04:17 PM PST on Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Northwest Backroads

Immediately after a priest remarked during a retreat that running harmonizes the mind, body and soul, Sister Madonna Buder pulled on some running shoes and began running.

Northwest Backroads

Sister Madonna Buder

At age 75, she's like the Energizer Bunny. She keeps on going and going and going.

Stroke after stroke, step after step, mile after mile, she is compelled to compete in the toughest of triathlons and set new world records.

Just finishing a race of this magnitude takes incredible strength, and this medal-winning athlete always find it from within as well as above.

Obviously, Sister Madonna is not your typical Catholic nun.

Bright and early every morning, she begins her triathlon training by jogging to church.

She stopped running around in traditional nun's wear a long time ago and now finds comfort in her sweat suit at St. Anthony's in Spokane.

As a nun with the Sisters for Christian Community, Sister Madonna has the freedom to choose her own ministry and lifestyle.

That's why she's a nun on the run – jogging and biking to various places throughout the community where she volunteers her time, worshipping the glory of God along the way.

On her daily jog to church

Whenever the going get tough or the training becomes too taxing, Sister Madonna shifts her prayers into high gear by chanting a praise.

Her rigorous routine has gotten her into shape for an ungodly amount of triathlons.

"It's got to be over 150 by now," she said.

She entered her first triathlon 23 years ago. Since then, she has become a decorated athlete winning medal after medal, trophy after trophy.

"You don't find too many in my age group anymore," she said.

Recently, she set course records in her age group at the Ironman World Championships in Canada… and Hawaii, which is considered to be the toughest of triathlons.

It begins with a 2.4-mile ocean swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride, then a 26.2-mile marathon run.

It's a brutal even that usually brings competitors to their knees in a heaving heap at the finish line.

Incredibly, this torturous test of endurance keeps Sister Madonna coming back for more.

Northwest Backroads

Sister Madonna finishing the Ironman in Kona, Hawaii

A few years ago, she shattered her own world record by finishing the race in 14 hours 27 minutes 14 seconds. That's faster than the first place winner in the women's 55-59 age division.

But it still wasn't good enough for Sister Madonna and she went on a mission to improve that time at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Click on the video to find out if she was successful.