There’s a clear hierarchy of duties in Sister Stephanie Baliga’s line of work. As a Catholic nun, the 38-year-old told Nice News her “No. 1 job is to pray.” Where and how she puts in the hours, though, can vary.
“Running is sometimes still the most silent, quiet time I can get away from everything else,” Baliga said, “which is a gift, to be present and silent with the Lord out there just making it happen, being able to allow my physical movement to assist my prayer.”
She’s one of the record 55,000-plus participants in today’s Chicago Marathon, which marks her 15th year with the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels’ charity team. The team has raised more than $3.2 million since she founded it in 2011, including the $500,000 or so they brought in ahead of the 2026 race. The funds all go to the mission, supporting its food pantry and other community outreach programs.
Before taking her vows, Baliga was a Division I runner with the University of Illinois, one of the fastest in the country. A foot injury in her sophomore year put an end to her potential future as a professional athlete, however, and the soul-searching that followed led her to recognize her calling. She became a sister in 2010 at age 22.
As for how the charity team — which is 192 strong this year — has raised so much money, she credits it to the mission’s community service. “We think that people really enjoy running for our team because it’s a local charity with really tangible work,” Baliga shared, adding that much of that work supports older adults, families, and kids in one of the city’s more challenged neighborhoods.
“We have a program for seniors to help them to know that they are loved, that they are not alone, with Bible study and lunch and those kinds of things,” she said. “And we partner with the YMCA to put on an after-school and eating program for kids. And then we also do tons of large events associated with the holidays, mostly Thanksgiving, Christmas, back to school, or also doing some low-key health care work, with doctors and nurses in the area.”
Aside from running for a cause, members of the charity team also get some “spiritual perks,” per the mission’s website, which states: “Each runner will be assigned a member of the prayer team to specifically pray for their intentions during training and during the race. Runners are also remembered daily in the prayers of the Franciscans of the Eucharist.”
While hitting the pavement remains a joy for Baliga, her daily work with the mission keeps her far too busy for a rigorous marathon training schedule. “I run like once a week and take it for the team,” she said, laughing.
Read on to learn about seven other inspiring people in marathon history.
Jess Furness
Running just one marathon in your lifetime is a feat to be proud of — but Jess Furness upped the ante and ran 42 in a 12-month span. She embarked on the challenge last year in honor of her older brother Eddie, who died in an accident in 2021 and would’ve celebrated his 42nd birthday in 2025. The tragedy wasn’t the first for Furness, who’d already lost both parents. Running the marathons was a way to not only process her grief and inspire others but also raise money for two charities. She ended up with over $24,000 in donations.
Dick Traum
In 1976, Dick Traum became the first-known amputee to complete a marathon, running New York City’s first five-borough race on a prosthetic leg. “When an able-bodied runner gets passed by someone who is blind or on one leg,” he said, per nonprofit New York Road Runners, “it changes their perception of what the disabled can do.”
Traum lost his right leg above the knee after an accident 11 years earlier. In 1983, he founded what is now Achilles International, a global athletics and social organization for people with disabilities. He went on to race in over 70 marathons, sometimes on a prosthetic leg and other times on a handcycle, before his death at age 83 in 2024.
Kathrine Switzer
In another history-making moment, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially enter and complete the Boston Marathon in 1967 — resisting the disgruntled race director’s efforts to force the 20-year-old off the course. Despite his ire, there was nothing in the rulebook that said a woman couldn’t run, and her determination set an example for other female athletes. She’s run at least 40 marathons since, winning the 1974 New York City race. In 2017, five decades after her inaugural entry, Switzer ran the Boston course again at age 70.
Randy Burt, Henry Kozlowski, and George Mueller
The first Chicago Marathon took place in 1977, and these three men were among the participants that year — and the next, and the next after that. In fact, as of 2025, Randy Burt, Henry Kozlowski, and George Mueller had been at the starting line of every single Chicago Marathon since its inception. This year, Mueller is sitting out the race due to a heart issue, leaving Burt and Kozlowski to carry on the legacy. “We were a trio. But now Henry and Randy are the dynamic duo,” Mueller shared with WBEZ Chicago. “I told them, ‘You have to figure out who’s Batman and who’s Robin.’”
Steve Chalke
As the founder of community outreach program Oasis Charitable Trust, the Rev. Steve Chalke is no stranger to fundraising. And after taking part in the London Marathon in 2000, he recognized the opportunity the race offered for drumming up large sums of money for charity. Chalke also appreciated that publicity makes reaching out to donors much easier, so he decided to go for a Guinness World Record. He clinched it, thrice.
In 2005, Chalke earned the world record for the most money raised by a marathon runner, with over $1.6 million in charitable donations. He achieved the feat again in 2007 with around $2.4 million, and for a third time in 2011, raising nearly $3.1 million for Oasis. The record stands today.
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