Richie started working at TRANSPORTS in Janurary of 1996 during his last semester at UC Berkeley and never looked back. He ran track professionally for a few years after graduation, and competed all over the US, Europe, and Japan. Now, he runs marathons for fun, and is on his way to completing every major marathon in California. Richie also leads the TRANSPORTS Wednesday Night Runs. When he's not running, he enjoys working at the store.
This Texan is very proud to be a native of the Lone Star State. Sarah starting running in middle school because she says she wasn’t coordinated enough to play other sports. She ran Cross Country and Track & Field at Baylor University for a year, then transferred to Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX. Living in Lubbock, she learned a lot about tumbleweeds and dust storms. By the way, driving in a dust storm is not recommended. New to the Bay Area, Sarah competes for San Francisco’s Impala Racing Team and loves to run in her Texas Flag shorts. Currently she’s working on her counseling degree, which she tries to squeeze in between running, more running, and working at TRANSPORTS. She dearly loves living in the Bay Area but will always be a Texan at heart. Did we mention she’s from Texas?
During college, Jacob agreed to train for a marathon with a friend, not imagining that he'd actually go through with it. But over four months of training, he discovered he loved distance running almost as much as he loved bragging about it, and after that first race, he was hooked on the sport. A graduate of Duke University, he also works as a freelance writer. He met his wife while they were both working at a running store in North Carolina. They live in Berkeley with their dog Aston, an exercise freak who makes sure they never miss a workout.
Sarah was a competitive Figure Skater for over 10 years; She won a Silver medal at New York’s Empire State Games when she attempted her favorite jump, the double salchow double loop combination – and nailed it. She was recently named Co-Captain of the mythical TRANSPORTS skating team. Sarah ran Cross-Country and Track in high school while recovering from a skating injury, and found she loved distance running. She currently has a handful of half marathons and marathons on her resume. However, her true passion is the triathlon. She has completed numerous triathlons of varying length and difficulty with her sights set on her eventual goal: a full Ironman.
Mark attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles where his track team won the Southern Section title twice and his Cross Country team won the State Championship 2 years in a row. "shoulda been 3." Individual accolades include becoming a 2 time high school State Champ in both Cross Country and Track & Field; and he was the National Champion in the 2 mile. A Sub 4 minute miler, he was also a 4-time T&F All-American at Cal and currently competes for the Bay Area Track Club. But there’s more to Mark than just running; his other interests include art and photography (although he claims he’s not very good at either) and food. A self proclaimed chef, his crab, avocado, and sun dried tomato salad is "legendary."
Chris is a SoCal native who grew who up in Long Beach where he swam and played water polo for the famous Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits. He briefly considered a collegiate D3 swimming career on the East Coast, but thought about the cold winters in upstate New York and had a change of heart. He came to the Bay Area in pursuit of a degree in Bioengineering and a girl. School was great, but the girl? Don’t ask. He has added running and cycling to his repertoire and is a post grad member of Cal's Triathlon Team.
Maxime is a local boy from CoCo County where his sport of choice was soccer. To him, running was mostly a way to relax and enjoy the outdoors, and he’s explored pretty much every trail throughout Briones Regional Park. He competed for his high school Cross Country and Track teams and went on to add cycling and swimming to his repertoire; now he races for the Cal Triathlon team. However, Maxime's true passion is jazz music. An accomplished saxman, he’s performed in countless jazz combos and big bands. He’s currently in the process of building a recording studio, so you’ll probably be able to download him on itunes soon.
This Sarah, not to confused with any of our other Sarahs, is an LA transplant. Her favorite sports as a kid were soccer, softball, and cheerleading “yes, it’s a sport!” She started running at age 11 and competed in cross-country and track & field throughout her entire high school career. She made all-league 3 years in a row and qualified for the CIF championships once. Unfortunately, she had to miss the race due to an injury sustained after not-so-gracefully falling at the league finals. When not running, she’s engrossed in her true passion, anything and everything Hello Kitty. Sarah’s greatest claim to fame: “I’ve hiccupped at least once a day for the past decade.”
A fresh face in the East Bay’s Hip Hop scene, Tony (aka K-I-D) is a rapper, music producer, and sound engineer. He’s a runner too! Not realizing that it was even a real sport, he joined his high school XC team just for fun. He ended up competing in the CIF XC State Championships 4 years in a row. Tony also competed in soccer and volleyball during his high school years. Currently, he’s perfecting the art of skateboard and don’t even get him started on video games: “challenge me in Mario Kart 64 and it’s bad. I’m the king of the classics!”
Chris grew up playing baseball in Oakland’s Youth Leagues. A defensive standout, he was good with the glove but struggled at the plate. He simply couldn’t lay off the high heat. In high school, he decided to trade in his cleats for some track spikes and competed in Cross Country and Track & Field. His favorite training run: Straight up Mt. Diablo. Chris is currently competing for Colgate University in central New York; so his TRANSPORTS appearances are limited to school breaks, like right now.
Alice was born in Vermont but grew up in Oakland, where she spent her childhood reading and drawing. She didn't really have much interest in sports until the cross-country coaches at her high school talked her into joining the team. She started out slowly, literally. “I was a terrible runner at first, but for some reason I stuck with it.” She went on to compete in both Track and XC throughout high school and currently runs for USF. If she hadn't become such a good runner, she would probably be a competitive eater. Legend has it she once ate a burrito that was almost as big as her head.
Justin ran cross country and track at Albany High School, followed by triathlon at UC Davis. His life goals are: running the Boston Marathon, surviving Pamplona's running of the bulls, and having a pet cat. He also writes free lance articles and is currently crafting an epic novel.
At the tender age of six, Claudia was running 10ks in the dawn’s early light - at the persistence of her father. Despite this traumatizing experience, she continued running cross-country in high school to prepare for her school’s Nordic skiing team in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She hails from the Univ of Oregon (English Literature & Film Theory). Since graduating, she has travelled the world - from Korea to Spain to Jamaica. An aspiring, as well as inspiring writer and photographer, Claudia is currently taking graduate classes in Photography & Photojournalism.
Measuring approximately 2 meters from head to toe, Ryan’s early years were dominated by hoop dreams. He decided to get into the world of running after being inspired by internet stories of “couch to 5K” success. Also an amateur rock climber, Ryan’s greatest climb is straight up the treacherous Jeremiah Red route at a climbing gym in SF. He vows to one day climb outside, maybe even Yosemite’s El Cap. Other areas of interest include cycling, guitar, and French horn. He plans to eventually travel the world and perhaps find a big rock and climb it.
Stephanie grew up running and swimming in the Arizona desert. A miler in high school, she was the AZ state champ in the 1600m - and went on to compete for the Cal Golden Bears in both XC and track. She's added cycling to her repertoire and is now fully ensconced in the world of triathlons. Her real challenge is finding enough time to train since she spends most of her waking hours chasing after her kids.
Francis played soccer, basketball, and baseball throughout his youth and only started running cross country his junior year of high school. “To get in shape for soccer.” That XC season was followed by a stint on the track team and the rest is history. After high school, Francis went to City College of San Francisco where he won the 800 meter state championship 2 years in row. He then transferred to Cal and became an NCAA Indoor All-American. Francis is also the premier wakeboarder among his TRANSPORTS co-workers.
After spending the 80's in the aerobics studios for hours and hours teaching classes, then getting married to the love of her life and having three boys in 4 years in the 90's, Lauri found running! She dabbled in 10k and 5k runs a couple of times a year, then took the leap and signed up for her first Marathon. She ran the San Francisco Marathon in 2008, then became a pacer for the San Francisco Marathon Training program in 2009. She continues to pace for the San Francisco Marathon Training Program and loves running with a group! How else can you legitimately get out of the house and away from chores on a Saturday morning, then come home and park on the sofa? Favorite saying to skeptical newbie runners...."if I can run a marathon, anyone can!"
Maja, a native of Bosnia, arrived in the U.S. in the 7th grade and began her illustrious running career. Being new to the country and not being able to speak English, she found comfort in running. Since then she has competed at the highest level for UC Berkeley in both Track & Field and Cross-Country. An up-and-coming young artist, Maja now mostly runs for fun when she can squeeze it in between studio time and sleep.
Bev has been running since her high school days, when her volleyball coach would make her run in 100+ degree weather in the Central Valley. Since being traumatized, the thought of running for fun did not come easily. She now tolerates it by making it a social activity, running with a group in Piedmont on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. Following her most recent marathon she has found the water a more natural habitat. Her Masters group keeps her swimming up, although it is harder to visit while doing a swim workout.
Frank started out as a swimmer, dating all the way back to the “8 and under” age group days and continued competing through high school. In college he spent a great deal of time sitting on the bench for his water polo squad. He's stared at the black line on the bottom of the pool so much that it's permanently imprinted on his brain. Currently he spends more time running miles than swimming laps. With a couple of marathons under his belt, you can usually find him running somewhere out in Contra Costa County. Frank sez “I’m living proof that you can run in slow motion and still have fun!”
Kei started running in high school to stay in shape for outdoor pursuits such as backpacking and climbing. At the insistence of co-workers at Berkeley Bowl, he ran his first Bay to Breakers in 1977, and has been running road races ever since. Always the gear head, Kei opened TRANSPORTS in 1982 so that he could tell the manufacturers what was wrong with their shoes. He is also trying to keep up with Richie’s California marathons feat although it takes him twice as long to run them.