Who runs a 5K, a 10K, a half-marathon and a marathon in four days?

Mike Davis did something goofy the Saturday after New Year’s Day. And the day after that he did something really dopey. In doing so, he raised a lot of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Davis, of Aquebogue, has been a passionate supporter of the LLS for many years. (See previous story here.) Over the past nine years, he’s raised $17,000 for the society by getting pledges from friends and family to run in various fundraising distance races.

What “got him in the gut” about leukemia and lymphoma is that blood cancer strikes young children as often as adults. And though he didn’t actually know anyone diagnosed with the disease, nine years ago he joined a team sponsored by the society’s Team in Training program to raise money for a five-year-old girl he had heard about who had been recently diagnosed. He traveled to Massapequa weekly to train with the team for his first trip to Disney World for its annual marathon weekend. That experience, running a marathon with Team Happily Ever After (which raised more than $100,000 for LLS), hooked him on the Team in Training program. He became more involved with LLS, running races from 5Ks to marathons to raise money for research and a cure.

Two and a half weeks after Disney, blood cancer struck close to home.

His beloved godfather, David L. King, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. King, a respected member, former chief and commissioner of the Springs Fire Department, didn’t win his fight with ALL.

Angry and full of grief, Davis quadrupled his involvement with the Team in Training program. Formerly a team member, he trained to become a team leader, a coach and to serve as LLS’s liaison to the East End as well.

“The support you get from TNT is simply unbelievable,” said Davis “and the friendships I’ve made are great. I can’t say enough good things about it.”

Last spring he started forming a team with the intent to lead team members down to the Disney marathon weekend in the beginning of the New Year. His goal was to have “Team DLK for a Cure” raise $100,000 toward research and a cure for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Raising $100K allows the team to direct exactly how and where the funds will be used. He began the hard work of soliciting donations, pledges and volunteer runners.

His team members trained all summer, working their way toward running one of the races at Disney on marathon weekend. (On Thursday, there’s a 5K, on Friday a 10K, on Saturday the half-marathon and on Sunday, the marathon.) Some of the team opted for the shorter distances, others for the longer races later in the event.

You remember he did something goofy and dopey that weekend?

Well, if you sign up to run the 5K, 10K and a half-marathon, that’s known as the Goofy series. Add the marathon to that and you’ve earned yourself a Dopey medal. That’s right. Run 48.6 miles over four days and you’re officially Dopey.

Team DMK for a Cure’s runners raised $71,500 during the event. Only nine members of the team made it to Florida; five others were stranded at home by the blizzard on Thursday, Jan. 4 including Davis’ wife Amy and his two children Samantha and Johnathan, so Davis ran without his most ardent supporters cheering him on.

“Believe it or not, the hardest part wasn’t the distance, or the ice baths afterward or the very chilly weather that weekend,” said Davis. “It was getting up at 3 a.m. every morning to run” — all the races start at 5:30 a.m. so the park can be cleared of runners by the time it opens to the public.

The team’s total was the fifth largest amount of all the teams entered into the weekend’s races and Davis’ personal stake of $19,600 of that was the eighth highest amount raised by an individual. As one of the top fundraisers, Davis got to speak at the motivational dinner the night before the races started.

Davis is determined to get to his original goal of $100K. The fundraising year goes from July 1 to June 30, so he still has time to raise nearly $30,000 more dollars. To that end, Team DMK for a Cure already has nearly a dozen runners signed up to run the Bridgehampton half-marathon on May 12.

He’s actively looking for runners and pledges to help meet the team’s goal. If you aren’t a runner but want to pledge money to the team or one of the team members, Davis says he’s grateful for any amount donated. To sign up or donate, visit the team’s fundraising page.