Michael’s charity run in “Fun Run” supports rabies awareness. He organizes the event after accidentally hitting Meredith Palmer with his car and learning that she may have been exposed to rabies.
The episode opens the fourth season of The Office and originally aired in two parts on September 27, 2007. Michael treats the five-kilometer race as a grand public-health mission, even though much of the event becomes a showcase for his need for attention. He also spends more than half the money raised on the check-presentation ceremony.
The episode plays the subject for comedy, but rabies is a real viral disease that can be transmitted through the bite or saliva of an infected animal. Meredith’s possible exposure follows earlier bat-related events in the series. The options AIDS, diabetes and cancer are all serious diseases, but none is the cause connected to Michael’s “Fun Run.”