Meaningful run across the state starts with commitment to team and cause

This piece is sponsored by the First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

“The first thing I remember is ‘Wow, I got selected. Now, do I want to do this?’ Because it’s a huge commitment. Physically. Mentally.”

Started in 2022, The 437 Project is a run across the state of South Dakota centered around mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Last week, 12 runners embarked on a four-day, relay-style journey to raise funds and support for the Helpline Center, the only accredited suicide crisis center in South Dakota.

One of those runners was Tony Goettsch, a senior internal auditor at The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

After watching a friend run in the project in 2022, Goettsch promised himself to apply if ever given the opportunity.

“Well,” he said, “last year, they opened up the application process for the first time, so I decided I would fill out an application.”

He told only a few close friends that he was applying — not even anyone from his family.

“Part of it might have been just so no one was disappointed if I didn’t get selected,” he said.

Upon hearing the news that he was one of 12 runners selected out of about 50 applicants, Goettsch said he told his mom “right away.”

“I don’t remember the exact words,” he said, “but I know she was excited.”

The 437 Project departed on Sept. 25 from the west side of the state. Goettsch started his first leg in Spearfish at 7:14 a.m. MDT.

‘If that kid can do it, I can do it’

A basketball player by choice and a runner seemingly by accident, Goettsch ran his first 5K in 2013.

“About a year later, I signed up for the Sioux Falls 5K,” he recounted. “There was a kid walking past me, and I had finished. He says to me, ‘Why aren’t you running?’”

Unlike Goettsch, who just wrapped up the 5K, the boy was running the half-marathon.

“‘If that kid can do it, I can do it,’” Goettsch remembers thinking. “So then, I started expanding.”

Next came 10K runs, and he signed up for his first half-marathon the following year.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I didn’t think I would; I thought I would struggle to finish.”

Since his start in 2013, Goettsch has run almost 40 half-marathons and three full marathons. The Good Life Halfsy in Lincoln, Nebraska, remains his favorite race.

“It has a feeling of a big race like the Twin Cities Marathon,” he said. “It’s typically run in cooler weather, which helps, but the fan support along the route is really fun.”

Not to mention, he has clocked in four of his five fastest half-marathons there.

But to prepare for his most intense and most meaningful run yet — The 437 Project — Goettsch really had to step up his training.

“I probably have never trained to this level,” Goettsch said. “I’m putting in a lot more miles. I’m running almost five days a week, sometimes six days a week. Doing a lot of walking. Occasionally, I’ll throw in a bike ride. I’ve definitely stepped up my game.”

Across South Dakota in 437 miles

Over the four days of The 437 Project, which took place from Sept. 25 -28, the runners took turns running the 437-mile route that spans across South Dakota.

For his part, Goettsch ran a total of 38.1 miles spread across four separate legs.

“My biggest concern is, how am I going to do these hills outside of Spearfish?” he said ahead of the run. “From miles two to five, or something like that, I’m going to have around 700-plus feet of elevation gain. I can’t even simulate that by running in Sioux Falls.”

In fact, out of the 12 runners, Goettsch had the most elevation gain in a single leg.

“As a team, none of us wants to let down the others, but we also don’t want to let down the people that we’re running for,” said Goettsch, referring to those affected by mental health challenges in either themselves or loved ones, as well as those who have lost someone to suicide.

The money raised through The 437 Project goes to promoting the Helpline Center’s 988 number with signs, shirts, brochures, etc., and funding events such as Sean Astin’s upcoming “Beyond the Screen” presentation in Sioux Falls.

“I’m interested to hear stories along the way that people are going to share with us,” Goettsch said. “I know, emotionally, I can’t prepare for that.”

The other thing he couldn’t emotionally prepare for was, at times, running through South Dakota in the middle of nowhere and in the dark, with nothing but lead vehicles in front of and behind him.

However, Goettsch claims that the quiet and calm are what he loves most about running

“There’s times I can just free my mind,” he said.

And when the time came for him to run through the dark, in the middle of nowhere, the support of his fellow runners and the cause for which he was running kept him going.

“I’d love to see suicide numbers come down,” Goettsch said. “That would show me that we did have a huge impact. But even if I hear of one person who called 988 and it saved their life, that’s more than enough.”

The First National Bank in Sioux Falls was proud to support Goettsch in this important cause. To hear more of Goettsch’s journey to The 437 Project, watch the short video below.