We are a group of friends who will be running and biking from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, GA to Washington, DC from May 4 to May 12, 2007. “Run America III” is the third in an ongoing series of elite endurance events intended to raise money for myotonic dystrophy research. Myotonic dystrophy is the most common adult form of muscular dystrophy. The goal of Run America is to provide funds to seed promising research efforts for therapies and an eventual cure for this genetic disease. We are working in partnership with the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to lead and mobilize resources toward effective management, treatment, and an ultimate cure for myotonic dystrophy through education, advocacy and research.

In 2002, a team of over 40 members ran and biked 3,300 miles on “Run America I” from Tillamook, Oregon, to Boston, Massachusetts, finishing at baseball’s legendary Fenway Park. This six-week cross-country effort was undertaken in honor of a friend who suffers from myotonic dystrophy. The event raised $185,000, which was donated to a research team at the Neuromuscular Research Center at Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester, NY. In 2005 a team comprised of many of the same individuals ran and cycled a second relay, Run America II, from Portland, OR, to San Francisco, CA, to raise additional funds to continue this work.

The Rochester research team used Run America funds to build on 18 prior years of work to determine what causes muscle problems in myotonic dystrophy. Initially, it was believed that myotonic dystrophy resulted from interactions between many different muscle proteins and muscle RNA and that attempts to block these interactions would prove extremely complex and challenging. We are pleased to report that over the past five years significant progress has been made in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the disease. The research team now believes that myotonic dystrophy may be linked to a single muscle protein/RNA interaction, rather than a very complex set of interactions. Consequently, they see a new and more promising avenue -- screening for compounds that block this single bio-chemical interaction. The issues are now well-enough understood to begin a “high-throughput” screening process to identify potential therapeutic compounds. From a treatment perspective, these developments are very encouraging. With your help, we hope to promote these new efforts with funds raised through Run America III.