You’ve pushed through hundreds of miles and months of training. It’s race day and you’re focused. Everything is going according to plan, and you’re set to PR. Then you see a skinny, helpless stray kitten on the race course. Would you give up your chance to set a new personal best in the marathon to save the cat?
That’s exactly what Sarah Bohan did during the Chicago Marathon yesterday. Just five miles from the finish line, Bohan says, “I saw this fluffy thing scurrying under a bridge and recognized it as a dirty, scared cat that was obviously a stray separated from its mother.” At that point, thoughts of her PR went out the window, and “I knew what I had to do,” she says.
American Women at the 2023 Chicago Marathon How Gabi Rooker Ran a PR in Chicago, one of the largest No Kill animal welfare organizations in the country. Raising money and supporting the non-profit wasn’t a randomly chosen cause; Bohan is a cardiology social worker at Boston Children’s Hospital and has always been devoted to helping both people and animals in need.
Upon discovering the marathon kitten, she walked with another runner, Gia Nigro for about a mile, asking spectators along the way if they could care for the cat. Eventually, the pair found a woman who owned cats; she promised she’d look after her new ward.
Once they knew the kitten was in good hands, Bohan and Nigro finished out the race together, encouraging other runners along the way, and completing the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 3:31:35, an impressive time with or without a kitten rescue in the mix.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, Nonbinary Winner Crowned at Chicago Marathon, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
