Sister Andrena Mulligan's MySpace account is closed to the public.

That means that no matter how many friends she has in the real world — and the number is considerable in her adopted hometown of Eagle Pass, Texas, and across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico — if you want to socialize with the sister, you'll have to wait until after her morning run.

"When I run, I use my time to pray, say the rosary, reflect, plan and do my problem-solving," says Sister Andrena. "It's my time in my head. I don't have music or any other distractions.

"It's my space."

For the second year in a row, Sister Andrena is bringing her space to Honolulu, where she will join a field of more than 25,000 other runners at the Honolulu Marathon.

She ran last year as one of 10 winners of a Runner's World magazine essay contest, finishing in a very respectable 4 hours and 24 minutes.

"Hawai'i was wonderful," says Mulligan, 60, via mobile phone from Laredo, Texas. "I had never thought of going, but then I won the contest. We were treated like VIPs."

Starting with the Detroit Free Press Marathon more than 20 years ago, Mulligan has completed the standard 26.2-mile distance 65 times, notching a personal best 3:38 at Port Huron.

But it's her work along the Texas-Mexico border that has truly established her VIP credentials as an advocate for people who struggle with poverty and physical challenges. As a physical therapist, Mulligan works hands-on to help people cope with injury and disability. In her off hours, she travels from Eagle Pass to Piedras Negras, Mexico, home of Paulino and Gilberta Esquivel's Casa Hogar Bethesda, an orphanage for orphans with special needs.

Through the orphanage's Por Amor el Nombre program, Sister Andrena escorts missionaries from the U.S. to help serve the people of the impoverished Mexican town.

"The concept is to give people in the U.S. opportunities to serve in a mission, experience another culture and see the difficulties of people in that culture, and then to have the poorer people benefit from this.

"The whole purpose of the mission is to serve the needy and help them become self-supporting," she says. "Eventually, we'd like the mission to be run and supported by Mexicans. They know how to serve their people best. We think we know how it should work, but we really don't. It's hard to let the other culture be themselves on their own — and to respect that."

Sister Andrena was born in Ireland, one of 13 children, and has served as a Catholic missionary in London, Mexico, Rome and Detroit.

In Detroit, while working as a physical therapist and completing a master's degree in psychology, Sister Andrena first started running marathons. Up to that point, she'd been a casual jogger.

"I started doing them for my sanity," she says, laughing.

She took her faith, her work and her newfound love of distance running to missions in Abilene, Laredo and finally Eagle Pass, where she has been stationed for seven years.

Her schedule doesn't allow for much personal time, but she gets all she needs in her early morning runs.

More than just physical exercise, the daily six-mile journeys beneath the glowing Texas skyline offer an unspoken affirmation of her faith and spirituality.

"It's when time stops for me and I feel connected," she says. "It happens between the physical and the spiritual and the environment. I see the sun rise every morning and it's fabulous — to see the moon and the stars and to hear the birds. To be connected with nature and with one's self is the essence of spirituality."

A self-professed extrovert, Sister Andrena says the runs have also deepened her value of personal solitude, something she didn't always appreciate but has come to love.

And no matter where she is, or how far she runs, Sister Andrena says she carries with her a personal and religious identity given to her in her native Ireland.

"I know where I come from and where I belong," she says. "I come from the Lord and that's where I will return. This life is just a journey, and the journey will continue when this life is finished.

"I get my faith from my parents and my country, and from the history of Irish people who have suffered for it," she says. "I want to hold on to that no matter what, and to move forward. I know a higher power is with me."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.