MICHIGAN, USA — He was a little more than half-way through his 400-mile, 8-day run when pain really started to set in for ultra-runner Max Polakovich.

But he couldn't stop his important journey, as he was running for a good cause.

"I wake up on day six, and the leg just did not get any better overnight," said Polakovich. "I knew I wasn't gonna quit, but the fun had worn off, and it was time to just, you know, clench my teeth and just do it."

Polakovich, a Grand Rapids-area mortgage lender, started in New Buffalo, near the Michigan-Indiana border on May 23.

8 days later, he finished at the Mackinac Bridge, all to raise awareness for youth homelessness and raise money for west Michigan non-profit AYA Youth Collective .

The run tested his mental and physical abilities, Polakovich said.

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