A Heartfelt Thank You and a Difficult Goodbye
It would be irresponsible for me continue my posts where I left off without first taking time out to thank and honor the person responsible for the Runner’s Doc Project, Steph Van Nortwick. Some of you may not know, my wife and the mother of my children, Steph Van Nortwick, was in a fatal car accident in June 2022 and abruptly departed from our lives. To say she she played an important role in many lives is a gross understatement. She was a force of nature who impacted everyone she came in contact with. Steph was caring mother who always found ways to make her kids lives better, including buying them a pony, building them a treehouse, and planning to include them in our 15th anniversary trip to Costa Rica. She did all this all while maintaining balance and discipline in order to ensure our children would grow into responsible citizens who will positively impact the world.
For me, it’s impossible to list all the different roles she played in my life and I am still learning daily, just how much she did for all of us. However, one of the most important things she did for me was believe in me and forcefully encourage me to follow my dreams. She always seemed to know what I was capable of achieving long before I did. She was never afraid to follow her dreams and she didn’t feel anyone else should be either. Ever since my experience of recovering from a serious injury and being able to return to competitive running, I’ve felt a strong pull to help others do the same. I understand the fear and frustration of not knowing whether you will ever be able to run again and not knowing what steps need to be taken to get there. Looking back on that experience today, I understand this is where the seed for the Runner’s Doc was first planted. I knew I wanted to be there to help others navigate this process so they could return to the sport they love.
Fast forward 16 years! I have completed a degree in athletic training, earned my doctorate in physical therapy, and have been working as a physical therapist, helping all kinds of patients return to the activities they enjoy. All throughout this time though, I have known something was missing. I have not been pursuing my true passion: helping runners stay healthy and prevent future injuries. Knowing me better than anyone else, Steph could tell I wasn’t as happy as I should be and asked me what the problem was. As I thought about it, I understood my true passion was to work with runners and I was doing that much less often than I would like. I was not impacting the lives I wanted to the way I thought I could. As we talked, the idea for The Runner’s Doc started to develop. We quickly realized, developing this brand online would allow me to help more runners, but I was still not ready to take that step. As we sat on the couch one night watching TV, I told Steph I thought I could develop a website and begin launching the Runner’s Doc. In true Steph fashion, she forced me to buy a website domain and begin working on the website that night. She knew that if I didn’t take that step, in that moment, the Runner’s Doc would remain just an idea; it was time to take action and start impacting lives the way I wanted to.
I am extremely grateful to her for pushing me to make this project a reality; I know I wouldn’t have had the courage to do this without her. Because of her impact on my life, I don’t only feel the need to help others, but I feel the need to do the best job I possibly can to honor her memory. If she were here, I know she’d be reading and editing this post right now and making corrections, so you’ll have to bear with me as I learn and grow! She played a larger than life role in all the lives she came in contact with and I will strive to continue this good through the Runner’s Doc project. As I write and develop content to help you and others, please help me recognize the person responsible for making this project a reality. I hope her influence can always be seen in my work and that she positively impacts your life the way she did that of her students, friends, and coworkers. Thank you for reading this post and joining me in honoring a very special person who left us way too soon, Steph Wilkins Van Nortwick. I’ll see you in the next post.
