Monday, September 21, 2009

Long Time Montrail Runner Dies

This is a posting from the Montrail U.S Blog.

Dave Terry
One of the original Montrailians, Dave Terry, passed away over the weekend. Dave proudly sported his Montrail colors for over a decade. He was so tough, strong, super buff, an excellent downhiller, and super friendly and genuine.

When I first met Dave at a big group training run at Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon, he really took a genuine interest in me, my running, and just my life in general. Although I knew who he was (eventually a 10 time Western States, Wasatch, and McDonald Forest finisher, usually in the top 10), he never once mentioned that to me. Whenever I've seen him since, he treated me like an old friend.

Dave was also quite the lady's man. He was a strong, good-looking guy, who always seemed to have a cute girl with him.

One funny memory I have of Dave is from Zane Grey in 2005. I was running along with Tim Halder around mile 25 when Dave comes running towards us (Zane Grey is a point-to-point race). Dave gave us a confused look, and we told him that he was going the wrong way. So he turned around with us and explained that he had just wiped out pretty hard, whacked his head on a rock, got up in a dazed stupor, not really knowing where he was, but knew he was supposed to be running. So he just ran until we found him. He said he still wasn't sure what was the right way, but since Tim and I were both going the same way, we were probably right.

The last time I saw Dave was at Western States this year. After running WS for 10 years in a row, he said he felt weird being there as just a spectator and he didn't quite know what to do with himself. I'm sure he had a blast hanging out and cheering with Steve and Scott. Dave always was a great cheerleader.

I'll miss you, Dave.