Glenn Caffery hopes to raise $25,000 for Alzheimer's research on his cross country run.
University of Massachusetts lecturer Glenn Caffery is running 3,312 miles cross country to raise money for Alzheimer's research. His will wear 10 pairs of Asics Gel-DS Trainers - one of which is pictured here. AMHERST - Glenn Caffery will need the energy of 112,000 M & M’s to do what he needs to do - run 3,3121 from the west coast to the east.
Caffery, 49, who teaches in the resources economics department at the University of Massachusetts, flew to Seaside, Ore. last week to begin his run to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s and to connect with other’s whose lives have also been affected by the disease that killed his father nine years ago.
Caffery is running alone, carrying all his gear - a light tent, food and drink and some belongings- in his stroller donated by Baby Jogger. He said he ran with a similar stroller more than 20 years ago when his daughters were young.
His wife will mail one pair of new Asics Gel-DS Trainer running shoes to general delivery at a post office each week - Northampton Running Authority gave him a great deal, he said, on the 10 pairs he needs for the run.
“I love running,” he said a day before he flew out. He said he likes to explore while running. “I love meeting new people,” he said. He feels it will be easier to meet people along the way by making the journey alone. He is hoping to stay with people he meets or with friends of friends and his daughters - Celia Caffery in Minneapolis and Emily Caffery in Ann Arbor.
He plans to run on average 50 miles a day arriving in Misquamicut, R.I. in 10 weeks. The run will give him time “to reflect on my dad’s experience” and to raise money.
He said for the first time, he’s hopeful that science is understanding more about the disease, which is why he’s running now. “In the last couple of years, there have been important insights.” They’ve identified key genes which might make the disease more likely for example. “They have things they know and ways of asking the questions.”
And he said he’s running hoping to “save my daughters from having to deal with it.”
His father Richard was diagnosed when he was just 55 in 1989 and lived with it for 13 years. Caffery said there was no history of the disease in his father’s family.
“I don’t think people appreciate the awfulness of Alzheimer’s. It’s full of suffering,” he said. “It’s a horrible, horrible disease.” He feels that “Alzheimer’s stories need to be told.”
His blog will chronicle his journey and he’s asking people to post their stories there as well. Some already have. People can donate there as well. Every dollar donated to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund will find research, he said. He’s hoping to raise $25,000.
Caffery has been running for about 30 years - his longest race a 50-miler, he said he’s run 27 miles from his Leyden home to UMass a couple of times. He said he expects his body will adapt as he runs. He’ll decide once he starts how many miles he’ll run at a time. “I want to see how my body would respond.”
His friend, UMass kinesiology professor Barry Braun helped him calculate that he will need to eat about 7,000 calories - a day to keep from losing weight. He’s 5 feet 10 inches and weighs about 140 pounds.