UTICA, N.Y. (WUTR) — Wai Law isn’t your typical accountant. He plans to run 555 miles in 10 days in honor of Ruban Almodovar—the late father of Wai’s close friend, Dennis—who died from Parkinson’s in 2017.

“Dennis keeps saying that it’s an honor that I’m doing this for him. It’s really my pleasure and honor to do this, in a large part in the name of his father,” Law said. “This means a lot to me and I’m sure to him because this is built on the foundation of our friendship.”

Wai is running to raise money for two organizations, the Thomas Hartman Center for Parkinson’s Research at Stony Brook University and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the very organization that brought Dennis and Wai together 15 years ago. Both men are long-distance runners and have spent many weekends running marathons and trails together.

“Being a fellow ultra runner—someone who’s run very long distances—I realize how much this is actually going to take to do, from a physical and a mental point of view,” Dennis Almodovar explained. “All the training and everything that’s gone into it. So this is really a tremendous honor to me and a sign of a tremendous friendship.”

Beginning this Friday, June 25, Wai will run the recently completed Empire State Trail, starting in Buffalo and ending in Battery Park in New York City. While Wai is running a total of 21 marathons in just 10 days he will also be pushing a baby stroller filled with supplies he may need, like food clothes camping gear and more.

“The whole point of having the stroller is really to carry more supplies with me,” Law explained. “Because I don’t know too much about the Empire State Trail along the way—what I can have or what I don’t—so I plan for the worst case scenario. That way I can have at least some basic stuff with me.”

Although Wai has never run this far before, he’s no stranger to long-distance running. Just last year, he raised over $10,000 for the Hartman Center by running from New Paltz to Citi Field in New York City in 24 hours.

Wai plans to be in Utica Monday evening, and he encourages people to come join him, whether by running or cheering him on.