Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia celebrates after winning the women's division of the 111th Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts April 16, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhuanet) -- An American astronaut Sunita Williams ran the Boston Marathon on a treadmill onboard the International Space Station Monday while thousands of other participants ran the streets leading to Boston in pouring rain.

    The 41-year-old astronaut took four hours 23 minutes 46 seconds to complete the about 46-kilometer race. "I'm done! Woo hoo!" Williams told Mission Control after that.

    Already traveling at 17,500 mph, Williams started the race on time at 10 a.m. EDT with race No. 14,000 taped to the front of the treadmill as the space station passed over the Pacific Ocean. She finished, unofficially, 4 hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds later as the station traveled over Russia.

    Outgoing ISS commander Michael Lopez-Alegria helped Williams set up for her race, but the rest of the station crew was sleeping since it was occurring during their normal night shift.

    Race officials were not able to calculate her finishing spot immediately, but based on last year's results, she would be ranked at about 6,300th place among about 7,600 women runners.

    Two laptop computers were on either side so she could watch past Boston Marathons on a DVD and keep track of where the space station was flying. Periodically, she asked Mission Control for an update on the times of friends, including NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, and her sister, Dina Pandya, who were running the marathon on the ground.

    Williams has been in orbit since December and has trained on a specially modified treadmill.

    (Agencies)