When Dave Lagow runs, his mind tends to wander as a way of thinking about anything but running.

Lagow, the former head athletic trainer with the Crew, said it was the birth of his twin daughters, Violet and Isabel, now 3½, that gave him the idea to start running regularly again.

“That drive became more relevant, like, ‘I need to get off my (rear end) and do something,’” he said.

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Lagow’s motivation turned into a goal of training for and running in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington perhaps later than he expected. A training injury forced him to defer his marathon registration from 2017 to this October.

While on a training run earlier this year, Lagow’s mind wandered to Kirk Urso, the Crew rookie who in 2012 died at 22 of cardiac arrest caused by arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, a rare, genetic heart condition.

Lagow, now the head athletic trainer at South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, toyed with ideas over the years of how to properly honor Urso, “but they never really got outside of my own head” because of a busy schedule.

Recently, he phoned Arica Kress, vice president of marketing and communications with the Crew, and decided to launch a fundraiser benefiting the Kirk Urso Memorial Fund and run the Marine Corps Marathon in Urso’s memory.

A GoFundMe page, launched this week, was up to $464 on Friday evening and carries an initial goal of $1,500, a nod to Urso’s No. 15 with the Crew. The fund is set to award its next set of player scholarships during Crew SC’s game Sept. 22 against the Colorado Rapids, a Crew Foundation spokesman said.

Lagow said he took a liking to Urso during 2012 training camp, when, like many players selected in the supplemental draft, Urso was fighting for a roster spot.

“He had this sarcasm that, for me, was perfect because that’s kind of how I operate and the way I like to joke around and interact with guys like that,” Lagow said. “There was something I liked about the kid, like, ‘I hope he makes it.’”

Urso made the team and made five starts to begin the 2012 season before suffering a groin injury and, later, undergoing sports hernia surgery.

The Crew was in Washington after a game Aug. 4 with D.C. United and was told of Urso’s death the morning of Aug. 5. Lagow remembers addressing a stunned room before heading to the airport with the team.

“It’s hands down the most quiet bus ride I’ve been a part of,” he said.

With even the most minor of injuries, Lagow said it’s natural for an athletic trainer to question what could have been done to prevent it. Lagow is not a doctor, but the introspection that followed Urso’s death sent his mind to a dark place. People close to Lagow encouraged him to seek counseling.

“It allowed me to listen to myself speak and come to the realization that, no, if all these doctors who have far more experience and training said there’s nothing they could have known, then there’s nothing I could have done as an athletic trainer,” he said.

More than six years later, those who knew Urso remember him in different ways. Defender Josh Williams said he often thinks about Urso when he arrives at Mapfre Stadium and takes a few minutes to think about why he’s there. Midfielder Justin Meram said he spoke with Urso’s mother, Sandy, when he returned from Orlando City in August.

“I don’t think it’s ever gonna be something where it washes away,” he said of Urso’s memory.

Sandy Urso said in an email she and her family are “honored” by Lagow’s gesture.

“The fact that there are numerous charities he could have supported and has chosen the Kirk Urso Memorial Fund, keeping Kirk's legacy alive, while benefiting heart research, education and scholarship, speaks volumes,” she said. “We are wishing Dave massive success in his Marine Corps Marathon.”

A busy schedule prevented Lagow from training for much of August, but he completed 16 miles Tuesday and will run 18 next weekend and max out at 20 before tapering toward his Oct. 28 race day.

He knows that at some point during the race, he’ll hit a wall.

“My body’s gonna say, ‘No,’ and then it’s just knowing I have to tell myself to go one more step, one more block, one more half-mile,” Lagow said.

It’s likely around that time that his mind will once again wander, probably to Urso.

aerickson@dispatch.com

@AEricksonCD