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sister Stephanie Baliga is a former collegiate runner who has run in the Chicago Marathon for the past nine years to raise money for the Mission of Our Lady of Angels, a food pantry and shelter in Chicago, according to ABC station WLS-TV.
When the coronavirus pandemic threatened this year's marathon in October, Baliga pledged on camera that if the race were to be canceled, she would still run 26.2 miles on a treadmill, in hopes of raising $80,000 for the mission.
The race was canceled just two months after her pledge, and she followed through with it on Sunday, running the marathon on a treadmill in the basement of the mission while people across the country watched on a livestream.
Baliga was cheered on by celebrity guests, including Deena Kastor, a women's marathon legend and past Chicago Marathon winner, who cheered her on in the final mile.
Baliga finished the marathon in an impressive three hours and 33 minutes and raised over $94,000, far exceeding her goal.
In addition to raising tens of thousands of dollars, Baliga could also become a world record holder.
She told WLS-TV she plans to submit her time to Guinness World Records, which does not currently have a record holder for the fastest marathon distance run on a treadmill by a female nor the fastest marathon run on a treadmill.
A spokeswoman for Guinness told ABC News they have not yet received Baliga's application.
