Steven Blum
Steve is a Senior Sports Medicine Physical Therapist with Borgess, and is entering his 2nd year with the Borgess Run Campers. He holds a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Specialist. In addition to working in the field, he is also an avid sports fan and enjoys running, completing the 2008 Chicago Marathon, the 2009 Great Lakes Relay and numerous 5Ks throughout the state.
Dr. Tom Goodwin
Dr. Goodwin is a board-certified primary care sports medicine physician at Kalamazoo Orthopaedic Clinic and Borgess Sports Medicine. Despite his best efforts to not become a runner, he has come to love it over the past few years! He especially enjoys helping beginning runners understand how run mechanics and little things like stretching can help them reach their goals. He has been treating West Michigan runners for the past six years and has helped organize and provide medical coverage for many local running events.
Rob Lillie
Rob is the General Store Manager in Kalamazoo for Gazelle Sports. He has a degree in Exercise Science and experience working as a personal trainer and running coach. Rob has enjoyed working with Borgess, Kalamazoo Area Runners and Gazelle Sports in many of their training programs over the last seven years. He has helped coach more than 2,000 runners to successful 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon experiences. Rob has run 10 marathons. His favorite new race is the TransRockies Run that he recently participated in scaling 120 miles over six days in the Rocky Mountains.
Joel Pennington
Joel is a Physical Therapist and the Director of Rehabilitation Services for Borgess. He has been a runner for the last 40 years, running most of these years for health and fitness. During his running career he has experienced the extensive evolution of running shoes and seen the coming and going of many different running fads. For the last six years he has been challenging himself with some competitions. In 2009, Joel completed his goal of running all 11 marathons held in the state of Michigan during that year. His goal this year is to complete a 50 miler.
Jennifer Query
Jen is the Manager of the Borgess Athletic Performance Program. She received her bachelor’s degree in exercise science and master’s degree in education with an emphasis in exercise physiology from Western Michigan University. Prior to managing the Borgess Athletic Performance Program, she worked as an exercise physiologist for Kettering Health Network in Ohio, and as head strength and conditioning coach for Western Michigan University’s softball, women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, women’s track and field, women’s cross country, and men’s ice hockey teams. Jen is a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS).
Heather Ritchie
Heather is a registered dietitian with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from WMU and graduate work in exercise physiology. She has specialty certifications in both adult and pediatric weight management. She has worked at Borgess Health & Fitness Center for the past 11 years. Heather provides both classroom and individual nutrition support. She enjoys running, swimming and weight lifting for health and fitness.
Dr. Mary Vajgrt
Dr. Vajgrt is a board-certified primary care sports medicine physician at Kalamazoo Orthopaedic Clinic and Borgess Sports Medicine. She has been involved with Run Camp for many years and enjoys helping people try to stay injury free to complete their running goals. She has come to enjoy running for its social and fitness aspects, but prefers and promotes other aerobic activities/cross training, weight training and core strengthening for overall fitness and injury prevention.