Astronaut Sunita Williams Runs Boston Marathon from Space

Rain, wind, and chill were not problems for Sunita "Suni" Williams as she ran Monday's Boston Marathon, while strapped to a treadmill aboard the international space station, 210 miles above Earth. Thousands of others competed on the pavement in Boston, where unlike Williams weightless environment, gravity may have played a part in their finishing times. Williams did not necessarily have an advantage, however. She was restrained to a treadmill with painful shoulder harnesses and waist straps, for 4 hours, 24 minutes - her certified and recorded finishing time. Dina Pandya, William's sister, was running the Earth-version of the marathon, along with fellow NASA astronaut, Karen Nyberg.

Williams wore a navy t-shirt, shorts, and Boston Red Sox socks for the 42.16 kilometer race. Her race number 14,000 was taped to the front of the treadmill. She watched the earthlings run from a laptop in front of the treadmill. Orange slices and water were regular energy boosters while she treaded. Her grounded counterparts covered 26.2 miles during the race, Williams moved 76,000 miles while running the race. The space station circled the Earth almost three times during Williams' run. She began the race on time, at 10:00 a.m. EDT and at 1:23 p.m. CDT, Mission Control at NASA heard a triumphant message from Williams, "I'm done, wooohooo!" A few minutes into the race, Mission Control jokingly told her crew mate that by their calculations, she has already completed her 26 mile race.