Walking/running for a cause
This Ocala man raised funds to help provide college scholarships and more for students in his native Jamaica.
Glen Owen is seen Dec. 8, 2025, with one pair of Puma shoes that he wore during his 300-mile fundraising walk/run from Ocala to Dade County, which began on Feb. 29, 2024, and resulted in the publication of a book this year. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]
Glen Owen lost 10 pounds and three toenails and wore out three pairs of shoes when he walked and ran about 300 miles from Ocala to Miami at the age of 63.
On the other hand, the 9 ½-day “walk/run”’ met a personal challenge, inspired others and raised about $5,000 to provide college scholarships and related assistance for perhaps five students at Haile Selassie High School in his native Kingston, Jamaica. It also led to the publication of a book by Owen, “Go Papa, Go!, It’s Just 300 Miles-ON FOOT!!,” whose title came from a comment made his granddaughter when he was at a low point on his journey.
Owen is a member of the Haile Selassie High School Alumni Association, which held a 55th anniversary celebration in June of 2024 that marked the school’s 1969 opening and included a reunion of members of Owen’s Class of 1979.
“I wanted to do something grand, out of the ordinary for an upcoming high school reunion,” said Owen, now 65, about the “run/walk,” which he completed in 2024.
Fellow alumni association member Sandra Gray of Fort Lauderdale had a strong reaction to Owen’s plan.
“What?,” she said when she first heard Owen intended to make the trek .
Gray, also a member of the Class of 1979, said she and Owen were student council leaders while attending Haile Selassie High School. She said Owen has a “desire to serve and give back, which he developed at a very early age.”
“Glen is very determined and when he puts his mind to something he sees it through,” Gray said.
Gray said a number of the alumni were inspired by Owen’s benefit walk/run.
Owens had been a member of the DeLuca Family YMCA in Ocala since 1997 and usually visits the facility four times a week, where he does activities such as treadmill workouts.
Owen said he checked best walk routes with the Florida Highway Patrol, ate a big breakfast and took the first step of the run/walk at 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 29, 2024, in northeast Ocala. The route generally followed U.S. Highway 441 to Fort Lauderdale, with a final leg to a welcoming committee at County Line Road in Dade County.
Glen Owen shows a copy of his book, which was published this year. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]
The cover of the book contains these words: “You will never know what’s possible for you until you embark on what’s impossible for the rest of the world.”
The book also contains some of Owen’s inspirational poetry.
“Poetry is my first love,” he said, noting that his favorite poet is Claude McKay, a “1920s Harlem Renaissance” poet.
According to Britannica.com, McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 and moved to the U.S. in 1912. He wrote books including “Home to Harlem,” novels and poetry, and contributed to “The Liberator,” a “journal of avant-garde politics and art,” the website states. McKay died in 1948.
Owen, who is single, said he became “restless” and moved to Florida in 1992 to pursue opportunities “in the greatest country in the world.” He graduated from the University of Florida in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and taught high school social studies.
Owen now is planning a walk/run to the New York area, a distance of about 1,000 miles. He is charting a route and assembling medical, nutritional and support teams.
“This walk/run will be a benefit to raise funds to help the people of Jamaica affected by the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Mellisa,” he said.
Owen said one of his favorite Bible verses is in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 31, which reads in part: “They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
“Go Papa, Go! It’s Just 300 Miles-ON FOOT!!” is available through online retailers.
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