Grandville

nancy

Nancy McCarrick

Nancy is beginning her 8th year at Striders as the Grandville Manager and her 15th year as a team member. As one of Striders first employees, she has experienced all the stages of growth in the company, and is excited for the new Eastown location. Besides attaining her goal of finishing the Boston Marathon, Nancy is most proud of running Chicago the first year she was married with her husband, Dean...and then running San Fransisco Marathon this year to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Nancy enjoys spending her vacations traveling to "destination marathons", and would have to say Honolulu is definitely on the top of her list. She is a proud alumni of Central Michigan where she played volleyball for the Chips, and was one of the first females to receive an athletic scholarship. When Nancy is not at the store or rooting for her Red Wings, she is fully engaged in the Grandville Community, volunteering, coaching, and running throughout the town.

erin

Erin
Kring

As the daughter of Steve and Deb, Erin has been around running her whole life. She started her own running career in high school, and ran for a short time at Hope College before discovering a passion for triathlons. Since college, she’s competed in over 25 tri’s, qualified for Boston and been involved with numerous local races. Most days you can find her running with her loyal, 4-legged buddy Winston, or trying to keep up with her husband Don on the bike.

paul

Paul
Zielinski

Paul or "The Lanky Guy" enjoys long runs on the beach, twirling his hair continuously, and knowing vast amounts of information about shoes. Aside from being extremely tall (something that we consider to be one of Paul's best qualities), he actually happens to be a pretty decent runner and has been a part of the track and cross country team at Grand Valley State University. When he's not at the store or out on a run, you'll probably find Paul fawning over Abdi Abdirahman.

michael

Michael Skinner

Michael ran his first road race in 2nd grade at the Crim. His Dad was a runner at Western Michigan, and was instrumental in getting Michael into the sport and fueling his undying passion for it. Michael ran at Linden High School where he was 5 time Runner of The Week and then continued running collegiately at GVSU. He loves shoes, graphic novels, Meryl Streep movies, philosophy, ballroom dancing, sign language, and running in the rain or on the beach with Paul. He's a huge fan of bacon, capitalism, and Detroit sports.

max

Max
Sadler

Max attends Grand Valley State University and is applying to Medical School for 2013. He ran for GVSU and is now doing triathlons. His favorite running adventures include attending the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with some of the Striders staff and participating in a 5K Race in the Dominican Republic. In addition to being a shoe nerd, he likes foot anatomy.

 

molly

Molly McKinney

Molly played college softball at the University of Maine and is now attending graduate school at Western Michigan University. She LOOOOOVEES the Tigers and the Red Wings and her favorite running adventure (so far) has been participating in the Goofy Challenge in 2012. For a post race treat, Molly likes to indulge in Mountain Dew.

sarah

Sarah
Drevon

Sarah attended high school in Flint, MI and fell in love with running after skeptically joining her high school Cross Country team. Since then, she has stealthily convinced countless roommates, friends, and even her Dad just how rewarding running can be. Sarah is a six-year veteran of the Crim 10-mile in Flint, a Warrior Dash survivor, and new member of the 26.2-mile club after completing GR Marathon in October 2011. Sarah further shares her love of running and an active lifestyle as an officer in Grand Valley State University's Running Club. She also enjoys spontaneous road trips and eating generous portions of food.

jed

Jed
Hummel

Jed is a GVSU graduate and is now working on a masters degree from Oakland University. He recently married his beautiful wife Rachael in July. In 2012, he's looking forward to running the Boston Marathon. His favorite race distance is the half marathon.

Eastown

ben

Ben
Pickel

Ben has had a dream of owning his own running store ever since his first foray into running specialty in 1993. After having a successful high school running career, Ben went on to run collegiately at Michigan State, where he earned his bachelor's degree. After completing his first marathon in 2008, he moved on to the ultramarathon and completed his first 50 miler in 2009. Since then, Ben has primarily taken to the trails for his running exploits, but still manages to get his road workouts in with RunGR. Ben is seriously passionate about the work that he does and he is thrilled to have the opportunity to build the active community in the city that he calls home.

cristina

Cristina Stavro

A native of California, Cristina made Grand Rapids her home after graduating from Calvin College. Though she's grown up loving any kind of adventure, a recent dive into the world of trail running has her hooked. She's a fan of those simpler things in life, like early morning trail runs and lasagna for breakfast, and is proud to be a part of the team at Striders.

liz

Liz
Pickel

After completing her first 5k at age 7, Liz knew that she would be a lifelong runner. Despite not having the speed to compete at the college level, Liz continued running while completing her degree at the University of Michigan and, shortly after graduating (and having an epiphany at a Good Form Running clinic), finished her first half marathon. In 2010, she completed her first marathon and fell even deeper into the grips of distance running. Liz began working in running specialty in 2006 and has enjoyed every second of it since.

melissa

Melissa Looman

Melissa is an avid runner who also happens to be a cosmetologist. She loves shorter distances, like the 5k and 10k, and unlike many other runners, actually enjoys the repetition of running intervals around a track. She ran track and cross country at Capac High School, then moved to Grand Rapids to run for Cornerstone University. While there, she specialized in the middle distances. Now, she's a running ambassador for Oiselle! Ask her about it! She hopes to continue to run and train with her husband, and believes that a fit, healthy life is a great life.

amy

Amy
Donohue

Amy grew up being active through running, biking, rowing, cross-country skiing, and swimming. She has pursued such challenges as rowing crew in college, completing sprint triathlons, and a marathon. She continues to enjoy these activities with her husband, four children, and friends. Recently, she has discovered pilates, snow shoeing, and spinning. She feels a great sense of accomplishment by leading an active life and eating for health.

zach

Zach Stepanovich

Zach is currently astudent at Aquinas College where he is studying Spanish and English as a Second Language in hopes of becoming a teacher one day. As well being as a fulltime student, Zach is a member of both the cross country and track teams at Aquinas. A graduate of Forest Hills Northern high school, Zach captained his senior year cross country team to a Div. II MHSAA Team State Championship title. Outside of running and school, he enjoys relaxing with friends, reading a good book, and the occasional adventure! He advises that everyone enjoys life and treats each run like each day, a gift.

erinc

Erin Cummings

Erin is originally from Lansing. She started running with friends just to see what they could accomplish together. Besides running, she enjoys cooking, watching the Tigers, and college sports. Go State and new adventures!

 

benv

Ben
VanHoose

Ben returned to running in 2006 after both of his parents started running marathons. The first "long" race he ever ran was the River Bank Run and it is still one of his favorites. After crossing the finish line and hobbling around for a few days he decided he wanted to run a marathon.....he was hooked. From that point forward he continued to challenge himself and transitioned to running trails. Around the same time he started to mountain bike as cross-training. Most likely you will find him out on the back roads or local trails running and biking.