LINCOLN, Neb. -- A Lincoln man will be running more than 160 miles in six days for a cause that's near and dear to his heart.

Chris Whitney will represent Nebraska in the MS Run the US Relay, a cross country awareness and fund-raising effort for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), which starts in California and ends in New York City.

Whitney is the segment 9 runner of the relay. Starting June 6, he'll run along HWY 34 from Wray, Colorado to Holdrege, Nebraska, all in the name of raising awareness and funds for MS.

"When you tell people you're running a marathon a day for five, six, seven, eight days, whatever it might be, you get a lot of people that think you're maybe not quite right in the head," Whitney said. "This is somethings we gladly do, it's not something we have to do, but we get to do. I think that's the mentality that everybody takes with us."

Whitney's foremost motivation for running is his mother who has had MS for 35 years.

"It [MS] was something that took a lot from her, and it took it pretty quickly. She's unfortunately been wheelchair-bound for over 20 years now so I run for her," Whitney said.

Additionally, Whitney runs for a friend, Kevin Bedel, who was diagnosed with MS a couple years ago.

"I see some of the same symptoms with his MS that my mom started to see," Whitney said. "I want to make sure that he gets to do everything that he wants to do with his family and not have MS be the barrier that it has been for millions around the world."

While Whitney is excited to run in the relay for a second time, six months ago a severe ankle injury put his ability to participate in question. Two broken bones, surgery in January and a 12-week recovery period were all obstacles Whitney has overcome.

"I told people initially that I still wanted to do this," Whitney said. "Nobody really laughed at me, or said this is not happening, but I could tell there was a lot of skepticism. It wasn't so much about proving people wrong, I just wanted to prove people right, that I could do it."

Whitney will have his chance to prove people right next week, running 165 miles for a cause he believes in.