Chicago Marathon Runner Rescues Stray Kitten at Mile 21

A woman competing in the Chicago Marathon Sunday spotted a stray kitten under a bridge and, 21 miles into the 26.2-mile race, decided to pause to find the feline a new home.

It was a fitting coincidence: Sarah Bohan happened to be one of the 482 runners who'd raised money for PAWS Chicago — one of the nation's largest organizations to advocate for No Kill shelters — in the lead-up to the race.

“I saw this white fluffy thing scurrying under a bridge and recognized it as a dirty, scared cat that was obviously a stray separated from its mother,” Bohan told The New Barker, a canine-focused magazine. “At that point, my personal record was out the window and I knew what I had to do.”

Bohan partnered with another runner, Gia Nigro, to search for someone along the route who would be interested in taking the kitten in. Remarkably, about a mile from the spot where they'd discovered the cat, a spectator who claimed to be a veteran cat owner vowed to bring the kitten into her care.

PAWS Chicago sets out to build "No Kill communities" by helping shelters grow their volunteer bases and create targeted spay and neuter campaigns, among other initiatives.

Bohan and Nigro continued the race and managed to finish in an impressive three hours, 31 minutes.

Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum, meanwhile, set a world record at the marathon, finishing in just two hours and 35 seconds and beating out the previous record by more than 30 seconds.