Sonny Molina woke up early Sunday morning in Chicago and, for the 18th time in 30 days, ran a half marathon.

The 44-year-old Woodstock man strapped his GoPro camera onto his torso with a Chesty so he could record evidence of his feat for the folks at Guinness World Records.

Oh, and Molina did it without shoes.

For someone who used to hate running, Molina does a lot of it. He ran almost 235.6 miles since Aug. 27 in races alone, not counting a few training runs on his rare days off.

Molina, an orthopedic and podiatry nurse team leader at Centegra Hospital-McHenry, meticulously planned his month which took him to Wisconsin, then Texas, Montana and North Dakota, once running races in 11 consecutive days, another Guinness record on his way to the record for a month.

Most people would think Molina is crazy for doing this, even if he had been wearing shoes.

“I love challenges,” Molina said, smiling.

His next step will be to send all his videos, pictures and documentations from each race to Guinness as proof of his accomplishment. Then, he will settle back into a more regular work schedule after taking a decent chunk of vacation time to set the record.

“One reason I’ve survived in these races is the people who are so supportive,” Molina said. “I enjoyed it.”

At most events, the race director was aware of what Molina was doing, so other runners took note of it as well. A man who started running at age 40, after a challenge from friends, now owns a remarkable endurance record.

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Salacnib “Sonny” Molina grew up in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. around age 21. He and his family live in Woodstock and he has worked as a nurse at Centegra since 2002.

Dr. Harpreet Basran, a surgeon with Centegra-McHenry County Orthopaedics in Crystal Lake, has known Molina for eight years and often worked closely with him.

“I operate a lot at Centegra McHenry,” Basran said. “He started as a nurse circulating in our office and he was incredible, one of the best nurses I’ve worked with.”

Now, as nursing team leader, Molina is in charge of the nurses helping with surgeries, making sure everything runs smoothly.

Molina, who is 5-foot-5, weighed about 190 pounds five years ago when some friends from California challenged him to run a marathon. Molina accepted, starting with 5Ks, 10Ks and two half-marathons.

“I thought I was going to die, I’d only gone 13 miles before, but I made it,” he said of the first marathon.

Molina now weighs about 145, and would like to shed about 15 more pounds, and is completely hooked on running. Or at least its benefits.

“What I like about running is, first of all, I lost the weight doing it,” Molina said. “And second, I like the people. They’re very friendly, they always smile. It’s a different world, I love it.”

Molina won a weight-loss contest after he took up running. It also helped with his asthma problems.

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As Molina’s activity level increased, so did discomfort in his legs, which helped him discover barefoot running.

“I got pain in my hips and knees and hamstrings,” he said. “And I got blisters all the time. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I’d heard about barefoot running, so I read about it. They said it’s good for you, it’s natural running.”

One day, at a marathon in Iowa, he just tried it. Eventually, the hip and knee pain diminished.

“It’s kind of weird,” Molina said. “I did it slowly at first.”

Molina did not consult Basran about running barefoot until after he started doing it, although Basran understands that, while it seems odd, barefoot just works for some runners.

“I don’t know how he does this,” Basran said. “All these marathons, some on gravel. His results are amazing, they’re hard to argue with. He was having all these issues before and now he’s barefoot and having no issues. It’s hard to explain why these mechanics work for certain patients, but for him it certainly works.”

Molina tries to walk three miles a day barefoot to help build up calluses. Still, there are times when not having shoes presents issues.

While running the 11 consecutive half-marathons, Molina ran three straight days on gravel.

“The third day was the worst,” he said. “Everybody was like, ‘Do you need shoes?’ ”

There are other times when he ran on hot asphalt, but he persevered. Last winter, he ran a 10K in Crystal Lake in snow.

Molina’s favorite postrace pose with fellow runners is with one foot raised in the air to show he’s not wearing shoes.

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Molina has become well-acquainted with the people at Guinness. Not wanting to miss anything that would jeopardize his record, he painstakingly gathers details on every step of races.

When the GoPro is running short on battery power, he stops, takes a picture of where he is and the time. He changes the batteries, takes another picture of his location and time, then resumes his run.

Molina gets statements from each race director, timekeeper and surveyor to send to Guinness, with which he checks before each race for approval.

“They have to be able to see the whole race, before, during and after,” he said. “I take a picture of myself, before, during and after. It’s mind-boggling.”

Molina already is plotting for more Guinness records next year: Most barefoot marathons on consecutive days, most barefoot marathons in a month and most barefoot half-marathons carrying a 20-pound backpack.

Molina says he was too stubborn to ignore his friends’ challenge from five years ago to run a marathon. Now, he continues challenging himself and push the limits.

It seems with all Molina does that maybe he doesn’t hate running all that much after all.

Sonny Molina

Age: 44.

Hometown: Woodstock.

Occupation: Nurse at Centegra Hospital-McHenry.

Family: Wife Louina, daughters Isabelle (13) and Rebekah (11).

Recent accomplishment: Molina will be recognized by Guinness World Records for running the most half-marathons (18) in a month (30 days) and for running the most half-marathons in consecutive days (11).

Multi-talented: Molina is a black belt in taekwondo and he makes fishing lures. His handmade lures are included in the "Encyclopedia of Old Fishing Lures Made in North America."