ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
BRAD REEVES IS BACK and running for Roanoke College after serving a two-year Mormon mission in Guatemala.
It wasn't so long ago when Brad Reeves ran three miles and thought to himself that ``five miles would be almost twice as bad.''
That was simple math for a Salem High School student. That also was a life-changing experience ago. Reeves left Roanoke College, his hometown school, for two years. He returned as the same distance runner, but not the same person.
In 1992, the soft-spoken chemistry major was named the Maroons' most valuable runner in cross country and was an All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference choice, winning three races. He also ran the mile in track. The following spring, Reeves went to Guatemala on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
``I think it changed the focus of my life from myself to others,'' Reeves said of his Mormon mission, during which his assignment was to encourage continued education for Guatemalan youths. ``It was difficult, but it was great. You really realize that a person can make a difference. It showed me how rewarding an experience can be.''
Reeves wasn't thinking of that during the mission, which he completed in June 1995. Among other things, he was just trying to find a place to run. Although he had competed - for the sake of running more than anything - in some local road races, he hadn't been on a competitive team since the ninth grade.
Within two years, thanks to the sell job by Maroons track and cross country coach Finn Pincus, running had become Reeves' passion. In Guatemala, it was one of the few luxuries he enjoyed.
``It was tough to find places to run,'' said Reeves, who early in this, his senior season, has regained his form and established a personal best in the 8,000 meters. ``A lot of the roads were cobblestone or rocks and clay. It wasn't very safe. The highways are narrow. Every now and then, I'd go to a soccer field and run. That was the best place you could find.''
It hardly was his most trying time, however. Reeves spent days and nights in locations with no indoor plumbing, trying to speak and understand a foreign language in a Central American nation to which he was assigned by the church for his mission, which Mormon men make after their 19th birthday.
``A person who is 19 or 20 and makes that kind of commitment, it says something,'' Pincus said. ``I'm not a Mormon, but to go through what he did, you kind of have to think that's why people who do this sort of thing are successful in the rest of their lives.
``Go to any dorm room at any college at 7:30 in the morning and people won't even be out of bed. In Guatemala, by that time Brad had probably already walked a mile and probably had two more to walk. Then he visited with parents and tried to convince them to send their 12-year-old to school that day rather than to some place to work where the kid might make 50 cents for the day.''
Reeves, one of seven children in his family, was the first to make such a mission. A younger brother, Ryan, has been in Provo, Utah, taking an intensive, two-month Spanish course - as Brad did - and is about to begin his church mission in Chihuahua, Mexico.
``Some people get lucky,'' Reeves said, beginning to grin. ``Some people get to go to Hawaii for their mission. You don't know where you'll go. When you're ready, you send in the papers and say you have the desire to go. It's voluntary, but you have to self-fund it. You do it because you want to do it.''
There are no perks. Reeves didn't have a car in Guatemala, much less one as distinguishable as the 1971 yellow Volkswagen convertible he drives around Salem, the one with the ``UGLI BUG'' license plates.
``The car is older than me,'' he said with some amazement.
He's also older than his cross country teammates, and because of his mission, he's wiser than his years. When he returned to the Maroons' team a year ago, ``I was happy just when I broke 30 minutes'' in the 8,000, he said.
Devotion binds Reeves, Pincus
This past spring, during track and field season, Reeves started to become the kind of runner he had been before his mission. Some ODAC foes didn't remember him until he bolted past them toward the finish in the mile. With Roanoke's own Maroon Invitational coming up Saturday on the school's Elizabeth Campus, Reeves will be seeking to top his best time in the 8,000 of 26 minutes, 51 seconds, set Sept.7 when he won a meet against Lynchburg.
Reeves, who often runs the mile from his family's home to classes, runs eight to nine miles daily, on average. He couldn't have imagined that until he got to college, and Pincus phoned him - weekly - about coming out for the Maroons' cross country and track and field programs. Pincus, who had met Reeves briefly when both ran in some local races, saw his name on a prospective athletes' list among freshmen from the admissions office.
``If Finn Pincus weren't the coach here, I really doubt I'd be running,'' Reeves said. ``When he started calling, it was almost like he knew how much I'd like running more than I did.''
Pincus said he knew Reeves ``was a person who had some talent. So, I recruited him while he already was here. `Why don't you come out for the team? Why not just come to run with us and see what it's like?' Finally, he came out in the second semester for indoor track season his freshman year [1991-92].''
Reeves repaid the devotion by Pincus while in Guatemala. He wrote regularly to his coach as well as his family. Pincus still has some of the letters, which he returned monthly, sending with his writings the latest results of the Maroons' teams.
``It was almost like I was Brad's connection to school and running,'' Pincus said. ``I think it kind of helped him. I know he was very isolated at times. He showed me some of the pictures he took. The places he went, the huts people lived in, it was unbelievable.''
Pincus said Reeves' ``will to win is extraordinary. His ability to dig deep when he starts to kick, the noticeable difference in turnover [of churning legs] is what makes him so good. It's guts, and I don't think you can teach people to have guts.''
Discipline eases readjustment
Reeves, who will turn 23 in December, said one of his biggest struggles came after his mission, simply trying to return to an academic setting, trying to relearn all of those molecules that fill pages in chemistry books. Running aided his discipline in that regard, as it helped him pass some of the hours in Central America.
``I was so busy I didn't get to run a lot, and when I did get to run, I realized how much I was missing it,'' he said. ``When you go on a long run, when you take an hour, you don't realize how productive the time can be unless you do it. You have time to think, time to organize, time to remember.
``I don't know if the mission took anything out of me as a runner. Runners usually don't hit their peak until about [age] 28, I guess. Even if I stayed here, I don't think I could have done better than I am now. Getting back to that point was difficult, though.''
Reeves also conceded that the image of ``the loneliness of the long distance runner'' helped as he walked and talked the dusty, hot days away in Guatemala.
``Having spent two years in Central America, I think I appreciate the life we have a lot more,'' Reeves said. ``I think I see the world in a more global perspective. To see what I saw and realize that millions of people in Central America alone - much less other parts of the world - live like that. We can help them. And when we learn to help others, we help ourselves.''
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff Salem native Brad Reeves returned fromby CNBGuatemala a changed man. color.