UTICA, N.Y. (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY-TV) — Wai Law isn’t your typical accountant in fact Wai isn’t your typical guy. He plans on running 555 miles in 10 days all in honor of his close friend, Dennis Almodovar’s father, Ruban Almodovar, who passed away from Parkinson’s in 2017.

“Even though you know 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 for in the name of his father,” Law said. “This means a lot to me 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.

“Also 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,” Almodovar explained. “And 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. 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.

“Yea 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 where he ran from New Paltz to Citi field in 24 hours. As of now, Wai plans on being in Utica Monday evening, and he encourages people to come out and join him whether by running or cheering him on.