Fishback to run across South Dakota for mental health awareness

BROOKINGS – Mary Beth Fishback will embark on a journey across the state of South Dakota next month and it’s part of a great cause.

The Brookings resident will participate in the 437 Project, which is a running relay event where 13 runners combine to run 437 miles across South Dakota and along the way spread the word about mental health.
The project began in 2022 with a passion for bolstering both physical and mental wellness and the often overlooked connection between the two. Fishback said she heard about the project years ago from some participants and wanted to do it herself.

“[The project] started five years ago and I’ve known previous runners the last few years, so I’d already been familiar with the project and am very passionate about its mission. I applied last year to be a runner in 2026 and it was a pretty extensive application process, both with paper and video interviews and applications. Then I was announced to the team in January,” Fishback said.

Fishback is the CEO of Brookings Behavioral Health and Wellness and said that what she does for work made a big impact in her wanting to run in the 437 Project. 

“I have spent my professional life and my career working in behavioral healthcare,” Fishback said. “I’ve been doing that for more than 20 years at this point. … So mental health, substance use, suicide prevention, these are things that I talk about and I work in every single day. But the 437 Project really is an opportunity to step outside of that professional role, and be involved and advocate and be part of the conversation in a much more personal way. 

“I love that it is running. It’s taking something that is very physical, running 437 miles across the state, really to spark conversation about something like mental health and suicide prevention, things that can be really difficult for people to talk about. So, it’s something that is deeply personal to me and something that I’m really passionate about.”

The run across the state is done relay style, so Fishback will have to run 39.5 miles over the four days (about 10 miles per day) and the 13 runners will be running day and night.

Before the run, the four-day trip begins in Sioux Falls on Sept. 16 and runners and volunteers will leave by car to head to the other side of the state. 

They will stop at Dakota Wesleyan University on Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. and speak to the Mitchell community about mental health. They will then have a meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City on Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. Mountain Time. 

The group will start running from west to east on Sept. 17 near Rapid City. They will stop in Pierre at Drifters Bar & Grille on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. On Sept. 19, the final day of the trip, the 437 Project will meet in the United Methodist Church parking lot in Madison at 7 a.m. They will then finish the run at the Levitt in Sioux Falls around 1 p.m.

Fishback said the training for this multiple-day event has been tough because you have to make sure your strength is good because of doing multiple long distance runs in a four-day stretch.

“It’s been tough,” Fishback said. “I am doing both running and strength training. I’m incredibly fortunate to work with Benson Langat out of Sioux Falls, who was a previous runner for the 437 Project. … I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have his expertise in helping me navigate the running part of training, and then I do strength training at Synergy [in Brookings]. … 

“Training for something like this is very different from most runs. It’s not like training for a marathon where you’re doing a large number of miles all at once. This is something where I’m going to run on average 10 miles per day over the four days, so you’re running a lot of miles, but then you’re having to recover quickly.”

Fishback hasn’t always been a long-distance runner. She said she grew up playing soccer and running track, playing both collegiately, but the track was sprinting. She said she didn’t start running long distances until graduate school and sees many benefits of doing it.

“I think there is a really strong connection between our mind and body, and for me, running is an outlet. It is a way to clear my mind. It’s a way to process things that I’m thinking about, but it’s also a way to push your body in ways you didn’t think were possible, and that’s something I’m definitely seeing as I’m going through this training,” Fishback said.

The 437 Project became its own 501(c)(3) this year, which makes it a tax-exempt nonprofit entity. A majority of its funds get donated to the Helpline Center, which is a 24/7 service that supports people with their mental health and has suicide prevention initiatives. 

If you want to donate to the 437 Project you can go to the437project.org and click on donate tab. You can also inquire about sponsorship opportunities by emailing info@the437project.org.

Fishback said even if folks do not donate, showing up to the stops either in Pierre, Madison or Sioux Falls to learn more about the importance of mental health is something that you can do as well.

“Any way that we can kind of encourage people to check out our website and follow along with what we’re doing. The stop that is the closest to Brookings is obviously Madison and then the final at the finish line at the Levitt in Sioux Falls. It would be wonderful to get people that are interested to attend those events, or just simply follow along with the journey and learn more about the 437 Project,” Fishback said.