Mark Stockamp, of Bend, is planning to run 62 miles on Saturday to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Mark Stockamp got his start in running relatively late, as a senior in high school in the Portland area.

But he continued running while attending the University of Washington in Seattle — he did not run FOR the Huskies, but he did run WITH the Huskies.

Stockamp, now 25, had his own dog-running business, with about 15 steady clients in Seattle.

“Instead of a dog-walker, I just went out and ran people’s dogs for them,” Stockamp says. “It was a lot of fun. It wasn’t taking a bunch of dogs out at once, it was more one-on-one.”

Stockamp’s passion for running long miles led him to the drier climate of Bend about two years ago, and he is now the marketing manager at the FootZone running store downtown.

Now immersed in Central Oregon’s thriving ultrarunning community, Stockamp plans to run farther than he ever has before — 62 miles on Saturday along the Swamp Wells Trail and the Newberry Crater Rim Trail to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

According to its website, LLS is the global leader in the fight against blood cancer and works to invest in cutting-edge research to advance blood cancer treatment.

“It breaks my heart knowing blood cancer is diagnosed every three minutes in the U.S., and 40% of pediatric cancers are blood cancers,” Stockamp says. “The pandemic is magnifying the issues patients face beyond health concerns to include added distress, new financial worries, loneliness and uncertainty.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is also making it difficult for LLS to raise money, as much of its fundraising dollars stem from big marathons such as New York City and Chicago, which were canceled this year.

“I just thought it was a really great reason to put something fun together and raise some money to help cure blood cancer,” Stockamp says. “This’ll be my longest run ever, and it just seemed like a cool idea to me.”

His goal is to raise $10,000 for the LLS, mainly through his fundraising page fundraisers.hakuapp.com/mark-stockamp. As of Thursday he had raised more than $8,000, with 23 days remaining in the campaign.

After moving to Bend, Stockamp says he got hooked on ultrarunning, which includes distances longer than 26.2 miles. He competed in his first ultra event last summer, and has completed six ultras since then.

“I just like being out there for a long time on the trails, and gradually I just kept upping my miles,” he says. “It helped I had encouragement from my co-workers at FootZone. A lot of people when they hear you’re going to run that far they think you’re crazy. So it’s nice to be surrounded by like-minded people.”

The route Stockamp plans to run Saturday will start near Horse Butte, just southeast of Bend.

He will run the Swamp Wells Trail south and connect to the Newberry Crater Rim Trail, which circumnavigates the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, including Paulina and East Lakes. He plans to run to the top of 7,989-foot Paulina Peak before completing the rim loop, then running back north along Swamp Wells to where he started.

The 62-mile course (100 kilometers) will include 8,500 to 9,500 feet of elevation gain and will be what Stockamp calls “the hardest physical effort of my life.”

“It’s a really cool course,” he says. “I’ve been wanting to do this route for a long time now. It’s intimidating — it is a lot. Fortunately, I’ll have a great crew and my family supporting me.”

Stockamp’s parents, brother and sister will be in Bend from out of town to help support him during the race. He plans to start at 6 a.m. and run the first five miles with his brother, and other friends will run additional sections with him. From near the top of Paulina Peak, another friend will ride his mountain bike behind Stockamp the rest of the way.

He hopes to finish by 7 p.m., just after sunset.

“I’m thinking 13 hours,” Stockamp says. “That’s what I’m shooting for. It’ll be interesting to say the least.”