Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series leading up to the Brookings Marathon. Prairie Striders Running Club will conduct four races May 12-13 – the Scotty Roberts 5K and kids’ run May 12 and the marathon, half marathon and relay May 13. For more information, go to: BrookingsMarathon.com or PrairieStriders.net.

BROOKINGS – Three years ago, Kevin Kephart took a mid-life evaluation that has literally reshaped himself.

“I was feeling kind of dumpy, out of shape. I wanted to feel better,” said Kephart, who is retiring June 21 after 30 years at South Dakota State University.

In 2014 and until December 2016, he was vice president for research and economic development.

His job connected him with researchers at Sanford Health, which had recently begun Sanford Profile®.

Kephart decided to participate in the scientifically based diet plan.

“I started losing weight. My energy level went way up,” he said.

The next step in his transformation was motivated by a comment from his son, Jon.

“I met our son in the mountains in Colorado to winterize our cabin in October 2014,” said Kephart. “We went on a hike to a lake at 12,000 (feet elevation) at the base of Long’s Peak. I said to Jon, ‘I’d like to climb that sometime.’

“Jon said, ‘Dad, you’ve got to get in shape to do that.’ We made a promise to each other that we would climb it in summer 2015.”

He picked up running to get in shape for the challenge of climbing the 14,259-foot peak that is considered one of Colorado’s most difficult 14’ers.

Jumping in head first

His wife, Lucy, a longtime Brookings Marathon volunteer, suggested that they put some races on the calendar so there were short-term goals to motivate the training.

They entered their first race right away, the Hobo Day 5K.

In spring 2015, there was the Polar Plunge 5K, followed by stepping up to the Brookings Half Marathon and a trail half marathon in Brainerd, Minn.

The drive that had fueled Kephart in his academic career was now fueling the new Kephart, who hadn’t previously been involved in athletics even in high school.

His steps into running were rapid and not without some pain, but there was plenty to encourage him to continue to pursue this new lifestyle.

His Brookings Half Marathon debut wasn’t a good memory.

“The first time was a tough deal. I would have never believed I would have run another half marathon,” said Kephart, who finished in 2:15:03, two seconds behind his wife.

He said his struggles were primarily related a lingering case of runner’s knee he had developed a month before the race.

Switching shoes and physical therapy put him on the healing path.

Now, at age 59, he said he has no knee pain or other ailments that often befall aging runners.

A sub-two hour half

On May 13, he will be running the Brookings Half Marathon for the third time.

In 2016 he finished in 2:02:18, a time that disappointed him because his aim was sub-two hours.

But Kephart turned that disappointment into motivation and ran the Sioux Falls Half Marathon in 1:58:40 on Sept. 11, 2016.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever run as fast as I have,” he said.

Kephart said part of the issue is weight.

He dropped from 200 to 155 between August 2014 and August 2015. Since then, he has gained back 17 pounds.

“With gaining weight, I see my pace has gone down. Lucy’s a good cook,” he explained.

Kephart has not slacked on the training – running at least three times a week, doing occasional cardio cross training and regularly hitting the weights. He has a regiment of pushups, squats and free weights that he will do once or twice a day.

The redirection of his Type A personality has been a positive, he said.

“I worked a lot of weekends, a lot of extra time for the success of the institution. I refocused some on this. I had to. I was not on a good pathway for my own personal health.”

He had been on statins for cholesterol since age 29 and in 2011, at age 54, he also was prescribed another medicine for high blood pressure.

“Now I’m not on anything. It’s really good not to be on those things. I dropped the meds fairly quickly after starting running. My blood pressure went way down,” Kephart said.

Good for body, good for head

It’s not just the doctor’s chart that has him feeling good about becoming a runner.

“Running clears your head and physically you feel really good after a run,” said Kephart, who got hooked on running while training for the Brookings Half Marathon in 2015. “I was looking forward to my long runs.”

He became a user of Map My Run on March 14, 2015, and has been collecting data on that app ever since.

Other signs of being a runner?

“I pay attention to shoes and buy running gear. I’m disappointed when I don’t get two runs in on a weekend,” Kephart said.

What about a favorite workout?

He cites a 3 1/2-mile route in his Indian Hills neighborhood, a 6- to 8-mile jaunt from home to Dakota Nature Park and back, and a 5-mile loop on the country roads west of Brookings.

Generally, the runs come with a National Public Radio podcast or something on the music service Pandora.

Making memories

As far as most memorable race, it would have to be the Sydney Half Marathon in September 2015.

In preparing to go to Sydney for a work trip, he discovered there was a marathon/half marathon at the same time. His daughter, Jo, accompanied him on the trip and ran a 9-mile race that was part of the event.

The half marathon course started on one side of the iconic Harbor Bridge, wound around downtown and finished by the Sydney Opera House.

That race was just a month after another milestone event – climbing Long’s Peak with his son.

Jon, Lucy and Kevin summited Long’s Peak Aug. 6, 2015, after about 10 days of acclimation on lower peaks.

In 2016, they conquered the adjacent Mount Meeker, which is even more difficult because it requires more “four-point” (hands and feet on the ground) climbing.

“Being able to have the freedom to do things like this with your son is immeasurable,” Kephart said, pointing to the image of himself on Mount Meeker on his computer screen.

Kephart retires from his faculty position June 21. His background is in plant science. What his future holds, he doesn’t know.

“There’s still plenty of time for a next career. Hopefully it will be around here, but the sky’s the limit.”

Between the sky and the path to his future are Kephart’s New Balance shoes.

You can bet he will be using them.