Meet the Team - The Runners Edge

Meet the Runners Edge Team

Meg Brooker

Years Running: 1998 – now

Hometown: Mullica Hill, NJ

Running History: Ran competitively in high school, college & post-collegiately. I’ve raced everything from the mile to the marathon but prefer 5k and 10k’s.

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 50-70

Favorite Run: I love the 11 Miles to Paradise course. It’s gorgeous and rolling and just the right amount of challenge for this self-proclaimed road-runner.

Favorite local route: North Hills trails going up the Orange Street Trailhead

Favorite shoe: It changes all of the time but right now I’m loving the Hoka Clifton.

Favorite piece of apparel: The Brooks Hideout Jacket because lightweight, weather-resistant, and keeps me warm!

Trail or road: Road!

Running accessory you can’t live without: The Nathan Hipster. You can fit just about anything in this belt. The best part? When you have it around your waist, you can’t even tell it’s there.

Special talent: Eating peanut butter dark chocolate anything.

Favorite Quote: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

Tim Brooker

Years Running: Most my life. Had a curfew when I was young – the faster I ran the longer I could stay out.

Hometown: Duluth, MN. Last 40 years in Sanders County, Montana

Best running memory: The first time my son beat me (Anders) – Buttercup Run in Arlee 1994. I did get my revenge 20 years later – New York Marathon!!!

Trail or road: Running is a great way to explore new country – especially the mountains.

Running Accessory you can’t live without: A running hat.

Special talent: Getting lost.

Favorite Quote: “I’d rather be in the middle of nowhere than any city on earth” – Steve McQueen

Vicky Mix

Years running: 10

Hometown: Litchfield, MN/Missoula, MT

Running History: I ran track in high school and took a long break and came back to get healthy, meet people and get a new job.

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: Anywhere from 20-40, but it depends on life and what it has to offer each week.

Favorite race: Tough question, I have been lucky enough to do some amazing races in amazing places, but the Missoula Marathon (1/2 and full) are my favorite because I get to run with family, friends and it is beautiful! Eleven Miles to Paradise also has a soft spot in my heart!

Favorite local route: I can’t say I have a favorite, I am an equal opportunity runner. If there is a friend, my dog or a view, I love it.

Best running memory: This is a tough one…Boston, Dublin, Moab, Grand Canyon, watching my mom finish a half marathon after lung cancer, running Missoula Half with my daughter, all of the old and new friends met while running. The list could go on forever.

Favorite shoe all time: Pearl Izumi Trail N2 (currently) and I still have my very first “real running shoe”, the Brooks Adrenaline.

Favorite current piece of apparel: Nike Lux crops and tights. Extra spandex does wonders for me!

Trail or road: Trail. Its always an adventure!

Running Accessory you can’t live without: Colleen Smith, my sunglasses with built in cheaters so I can see my Garmin and my hands free dog leash.

Special talent: Nothing special here, but I do give most things a good try.

Favorite Quote: “You have to be a runner. You don’t have to be good at it or love it, but you do have to do it.” – Anders Brooker

Ashley Mix

Years running: 12 years

Hometown: Missoula, MT

Running History: I started running Cross Country and Track in high school and never stopped!

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 35-40 miles a week

Favorite race: The Rut 28K!

Favorite local route: Spring Gulch up in the Rattlesnake, or any route that ends at a coffee shop.

Best running memory: Crossing the finish line of the Missoula Half Marathon with my Mom and Grandma.

Favorite shoe all time: New Balance 1080 all day!

Favorite current piece of apparel: My Nike All In crops, can’t go wrong with seamless.

Trail or road: Trail….Do people still run on the roads?

Running Accessory you can’t live without: My Garmin, if I can’t upload my run to Strava, did it even really happen?

Special talent: Depends on the day…..I have many

Favorite Quote: “Go big or go home.”

Erin Forde

Years Running: 12 years and counting

Hometown: Fargo, North Dakota

Running History: One day I decided to join cross country in 8th grade. I hated it because it felt so hard, but once my coach asked if I would be coming back the next year, I couldn’t say no… I continued running high school and then in college and will hopefully run the rest of my life!

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 60-70

Favorite Race: How do you pick just one?! From high school to now, every race I’ve got to compete in with my family of teammates.

Favorite local route: Running to and through the Rattlesnake from my house
Best running memory: When my husband, Eric, and I ran our first half marathon
together (Missoula Half Marathon)

Favorite shoe all time: Right now, the New Balance 1080! But I can always count on the Nike Pegasus

Favorite piece of apparel: Whatever Vicky tells me I should buy because she
knows it best!!

Trail or road: Road Trails are fun too

Running accessory you can’t live without: My Garmin watch!

Special talent: I can touch my tongue to my nose

Favorite Quote: “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller

Sarah Knutson

Running History: I have been running since I was on a club team called the “Road Runners” in elementary school. I continued to run more competitively for both track and cross country in high school. Presently, looking forward to challenging myself outside of my normal running and racing comfort zones.

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 20-40 miles

Favorite race: Mountain to Meadow

Favorite local route: I enjoy running the trails at Blue Mountain, Water Works and Pattee Canyon here in Missoula.

Best running memory: My best running memories are training and jogging with my dad when I was younger.

Favorite shoe all time: Pearl Izumi Trail or I currently love the Nike Wildhorse

Favorite current piece of apparel: North Face Fleece Tights

Trail or road: Trail

Running Accessory you can’t live without: Any watch

Special talent: I can dance to country swing or two-step.

Favorite Quote: “We can do things that are greater than ourselves. If you believe nothing exists beyond a certain boundary, then you will never test the veracity of that belief and you will never discover new possibilities….Maybe there are truly extraordinary people out there, but I’m not one of them. The most extraordinary acts are accomplished by ordinary people doing something a little extra and stepping outside their personal comfort zone.” -Juliana Buhring in This Road I Ride

Carson Paulson

Years Running: Kinda forever because of gymnastics and triathlons but 12 consistently!

Hometown: Houston, TX

Running History: Track and field through grade school & two years in college! Then switched into the distance-ish world in my 20s

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 25-30 miles

Favorite race: Prague, CZ Half Marathon

Favorite local route: Deadman Point

Favorite shoe all time: Saucony Freedom (road) and Altra Lone Peak (trail)

Favorite current piece of apparel: Vuori Juno Sports Bra

Trail or road: Both!

Running Accessory you can’t live without: Stash Waterbottle

Special talent: I can say my ZYX’s faster than my ABC’s

Favorite Quote: “She was a free bird one minute: queen of the world and laughing. The next minute she would be in tears like a porcelain angel, about to teeter, fall and break. She never cried because she was afraid that something ‘would’ happen; she would cry because she feared something that could render the world more beautiful, ‘would not’ happen” – Roman Payne

Jeff Mogavero

Years running: 13 or so

Hometown: Havertown, Pennsylvania

Running history: I’ve run for as long as I can remember. In high school I really fell in love with the sport. Then one day I got excited and accidentally ran a backpacking trip. With that, I stumbled into the world of mountain ultras and couldn’t be happier!

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week? 90-110 miles

Favorite race: I’m a sucker for the Lake Sonoma 50 miler (or maybe just the wine tasting the day after)

Favorite local route: I love the Jumbo Saddle!

Best running memory: Cruising long runs with friends

Favorite shoe all time: Strava tells me I’m on my 17^thpair of the Altra Lone Peaks, so we’ll go with that.

Favorite current piece of apparel: Darn Tough socks

Trail or road: Ridgelines

Running accessory you can’t live without: Petzl Reactik headlight. For those early morning and “it seems like a good idea to run all night” moments.

Special talent: Getting rather low on the dance floor

Favorite quote:“It’s time to let the dogs out…woof woof” – Lil’ John Thomas

Michael Jahnke

Years running: 10

Hometown: Springfield, Missouri

Running history: Never ran competitively in high school or college. Started running when I realized my 50 year old mom was completing multiple half marathons each year and figured I should be able to do the same! The Bass Pro Conservation Half was my first timed run and is still a favorite of mine.

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 40-60 is definitely my sweet spot

Favorite run: 40th anniversary Stockholm Marathon in 2019 – a new PR and the perfect way to explore a new city!

Favorite local route: Road – Greenough/Duncan/Rattlesnake loop; Trail – Waterworks/North Hills

Favorite shoe: Currently the Altra Escalante, though I’ve owned 9 pairs of Newton Distances!

Favorite piece of apparel: Brooks Sherpa 5″ short

Trail or road? Born as a flatlander, road all the way

Running accessory you can’t live without: Wool socks, perfect year round for controlling stink and blisters

Special talent: I can lick my left elbow

Favorite quote: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

Sally Henkel

Years running: 12 and counting

Hometown: Born and breaded in Lexington, Kentucky

Running history: Growing up a competitive soccer player, I truly hated running unless it was chasing a ball or a person. I started embracing distance running towards the end of high school and completed my first marathon at 19… it was all downhill (and uphill) from there!

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: sometimes ~60 and sometimes 0, depends on the week or year!

Favorite run: Traversing the Pintlers with two bad ass lady friends!

Favorite local route: that’s tough! Wallman in the fall, sound of music in the spring, waterworks in the winter, and literally anything that takes me to a lake in the summer that I probably won’t jump in but like the idea of it (southerners don’t do the whole alpine lake dunky doo thing, but we do like a solid toe dip)

Favorite shoe: I switch around a lot so I don’t get too attached to shoes… but right now the torrent, wildhorse and lonepeak (also my slippers)

Favorite piece of apparel: Smart wool running shirts- they don’t get too smelly

Trail or road? Trails for sure

Running accessory you can’t live without: Obviously the snickle, which is obviously a snickers stuffed inside a pickle. Some consider it a snack but it’s really a lifestyle!

Special talent: Mullet stylist and mind melding with my dog!

Favorite quote:

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer” – Zora Neale Hurston

Bridgett Moriarty

Years running: 15 years in December

Hometown: Great Falls, but been here since I was 8, so here.

Running history: I started with the very first Missoula Marathon training group to help me quit smoking, and I was planning to run the full marathon. I was injured and ended up running the half. I was pretty much hooked from the start by the inclusive community. Running sucked at first but nobody ever told me I couldn’t do it, so I just kept doing it.

How many miles to run/walk in an ideal week: 25-50

Favorite run: I can’t name one. Anything with friends.

Favorite local route: North Hills Starting at Orange Street, pretty much anywhere up there.

Favorite shoe: Saucony Kinvara for road; Saucony Peregrine for trail.

Favorite piece of apparel: Oiselle luxe long sleeve

Trail or road? Both, but I have to say road wins out when it comes to just checking out and running, especially long runs

Running accessory you can’t live without: Garmin watch

Special talent: Hmmm. I don’t know

Favorite quote: There are no bad days; some are just better than others

Anders Brooker

Years Running: As long as I can remember

Hometown: Plains, MT

Miles run per week: 0-50

Favorite race: I can’t choose between Bloomsday, the John Colter Run, and Evaro Mountain Challenge. These events were an annual tradition for my dad and me growing up.

Favorite local route: Spring Gulch in the Rattlesnake

Running memory: The 3200m race at the Montana State Track Meet in 2013. I was lucky enough to coach 5 athletes that made State Track in the 3200m that spring. They all had a great day including Paige Gilchrist who won the girls race and Adam Peterman who the boys race. Adam also set an All Class State Record. We had a fun night celebrating with my wife, Meg, coaches, and friends!