We are deeply saddened at the recent passing of our friend and co-founder of the Natural Running Center Bill Katovsky. Yes, life can be short when you cannot get good help. Together with Minimalist Shoe aficionado and hi tech wizard Nicholas Pang we created the Natural Running Center site and FB pages
http://naturalrunningcenter.com/
https://www.facebook.com/naturalrunningcenter
Our relationship started when Bill interviewed me for this piece on Zero-Drop 5 years ago . He felt there was something significant in what we were doing here is West Virginia. This led to the website with 5 million views.
Although we lived on opposite coasts I always felt Bill was close to me. We talked almost weekly and the daily email exchanges kept me sharp while amused. I appreciated the time he took to constantly correct my writing and his words always encouraged me. Writing and grammar have never been my strengths, but I have always wanted to improve. He always had a title or headline that would grab me. Even in sickness his mind was always sharper than my often sleep deprived brain.
What I loved about Bill from the beginning was that as much as we grew in reach, it was all about the message of health. Never once did we discuss branding or endorsing products for profit. Never was there going to be a miracle NRC shoe or nutritional supplement. With the combined tech and writing skills of Bill and Nick we did something which in the business world would cost thousands of dollars. Under bill’s creative guidance, energy, and passion we pulled it off on time and sweat labor.
Bill cared about my community and small store Two Rivers Treads. He knew that running specialty retail store in a town of 3000 made financial success improbable, but he always kept me supplied with creative ideas for the store, events, media, and sharing the unique things we were doing. I regret Bill never had the chance to visit to visit us in West Virginia.
Bill’s importance in the sports community was the subject of these two moving tributes by Triathlon great Scott Tinley and legendary fitness writer and lifelong athlete Roy Wallack
http://www.trihistory.com/t-3/death-voice#/0
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/Bill_Katovsky_R.I.P._5456.html
Here is another story on the roots of Triathlon and Tri-Athlete Magazine and founder Bill Katovsky
http://www.trihistory.com/features/birth-triathlete-magazine-insiders-story
His work and writing extended deeply into the fields of politics and political science
Bill taught me many lessons in life and importantly inspired me to be courageous and challenge beliefs, even my own. He also inspired creativity and the use of visual media to share feelings and a message.
Bill shaped many videos we shot here, a couple having tremendous reach and influence, if you read the comments. These videos have changed peoples’ running and their lives. If you are a runner you know that understanding and having confidence that you can run pain-free for life gives you optimism and hope for a healthy run into the retirement home.
Here are a few videos we have Bill to thank for:
“Principles of Natural Running”, presented at 2012 UVA Run Med course (with over 600,000 views)
http://naturalrunningcenter.com/2013/05/06/video-the-principles-natural-running/
“Barefoot Running Style” presented at 2011 Boston Marathon (250,000 views)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kpnhKcvbsMM
“Going for a Run” about why we run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2pRdXyf2FU
This video inspired by Bill as an ad for Newton Running which they used in various campaigns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tmny5IN0y4&list=PLDBD24E9EB0B1B8DF
“Barefoot Running with the Kids” was my favorite ☺
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G4dd1NcKsQ
Bill wrote this sentence two weeks ago about writing, although I think his words apply to many things.
“The writer comes down from the mountain after a long absence and wants to tell the villagers things he has learned and these things might not be what they want to hear, but listen they must, because it is the truth which they have been in the dark of for so long”
Bill was a frequent writer on what true health was all about, how to achieve it, and the limitations of our current health care system. As a physician who trains future doctors I do not want our loss of Bill to go unnoticed and without sparking change in how we think and treat patients.
As a freelancer he had no insurance until the ACA and even then he had difficulty accessing good care. He was admitted to hospital several weeks ago with a hemoglobin count of less than 4. For the non-medical reader this count is about ¼ of the normal red blood cell volume, a level almost incompatible with life. Even though I requested his records for review, and Bill signed all the forms, they were never released, and he never received a definitive diagnosis. He was treated and released for “swelling” a week before his death when he could not get off the floor; and ultimately he passed away on October 30.
Anyone in the medical system please read closely. Talk to your patients, care about them, and do not just go through the motions
Bill wrote the following words just one week before his death and by the style and punctuation I could tell something was really wrong, but he still had keen insight and wit till the end.
“just got discharged friday 4: 30 pm. docs never figgered out what caused the leg infection. pain, swollenness. they just guessed. who was “they?” young female resident, early 30s, and her two sidekicks studentd, late 20s, male. both fairly clueless.”
“nurses were for the most part good and caring and concerned. many had been there 5-10 years, some even longer. it’s some of the docs who should not be working in a hospital. my er doc, however, was good–smart, efficient, on the ball. the two med students, however were clueless, and shouldn’t be there. each would take out his stethoscope and check my heart and lungs many times as if that would give them some kind of insight and wisdom.”
“the week i was there on the “med-surg” floor felt like some kind of minimum security. it’s the gowns we are supposed to wear; the roommates who snore but then say, “it’s you who was snoring, sawing logs. (note: it is me who used the analogy); locked windows and doors that lead to several patio enclosures, nearly starved of sunlight, hence almost no vegetation can grow in these concrete sacophagi. it gets more absurd. i had two physical therapists (pt) assess my walking and mobility. each one–gals in theirs late 20s, fat– and they watched me for a combined total of 90 seconds. sorry, i am exaggerating. make that 75 seconds. neither responded favorably to my request to go outside. oh, freedom tastes so sweet to “med-surg” patients like myself. then there’s more weirdness piled on to the rest. The pt’s need to sign off that at you are mobile– written in expected legalese and boxes checked off. everyone here is interested in protecting one’s butt so long as that butt is not attached to a patient. Once you have the pt waiver, and you are in possession of your discharged papers, which are more valuable than the forged documents used by allied forces in wwii in the “great escape,” you think it is time to leave. but no, hospital policy dictates that a staff wheel you to the front entrance in a wheelchair. it’s a catch 22, absolutely. be well enough and mobile according to the pts, but not well enough for you to make it to the front entrance all yourself and go home.”
If you are a medical student, resident, or physician and you have no clue what is going on, sit and talk with your patient, learn about their life, and maybe then you will find the answer. Attempt to make a diagnosis. Don’t just treat a symptom.
Bill, long may you run, bike, swim, and poke fun at those of us who do this.
Your friend till the end,
Mark
Bill was a great guy and dedicated to what he was talking about as well, I’m so sorry to hear about his passing. Sorry for your loss as well, best wishes during a difficult time.
I am deeply saddened to read of the passing of Bill. He grew up in the community our store is located and still has family here. When we first opened our store, he found us somehow (he lived on the West Coast) and invited us to become members of the Natural Running Center. This simple invitation 4 years ago has changed so many things for me. I never met Bill face-to-face, but had many phone conversations and email exchanges. To read about his last weeks and the failure of the medical system is not acceptable. He deserved so much more. I agree with Dr. Mark: “Bill, long may you run, bike, swim, and poke fun at those of us who do this.”
jeff fisher
co-owner Cleveland Running Co.
Shaker Hts., Ohio
Very saddened to hear about Bill. When we first joined up with the NRC, Bill called me and kept me on the phone for a good hour! I was like “who is this guy who keeps talking to me and asking me questions?”. He was very interested in just promoting the NRC and interested in us. I could tell he was a different person in a good way. Again, so sorry to hear about this loss.
I’m saddened by the news of Bill’s passing. He was VERY passionate about his work and it was reflected in the articles that he wrote. I loved reading his columns in the site and his insights and expertise will be missed. I’m blessed to be a part of the NRC and Bill’s work has been huge for all of us involved. Thanks for the tribute to him Mark and may we all appreciate the days, the steps and the strides we take not knowing what the next day may bring.
Sorry to read of his passing. I read his “1001 Pearls…” while on a hiking vacation in CO this summer. Very much enjoyed it.
Bill’s death is a profoundly unnecessary tragedy. He was a prescient and prolific writer and was a strong positive influence on my career, starting when we first became friends in 1996.
Many people are unaware that Bill helped shape the sports of triathlon and adventure racing. He started the first magazines “Tri-athlete,” which became Triathlete Magazine in the early 80s, and re-invented Winning Magazine to become the first adventure sports publication in 1997.
Bill was funny, odd, brilliant and a little crazy. Many people mistook his demeanor for being not-to-smart, but nothing could be further from the truth.
On a trip we took to Costa Rica in 1998 to preview what would become la Ruta de Conquistadores, Bill decided we should kayak around the Nicoya Peninsula. Having never actually been in a sea kayak on the ocean, Bill was not deterred. As night fell after some 8 hours on the water, Bill decided that doing intervals would get us there faster. Each time he put on a sprint and we surged forward (we were in a double kayak) he would yell at the top of his lungs “HERE COMES BILL!”
Bill will be sadly missed and happily remembered.
Ian thanks for the kind words. mark
Seems that there should be an autopsy to determine the cause of death, and why he was sent home with those test results indicating something very amiss.
no…but we are looking into it further Grant
Sad story. Sounds like 3rd world medical care and shouldn’t have happened here. It really has become all about the $ and about protecting one’s butt in this system. I worked in a non-medical role in medical care for many years, but often saw it. I see it in my own case, where a simple physical exam often leads to the imposition of many unnecessary or even harmful diagnostic tests. And in the case of my almost 99 year old father, who, when he occasionally has to spend a few days in the hospital, it is more about fear of liability than concern for what’s best for the patient.
Sorry to hear about Bill Katovsky’s passing.
I just saw this and am really heartbroken for all Bill’s friends and family. What a painful loss, and how very wrong. Though I never met him, he did edit a piece of mine for NRC and make a perfectly illustrative video I still use regularly in talks, for which I’ve always been grateful. His story and work inspired me.
Thank you for memorializing Bill, Dr. Mark. Bill was a close friend. Very generous, funny and brilliant.
Miss you Bill! Will ride with you soon, my friend.