Here's a snapshot of the FR&W team, how we work together, and why we love what we do.
Steve & Genevie Roguski, Store Owners
Steve ('58) started the store in 1999 to get a good deal on running shoes and to have a place in town that sold racing sneaks and... to woo a really cool running (and much more) gal named Genevie ('66)... and, oh yeah, to create the hip place to find all the latest gear for runners and walkers in the best place in the world. Steve still runs, believe it or not, and actually enjoys long runs in all weather and terrain with friends, family, or with his own florid or vapid thoughts. He moved from Florida in 1998 to be where it's happenin', grow roots for once, and substantiate his existence as it were. Towards that end, he's been a proud board member of Sustainable Connections since 2003 - among other things. Steve likes lighter and neutral shoes, road and trail, street racing and XC spikes. Yeah... quite a few pair, but he wears them out, like you should!
Genevie has contributed to the success of the store from early on. Since the summer of 2006, she has gone full bore with her talents and energy after transitioning from her recreational therapy career of 14 years. It may interest folks to know that she still holds track/cross country records from Sehome HS and WWU and is a sports hall of fame member at WWU! She walks a lot these days, but still runs like the wind while wearing orthotics in her neutral running shoes.
Steve and Genevie lavish their love on two progeny, Hannah and Derek. Unlike us, they are both very smart, creative, musical, and artistic. They are at least slightly embarrassed by us, well maybe more so by the more youthful Hannah! Hannah ('93) prefers dancing to running, and Derek ('85) likes to jump and vault as he runs (parkour!).
Craig Bartlett, Store Manager
Craig has been running for over 30 years (yes, he's old!).
Favorite trail: I love the variety of trails close to Bellingham. I still get excited when I discover a new one (like the Hush-Hush); there's nothing like that first run on a new trail when you aren't sure what's around the next bend.
Favorite day: Running around Mt. St. Helen's each summer. It's a rough and wild 31-mile circuit with incredible variety and panoramic views. Every year, Sheep Canyon gets deeper and steeper, and it's a challenge just to get across it.
Family time: My wife, Kristen, is a high school art teacher, and we have two boys - Miles, who is almost five, and Chase, who is 2-1/2. Playing with trucks on the beach or in the sandbox is a favorite activity. It won't be long before I'm the slowest runner in our family!
Little-known fact: Art major in college. Won first prize in a juried competition for a lithographic print titled, “I Laugh with Kristen.”
Favorite shoe: When I was faster and on the roads, I absolutely loved the Nike Air Span 2. Now, I'm more of a plodder on the trails. I tend to like heavier, mattress-like shoes with a thick heel and narrow midfoot. The Adidas Adistar Cushion 5 has been the ticket to bliss for me.
Rubbing elbows with the rich and famous: Craig went to high school with actress Kelly Preston, three-time Super Bowl champ Mark Tuinei, six-time world-champion wind surfer Robbie Naish, four-time steeplechase Olympian Henry March, and Barack Obama.
Muffin tip: Try the rhubarb muffin at the Dutch Mother's Bakery in Lynden.
Good flicks: The Milagro Beanfield War, The Sweet Hereafter, Local Hero.
Lindsay Mann-King, Apparel Manager
Running: I’ve been running for 11 years. I went on my first run during volleyball season of my freshman year in high school, and at that moment, I finally found a sport I was good at! That first run was all of a mile, and I’ve been running ever since. (I have upped my mileage over the years!)
Running as a foundation: For me, running allowed me to have this amazing time and relationship with my dog, a German short-hair named Sidney. Running also created the foundation for my endurance training and opened my mind and life to college rowing. I was on the rowing team all four years at WWU, which included three NCAA nationals titles. So for me, running is more about cross-training, and a good friend I always come back to when I need to release, relax and rejuvenate myself.
Favorite local fitness challenge: Running Taylor Street hill.
Favorite shoe: Saucony Omni. I love the cushion.
Favorite sock: Balega all the way.
Favorite apparel: Brooks Equilibrium tee because it feels like butter!
About me: Graduated from WWU with my B.S in fitness science in spring of 08. Back in Bellingham, working at Fairhaven Runners & Walkers and coaching WWU rowing team. This will be my first summer in a long time spent indoors! The last six summers, I’ve enjoyed in the woods on a wildland fire crew for the U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service.
Favorite quote: Be who you are and say what you feel because those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter. - Dr. Seuss
Peter Ellis
Started at store: August 2006.
Favorite part of working: I get to talk about running and running shoes all day! The best is fitting someone with that special pair of shoes and seeing a genuine smile and enthusiasm for running or walking.
How I got started running: I lost a bet my senior year of high school. As a result, I turned out for the track team, and it turns out that I was decent at this thing called running! I've been hooked ever since and don't plan on ever stopping!
Favorite trail: How can you make me choose just one? Anywhere on Galbraith or the Chuckanuts, maybe Burninator!
Words to live by: I ran until my lungs burned and my veins pumped battery acid, then I ran some more! You have to have this mindset if you want to run a 100+ miles per week!
Little known fact: I used to moonlight as 1) a batboy for a pro baseball team, and 2) as a home delivery milkman.
Marisa Willis
Marisa started working at the store this spring and was extremely impressed by all of our local runners and walkers, who kept up training through the summer on into the wet and rainy seasons this fall and winter.
She is currently a junior at Western Washington University and majoring in Art History. Don't ask what she plans to do with that degree though - she gets enough of that from her mom!
Graduated from Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Washington, where she was captain of her track team. "I started running the hurdles in track only because I wanted to beat all of my older sister's old hurdle records. I ended up being pretty good and the 300 hurdles were always my favorite and best event!"
Little known fact: Has played soccer since she was five years old; whether it was on recreational teams when she was younger, or select squads and high school teams back home. She now enjoys playing on an adult league here in Bellingham.
The inside scoop: Her co-workers at Fairhaven Runners - Peter and Erik - nicknamed her "Little Foot" the first week of her working at the store because of her small shoe size. "We were all trying on shoes, and the boys laughed at how tiny my feet were. Somehow Little Foot came up and the name stuck." Marisa is a size 6 or 6-1/2 in most running shoes, in case you were curious.
Her favorite shoes to run in right now: the Brooks Glycerin and the Adidas Adizero. "I love the easy ride and light cushion of the Glycerin when I'm running around my neighborhood. The lightweight Adizero is great for runs up through Padden.”
Erik Bies
Started at store: August 2006.
Favorite part of working: It would be easy to say that getting a great deal on running shoes is a fantastic perk of working for Fairhaven Runners, but truthfully the best part of working, for me, is helping someone getting started with exercise, returning to exercise, or improving performance in running. The appropriate footwear is so important for any form of exercise, and each individual is unique in what they use the shoes for, what they desire from a shoe, and how their foot functions. Exercise is an essential part of every day for anyone in today’s society. It is the BEST preventive medicine for life-threatening disease, and there is no replacement for exercise. With the rise in cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic syndromes, through promoting exercise, I know I’m serving others in a way that has a positive impact on health. I’m happy to be a part of perpetuating a happy and healthy community.
Hobbies: I love to be outdoors running, cycling, fly-fishing, hiking, or skiing. I am also an avid Seahawks fan.
Perfect day: The perfect day for me would be to wake up and go for a 90-minute trail run with some buddies. Then I’d come home and make a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and hash browns with orange juice. Afterwards, I’d go to a Seahawks game with my girlfriend, Megan. Then I’d grill a big steak dinner with beans and sweet potatoes before a night on the river fishing a caddis hatch for trout with my dad and brother.
Running: Currently I volunteer coach with the Western Washington University distance running program. I also do a bit of running on my own still. In college I was a two-time All-American NCAA middle distance athlete. I ran for both Luther College in Decorah, IA and Western Washington here in Bellingham. I aspire to be a head cross country and track and field coach as well as a professor at an NCAA institution to serve as a mentor to young adults.
Education: I graduated from Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, SD in 2002. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology at Luther College, Decorah, IA in 2006. In August 2008, I earned a Master’s degree from Western Washington University in human movement and performance. I am a USA Track and Field level 1 certified track and field coach.
Favorite shoe: Nike Luna Racer.
Weakness: Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.
Quote: “You train best where you are the happiest.” – Frank Shorter
Words to live by: Run fast and turn left.
Dylan Wirkkala
I started running when I was in fourth grade. We had to do the mile in P.E., then my future XC coach held small running camps. I was the starting point guard for my high school basketball team. Now, I run XC/TF at Western. I love running because you get to experience nature and it's a very competitive sport.
Favorite run: going up the “Burninator” and then getting a great view of Mt. Baker.
I love to go surfing back home where I grew up, the Long Beach Peninsula.
Favorite quote: I don't run to add years to my life, I run to add life to my years.
Jen Leita
I have been at the store since the summer of 2004, with a break of about a year-and-a-half for baby Marcella!
How I started running: When I was in eighth grade, I lived in Michigan and joined the track team to hang out with friends. On my team, they put the slowest folks in the 2-mile, and that's where I landed. When I got to high school (at Port Angeles), I tried the hurdles and found my niche there. I must have gotten faster, since I ended up on all the relays. I continued to run at WWU in the relays and the 400 hurdles (definitely the coolest and most brutal race on the track! not for the faint of heart!). I began distance running a couple of years after college and found that I really like it!
My favorite run is the Padden Horse trails. I love the terrain and the mud! I love going for a long easy run there and chatting with my girlfriends about life!
I have been coaching track at Sehome since 2001 and my specialty areas are sprints, hurdles, and relays. I became head coach in 2004, and I love being able to watch kids grow and develop and fall in love with track and field!
Chad Mullavey
Started working at store: January 2008.
Running: Running has been a passion and hobby ever since I was a young kid. I ran to school every morning and loved when we used to run in PE. Running has been a sport that has been in the family for a while: my grandpa ran in high school and college, as well as my dad. It has now become my turn to snatch the baton. High school cross country, which ironically I was not truly into, sealed the deal. It was that exposure that got me hooked!
Favorite area to run: I love running on fast single-track trail and also through Boulevard Park and downtown. In the summers I love running Whidbey Island while I’m at my beach house. There is something about that feeling of having nothing around you — just you, your shoes, and the path ahead.
Favorite quote: You are only as strong as you think you are (both mentally and physically). This has been a great reminder in helping me gain the most from my training.
Favorite shoe(s): My weapon of choice for taking it to the streets and trail has been the Brooks Adrenaline for about four years, until recently. Nike came out with the Hayward, which was designed after some sketches made by running legend Steve Prefontaine. The Hayward is a great balance: cushion, low profile, lightweight and responsive. I must say I love the shoe.
Reasons I love my job: As many staff have said, I love my job because of you, the customer. I enjoy taking my love of running and using it to help others find their niche. It is always satisfying to help someone into a great pair of shoes, then hear them, months later, saying, “I am now in the best shape of my life.” We all want to be heroes, and in this small way I feel that I can be.
About me: I am currently going to Whatcom Community college to get my transfer degree. From there, I plan to attend Western and enter into the industrial design program -- and from that hopefully be able to design some shoes.
Blake Medhaug
About me: I started competitive running in seventh grade, when I ran cross country to get in shape for basketball. By ninth grade, running had become my favorite sport.
I'm a 2006 graduate of Bothell High School. While in high school, I worked for Brooks for three years. Now at WWU, I’m working towards a business major and Spanish minor, and I’m on the cross country and track & field teams. I competed at the 2007 NCAA DII National Championships in cross country. After college, I hope to become a competitive marathoner and aim to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials.
Favorite trail: Anything in the Chuckanuts or Galbraith. I'm especially fond of Cleator Road.
Favorite Quote: Running to him was real, the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free. - John L. Parker, Jr.
Jillian Wood
I started working at the store in 2006, during my senior year in high school.
In high school, I was predominantly a soccer and tennis girl until I hurt my back at the end of sophomore year and had to take up a sport that did not involve so much twisting and turning. So, I decided to run. I ran cross country and track at Sehome High School, and I was the captain of the cross country team my senior year. In track, my favorite race was the 800 meters. I cannot stand to run in circles, so the 800 was the perfect distance. Cross country was my real passion, however. I am a trail runner at heart.
I am currently a sophomore at the University of Washington studying speech pathology and psychology. I have taken to running simply for fun and to take a break from studying. I have also taken up ultimate frisbee at the UW, and I compete on both intramural and Seattle spring league teams.
My favorite trails in town are the Padden horse trails because of the mud and Galbraith Mountain, where my goal is always to get lost and find a new way to get back to where I started.
Favorite Shoe: Even though I work at Fairhaven Runners and have tried on every single shoe in the store, I have only run in the Mizuno Wave Rider for the past 3.5 years. Call me picky, but it is still my favorite shoe in the store.
Tara Gilligan
Started running: In high school, I was voted “Most Improved” in cross country. I still have the trophy. My coach said, “My goal is that you continue running 20 years from now.” I think he knew I would enjoy a long improvement.
Favorite memory: My mother buying me my first pair of warm-ups for high school. Money was tight, she splurged, and I'll never forget the pleasure of pulling those on and feeling like maybe I belonged to running.
Favorite run: Chuckanut Mountain, and where I first started running - the San Jose foothills - with my brother, Tom.
At the store: I started at the store as a customer in 2002. When I began working here in 2005, I felt like I was pulling back the curtain for an insider's peek. Behind the scenes, this staff works so honestly and creatively to serve the community. I'm in awe of the talent of the experienced staff and just as amazed by the maturity and knowledge of our younger crew. We care a lot about how the store feels for you.
Best naming decision: When Steve changed the store's name to Fairhaven Runners & Walkers. We serve as many walkers as runners. Walkers are athletes in their own rights.
Favorite day: My favorite day to work at the store is any day that Craig has a latte and also on Saturdays because everyone is in a holiday-kind-of-mood and staff nosh on pizza for lunch.
Favorite quote: Get out the door.
