Keith's death had nothing and everything to do with running. Three of his children have been diagnosed with long QT syndrome, a treatable genetic disorder that can cause sudden death related to ventricular arrhythmia. You can be as fit a person as ever lived — and surely Keith Young was — and fall victim to long QT.

The arrhythmia that killed Keith might have passed through a flabbier heart, leaving it damaged but still beating. Keith's heart, however, was so strong in its beats that when it skipped, it stopped and just couldn't get started again. Almost literally, he ran out of this world and into the next, and no one who knows him doubts that, if he had to go at all, this was a better way than most for him.

But, boy, do we miss him. His family most of all, of course, but the thousands who mourn Keith miss his laughter and his encouragement, his constant turning outward to help others, his fabulous Dutch oven meals, his talent for bringing about the good times life offers when you focus on the stuff that really matters.

Keith's family has started a foundation in his memory to raise awareness of sudden arrhythmia death syndrome and raise money for research and education.

The foundation supports the Salt Lake-based SADS Foundation, and to that end the Keith L. Young Memorial Foundation is holding a 5K run/walk in Green River, Wyo., on Saturday, May 23. They hope the race will become a community-building annual event, something Keith surely would have enjoyed.

That's why I've been riding my exercise bike the past couple of weeks. That's why I've laced on my athletic shoes and gone running for the first time in I don't know how long. I'm trying to pick up my 40-year-old knees on the uphills and coast on the downhills. I'm trying to run into the wind and not stop. I'm trying to be better than I was.

After all these years, Keith is still pulling us all along.

Keith L. Young Memorial race

Stratton Meyers Park/Zehawi Field, Green River, Wyo.

Saturday, May 23, 10 a.m.

Individual runners/walkers welcome

Registration: $10 to pre-register at www.keithyoungmemorial.com; $15 the day of the meet from 9-9:45 a.m.

More information: Visit the Web site above

E-mail: skratz@desnews.com