All about Max's Race 5K

Even though I'm not gonna run it, I want to say a little bit about Max's Race which will take place tomorrow morning at 8:30am on the MSU campus.

When Maxwell Matthews was only 7 months old, he contracted bacterial spiral meningitis and spent a month in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. He overcame the illness, but still underwent 7 surgeries. One of these surgeries was a cochlear implant, and at that time Max was the youngest person in Michigan to ever receive one. Max always persevered thru each obstacle during his young life, but he eventually lost his battle and passed away on March 12, 2005 at the age of 6.

With help from Sparrow Hospital, Max's parents somehow arranged a 5K race in only 3 months time and on July 9 of last year, the inaugural Max's Race 5K took place. 585 runners participated (which is a lot for this area) and they collectively raised a whopping $25,000 for the Sparrow Pediatric Program Fund and the Maxwell C. Matthews Foundation. This year the goals are 800 participants and $40,000 raised.

If you want more information about the race or just wanna help out with any of the Funds/Foundations, check out their website. Below is a picture of Max that appears on the race form.



























As for me, I think I'm almost back. Wednesday I swam a few laps, and Thursday I lifted weights and then swam a few laps and did some more aqua jogging with help from my buddy Katie. I think I'm getting the hang of it now, and it felt like it was working the muscles that haven't been worked since I stopped running. Today I did 2.5 miles on the elliptical, then decided to see how a mile on the treadmill would go. Everything felt fine, except for a little minor pain in my Achilles, but that quickly went away. The past three days I have taken an ice bath, and I really think that has helped me recover as well. We'll just have to wait and see how it feels in the next couple days.

I saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night at midnight and let me just say it's excellent. It's like two and a half hours long but it's still packed with action and all that good stuff. I highly recommend it!

I also think I'll do this little "All About" race report stuff before each race I run. Just wait until the Run Thru Hell, you guys will get a kick out of that one.