Joe Urban’s goal was to run 100 miles in 30 hours to raise money for cancer research, and because he’d told his young friend, Austin Taylor, that he would.

Austin, 6, died of cancer before Urban could take to the trails and cliffs of Colorado for the Leadville Trail 100 Run last weekend, but Urban had no intention of stopping.

Indeed, it didn’t even take him 30 hours. After months of training — and medals from races that he was able to give to Austin, as he’d planned with Leadville — Urban finished the grueling race in less than 30 hours. His time: 29 hours, 42 minutes and 40 seconds.

That was good enough for 323rd overall, 274th in the male category, and 97th in the male ages 40-49 slot.
Not bad. But it was never about the race. It was about racing for Austin, and to raise money for the Cure Child Cancer organization.

“After running for almost 30 hours straight, I am a little exhausted,” he wrote in an email to his co-workers. “Thank you for all the support, positive thoughts and prayers!”

Urban works at Bard Medical in Covington with Austin’s mother, Rhonda Taylor. Bard is the company’s director of global marketing for international urology.