Coping with the death of a child is never easy.
After his 2-year-old daughter passed away, Los Altos resident Adam Kemist closed his popular downtown running store, Runner’s High, in 2006 and stepped away from retail for a few years. He said he needed time with his family.
Doctors diagnosed Olivia with Krabbe disease, a rare genetic disorder of the nervous system that inhibits communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Movement comes in fragments, a common cold can turn into death, the body doesn’t grow.
Kemist said Stanford University doctors didn’t know how to treat Olivia’s condition – it arises only when two parents with recessive Krabbe genes come together. Kemist said a friend told him the likelihood of two parents coming together with the trait is less likely than winning the lottery.
Olivia, whom the Kemists adopted, died in December 2005.
“You look at things differently, see the reality of what’s important, what’s not,” Kemist said of why he shuttered his store.
He also sold his Menlo Park location to Fleet Feet in 2008.
“I would worry, ‘Did I get to spend enough time with her?’” he reflected.
But now, Kemist and his wife, Micheline, are jumping back into the day-to-day of owning a business. Their specialty running store, On Your Mark, opened last weekend at 378 Main St., former home to The Cravery.
Downtown hasn’t had a running store since Metro Sport closed approximately two years ago.
“Timing was a big part of it,” Kemist said of their return. “We’re in a better position family-wise. … You don’t ever completely heal.”
While Kemist said he had been operating an appointment-only orthotic operation (Healthy Bare Feet) to make ends meet between store ownerships, it was the community interaction he missed.
“With retail, you have more assets to support the community, and we wanted to do that again,” he said. “It’s fun to see other people involved, get outdoors.”
Along with providing specialty products to the Los Altos clientele, Kemist said he’s most excited about the ever-changing environment in the city – one he says could pave the way for more community events.
“There’s a lot of effort put into this downtown as a whole,” he said.
Kemist wants to host come-one-come-all runs downtown – anyone up for a New Year’s Eve jog? Moonlight run?
He hasn’t developed a firm plan for events, but he said that a decade ago, he wouldn’t have been able to organize anything given what he deemed a less enthusiastic city council averse to street closures.
Kemist has also been re-evaluating business practices from his Runner’s High days. The impetus for the name change, he said, was due largely to customer feedback. Those who preferred walking over running felt alienated by the title.
“‘Runner’ scared some people off,” he said. “We wanted something more ambiguous, something that reflected movement.”
He said he’s adding preventive treatment and consulting to help runners avoid injuries.
The events Kemist plans to sponsor may be part fun, part fundraising. Because there’s still no cure for the disease that took his daughter’s life nearly six years ago, he’s kept up with the research to find a cure and hopes his new venture might help.
“You get rid of the old and get back into the community,” he said.
For more information, visit www.onyourmarkperformance.com.
