One of my first orders of business when I get to the Register every morning is to read that day’s issue — which I will have already proof-read the day before and prior to its printing. My first big hope is that I won’t find any errors that I missed in proof-reading. Unfortunately I found one last Thursday on page 1: instead of finding “company’s” I found “company’s’”.

However, on the bright side, on page 14, I found a sports story that caught my attention. I don’t usually proof-read the sports pages, because they’re not ready to go until I’ve left work for the day. The headline in a Dave Graves Special to the Register, read: “Tetzlaff Trotters: One goal — create lifelong memories.” The Trotters will be one of  “22 relay teams entered in the 54^th running of the Brookings Marathon (on Saturday, May 13).” Dave’s story — the third in a series of four leading up to the Marathon — brought back memories of my own long-ago days as a lonely marathoner and later on as a member of a Register relay team in several runnings of the Brookings Marathon Relay.

While attending South Dakota State University and working at the Register in about 1996, something drew me to the Longest Day Marathon Relay. For the six legs — of 4, 5, 3, 5, 3.2 and 6 miles respectively —  several of us at the Register were  able to put together a team. Dave Graves was also a member and a real stalwart on the team. Other Register team members I recall were publisher Joe Karius, managing editor Amy Dunkle, photographer Eric Landwehr and press operator Hillary Bullis. In the years from 1995 through 1999, we could put together a team to cover the six relay distances: 4, 5, 3, 5, 3.2 and 6. (A relay team can consist of two to six members. A team member can run more than one leg.)

With some marathon experience, I considered myself the sort of de facto team organizer. My hope and goal for each Marathon  — I think we ran maybe a total of three during those several years — was a sub-4-hour finish.

My own marathon days began in 1977, while still in the Navy and stationed on Midway Island. I’m not sure why I decided to run the Honolulu Marathon; but I did. I trained seriously and was logging about 70 miles a week, with long runs of 18 or 19 miles on weekends. My long runs were a bit circuitous — the total geography of Midway is roughly 2.4 square miles, so I had to do a lot of back-and-forth running. But come December, I ran the Honolulu Marathon and finished in about 3 hours, 45 minutes. I was hoping for sub-4 hours and made that goal.

Come summer 1978, my family and I were transferred to Quantico, Virginia. We stopped on the Big Island en route for a brief vacation and I ran a marathon there: a bit better time, about 3:30.

For a while I entertained the (pipe) dream of a sub-3 hour marathon. That would demand a sub-7 minute-per-mile pace. No way. While at Quantico and taking the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test, I ran a 3-mile course in 19 minutes, 30 seconds. No way I could maintain that 6:30 pace for 26.2 miles.

I would run two more marathons: the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in the late 1980s and the San Antonio Marathon in 1990. In neither run did I have a new personal best.

Over the years during which I ran those four marathons, I also ran a variety of other races: half-marathons, 10 milers and 15Ks. While I continued to run for fun and fitness and at a relaxed pace and for various distances, I never again ran in an organized race — until after my wife Bea and I moved to Brookings in 1994.

In pursuit of the sub-4-hour finish for the Register runners, there was one year, which one I can’t recall, where I thought we had it nailed. As I recall, Dave came out smoking and and burned his way through the first leg, 4 miles; I ran one of the 5-mile legs (I’m not sure who ran the other); Joe Karius ran the 3-mile leg; Amy took the 3.2-mile leg; and Dave took the final 6 miles. I knew the Register runners had the sub-4-hour Marathon in the bag. It was not to be. Dave had little fuel left in the tank. I knew that the opening leg had beat him up a bit with that blistering out the gate start and pace. However, when I visited with Dave a few days ago, he told me (reminded me?) that while he had been a team member, unlisted he had run the entire Marathon!

Dave would continue to run multiple marathons, including regularly the one here in Brookings. He ran his last one at 60 years old.

While Dave’s running days are behind him, he continues to support running in Brookings. He’s a longtime member of the Prairie Striders Running Club and newsletter editor for The Pacesetter, a Striders’ publication.

Dave is a real inspiration and a friend to Brookings runners. BRAVO ZULU, Dave, and thanks for the memories.

Good luck to all the marathoners — individuals and teams. Have a nice (marathon) day. When the running’s over, you’ll all walk away with some memories.

To the Tetzlaff Trotters: Go for a sub-4!