Runner rescues stray kitten while racing in Chicago Marathon. ‘It was human instinct’

As Sarah Bohan ran the Chicago Marathon, she encountered something that took precedence over her race.

Bohan, running the Sunday, Oct. 8, race on behalf of PAWS Chicago, found a cat that needed to be rescued.

“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 said, according to The New Barker. “At that point, my personal record was out the window and I knew what I had to do.”

She and another runner, Gia Nigro, then attempted to find the cat a new owner, according to WMAQ.

Bohan said “it was human instinct.” She walked with the kitten for about a mile until she found a spectator willing to give the cat a new home, WBBM reported.

“It had to be all of 1 pound. Fur was matted and something clicked, and I was like, ‘This is more important,’” Bohan told WBBM.

The New Barker reported Bohan and Nigro then ran the rest of the 26.2-mile race alongside one another. Bohan finished with a time of 3 hours, 31 minutes and 35 seconds.

Bohan, who said she has two cats of her own, raised $1,750 for PAWS Chicago. The organization strives to implement “solutions to end the killing of homeless pets.”

This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Runner rescues stray kitten while racing in Chicago Marathon. ‘It was human instinct’."