Rik Zortman is known as a human Etch-A-Sketch.
Recently Rik wrote out the words “Social Distance” and “Thank You” “Doctors” and “Nurses” with his running app during recent runs.
How and why did he do this? His running story began years ago.
As many runners know, running is therapeutic. Rik, who lives in Iowa, ran his first 5k in 2009 after he lost his 3-year-old son, Armstrong, to brain cancer. The race was a fundraiser that a friend had put together to help his family. His son loved to run around and he wanted a way to honor and remember him. It wasn’t until 2017 that he decided to take his running to a different level. Rik was playing around with the GPS on his phone and decided to sketch out and run his son’s name.
In September of 2017 since it was childhood cancer awareness month Rik wanted to dedicate his runs that month to other children and families who have dealt with cancer. He put out a call on social media asking if anyone wanted him to run a child’s name. Some names are in memory of and some are supporting those fighting cancer. It could be 2 letters or 10 letters, but he would find a route to make it work. He then invited some friends to join him and with 4 people that month they ran 101 names.
Since then he’s continued to sketch names, words and phrases. While he focuses primarily on supporting those who have been affected by cancer, Rik also runs to support other individuals and major events including writing “Never Forget” on 9/11 and “Montgomery” his oldest son’s name upon his graduation.
Many have asked him how he is able to write names so well during his runs using his Map My Run app. Rik shares that it’s taken a lot of practice and in order to get some of the letters correct he will have to run a straight line, pause the app, run back and then run in a different direction. He racks up a lot of miles this way.
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Rik’s running log for sketching names since 2017 is 676 days. He’s logged 4200 miles running words and names since he began and this doesn’t include any of his race miles. He’s run in 67 different locations, 13 states and 1 foreign country. One of his goals is to run in all 99 counties in Iowa. He has already run 35.
When he posts pictures of the names he has run on social media Rik will tag the person he runs for, their family members and anyone else in his friends list with the name he has run. He has found that others appreciate and connect through his sketches.
On March 23 Rik wanted a way to show his support to those in the medical field during the Covid-19 pandemic so Rik ran the words “Thank You” and “Doctors” and “Nurses”. He jokingly shared that he was then asked to run “Laboratory Technician”.
Rik shared that even during these tough times you have to find a way to connect.
Rik works at a Midwestern hardware store, Menard’s, and runs around his shift times. He is a member of the 132 Air National Guard in Des Moines, Iowa. He is scheduled to retire in May, but is unsure right now what his future holds.
People can request a name via runforArmstrong.com.
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