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Our sales team has always been and remains the key to our success. Collectively, we have well over one hundred years of experience in fitting shoes, clothing and accessories. Numerous podiatrists refer their patients to us because they know that we will measure your foot properly, examine your foot type, explain what your options are and help guide you into the right shoe. We carry a wide range of sizes and widths to ensure that you are fit properly. We hope you will let us help you! |
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JEFF BECK - ASSISTANT MANAGER
CRAIG CURTICE Craig was an accomplished cross country and track athlete at Victor, where he still holds a school record as the anchor leg on the 4X800 meter relay team. As a freshman at MCC in the fall of 1986, Craig noticed an add in the GRTC Newsletter seeking an individual to work in a specialty running store. Noting his running background at Victor High, Morris hired Craig. As Craig worked his way through MCC and ultimately SUNY Brockport, his hours and responsibilities in the store grew. What started as a part-time gig in college turned into a career as he went full time and became the store manager.
 By now enough repeat customers had come to know him simply as the tall guy with long hair. Not one to let that long hair go to waste, he quickly took over the responsibilities of selecting the eclectic playlists this store is famous for, a duty he lords over to this day. You are as likely to hear Don Ho and Dave Dudley as you are Van Halen and AC/DC or even famous quotes from his favorite movies. It gets even more interesting during the Holidays. Craig has been married for 15 years to Suzanne who teaches art in the city school district, and they live in the city with their crazy, fence climbing dog, Boris. A number of years ago, he stepped down as store manager to allow himself time to pursue some writing projects. Following his passion for music, Craig has written concert reviews for the Democrat and Chronicle, has written album reviews and artist bios for ALL Music Guide, some of which were published in the All Music Guide to Soul. He also has a passion for, and puts a tremendous amount of effort into, dressing up for Halloween. He has been seen out on the town that night as The Thing, Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Freehly of Kiss, and Evel Knievel.
 Having been at the store for 23 years, Craig has seen, heard and sold it all. He has seen someone blister their feet by wearing their shoes on the wrong feet for a run. He has been asked if we sell sleeveless vests. He has sold leg warmers, braided headbands and Reebok Pump Aerobic Shoes, and he has sold watches that track speed and distance by receiving a signal from global positioning satellites. He saw the birth of TEVA Sandals, the introduction of Lycra and running tights in general. By our conservative estimate, Craig has sold over 50,000 pair of shoes.
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Dan started running cross country at Harley way back in 1987 and finished his senior campaign with a Section V team championship. From Harley, he went on to run XC and Track at Susquehanna University for 4 years, finishing with two MAC Conference championships. After graduating, Dan competes in many road and trail races, including nine consecutive Dances with Dirt Relays (teamed up with our own Mort Nace, John Cascini and Jeff Beck among others), two Cast-A-Shadow Snowshoe Relays with Team IPA (along with myself and Ian Webber), and 13 Marathons, including 5 Bostons. His marathon PR is tantalizing close to the 3 hour mark at 3:01:33. He has also won the first two Ovarian Cancer 5k races (2009 finish pictured above). Dan's favorite running "toy" is the Garmin Forerunner which he says is the best technical advancement for runners in the last 10 years. If you asked any of us at the store, we would have thought Dan's favorite running toy was Mountain Dew. He said it is a great tool to advance your training no matter what level you are at (I assume he's talking about the Garmin, not the Dew). His other favorite running gear is the Sporthill Infusion Top, which he uses for running, snowshoeing and cross country skiing.
As I promised, a little about his Magellan moniker. A number of years ago, before our Thursday Night Trail Runs started, we used to meet to run trails, whether with the Oven Door Runners or on our own, and we would take turns leading the runs. Whenever it was Dan's turn, we would find ourselves running across fields, in back yards, in barn yards trying to find our way around electric fences, just generally looking for the trail. We all surmised on these runs that it must have been what Magellan's crew felt like as they were circumnavigating the globe. Many of you that have run the first leg of our Medved Madness Trail Run or enjoyed our Thursday Night Trail Runs can attest to that same feeling.
When Dan is not at the store or trespassing, he works at Sentry Safe in the International Sales Department. Finally, Dan confesses he would not be able to have this much fun if it were not for his lovely wife Melinda, who is his "support crew and motivation."
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Sherry started her running passion with her Dad at age 12 and continued to run through high school (Canandaigua Academy) and college (University of Rochester). She is a trail runner at heart, but has been wildly successful in the marathon, dramatically dropping her times since her debut at the distance in New York in 2006. In 2008, she qualified for Boston at the Niagara Falls Marathon and ran Boston in 2009. She then PR'd in Philly this past November in a blistering 3:36. On trails, Sherry cites Dances With Dirt, The Muddy Sneaker and Dam Good Trail Run as her favorite races; "The more single track the better." Despite all of the trails she runs, there's a rumor she is deathly afraid of snakes and is not afraid to show that fear if one is spotted.
Her real running passion is snowshoeing and often says she runs in the summer so that she is in shape to snowshoe. She has run the Frozen Assets snowshoe race in Harriet Hollister Spencer Park since 2003 and has become a family tradition with her Dad and sister Janelle. She even got her son David to do it in 2009 and 2010. Sherry has qualified for and run the snowshoe national championships in 2008 in Utah and 2009 in Oregon, medaling in her age group in 2009.
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DENNIS VANKERKHOVE  CAUTION: What you are about to read may cause you to burst out of your house. Dennis VanKerkhove, does it all. He runs, he cycles, he cross-country skis, he hikes, he kayaks, and you might even find him at a contra dance or a music festival. Oh yeah, and he does it all well.
Dennis is one of the strongest runners in the area, and the best downhill runner out there.
This past summer, Dennis completed the Damn Wakely Dam Ultra, a completely self-supported 32.6 mile trail ultramarathon, in 6 hours and 16 minutes, good for 10th place. In his last road marathon, he finished in 3 hours and 5 minutes. As a teammate at the Dances With Dirt 100 kilometer trail relay in Hell, Michigan, we could always count on Dennis running as strong on his third leg, 14 or 15 miles into his day, and 7 hours into the team's day, as we could on his first leg, no matter the terrain.
In the fall, Dennis runs cross-country (XC) for the Genesee Valley Harriers (GVH), and then will race both classic and freestyle XC skiing in the winter. When mother nature takes away the snow, he knows all of that melt water will swell his favorite white water spots and he trades in the skis for the kayak. If all of that is not enough of a calorie burn, he commutes on his bike whenever the weather and time allow.
Outside of all his hobbies, Dennis manages to work full time at Kodak and part-time here at the store. He enjoys attending his daughter Cori's soccer, basketball and lacrosse games, and he hikes and backpacks with his son Jeffrey, where they just became 46ers (summited all 46 "high peaks" in the Adirondacks).
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KAITLYN SENNETT  Our next spotlight highlights one of our longer-tenured part-time employees, Kaitlyn Sennett. She was hired in 2002 prior to her senior year in high school, and immediately settled in with the staff. While at Brighton HS, she was a star race walker, and was constantly asked to demonstrate her championship form on the track around our store. After graduating High School, Kaitlyn moved on the Marist College, where she graduated in 2007. During her time at Marist, she had the opportunity to study abroad at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and she fell in love with the country, and made many friends she still keeps in touch with. On our picture pillar is a picture of one of her defining moments, on a platform just prior to bungee jumping. Despite our kidding her as to the authenticity of the photo, she assures us she went through with the jump.
When this series of articles started, I mentioned that our staff brings an unmatched set of experiences and expertise that we are able pass on to you. Kaitlyn is one of a couple of our employees who regularly swims or has participated in a triathlon, so we often defer swimming related questions to her, whether they be about gear, suits, or how to combat the effects of chlorine.
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Adam has been running for about 12 years now. He ran cross country and track in high school at Oakfield-Alabama and took that passion to SUNY Fredonia where he also ran XC and Track. He credits running with teaching him perseverance, motivation, balance, toughness, self-awareness and confidence. Adam has plans on running his first marathon in the near future, and hopes that his PRs in the 5k (16:49), 10k (35:27) and Half-Marathon (1:29:29) combined with solid training will get him a Boston Qualifier.
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Since graduating in May '09, Connor is working at Medved while taking grad courses at the U of R. He is planning on attending graduate school full time in 2010. Running is still at the forefront of Connor's plans, as he has been dutifully training for area races. He just finished fourth in a time of 15:54 in the loaded field of the 2009 McQuaid Cross Country Invitational open race. If that wasn't enough for the weekend, on Sunday, he ran his first trail race, the very difficult Out of Bounds Half Marathon Trail Run, put on by Goose Adventure Racing, finishing second. Looks like a pretty good start to his post college running career.
Connor's favorite running shoes are the Pearl Izumi Streaks, that he says are "a great lightweight trainer with a flexible, seamless upper." With all of the miles Connor logs weekly, he says he cannot do without "The Stick" for rolling out those sore muscles, and to keep hitting those mileage goals through those Rochester winters, he turns to the Sporthill pants with the 3SP fabric.
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JOHN PROHIRA  John has been with us since the winter of 2002, and is one of the more accomplished ultra-marathoners in the area. It all started as a means to quit a 1.5 pack-a-day cigarette habit, culminating in the completion of 85 ultras, as they are called. He cites the greatest reward running has offered (among the many) is the help it gave him in stopping smoking.
John ran his first marathon in 1995 in Buffalo, and ran eight more until "falling in love" with the trails and the longer distances in 1997. A little background on Ultras before going on. An ultra is a race of any distance greater than a marathon (26.2 miles). They typically come in flavors of 50K (31 miles), 50 miles, 100K, and 100 miles, and are often off-road adventures, venturing well into the sparsely settled foothills and mountains. John's favorite distance is the 100 mile race, where he has completed 24 of the 28 he has entered; a great completion rate considering the distance, and what you go through in a race of that distance. It is not uncommon to be out on the course for 24 - 48 hours. His favorite race is the Hardrock 100 Mile Trail Run that takes place in SW Colorado in the San Juan portion of the Rocky Mountains. Pictured below is John at Mile 85 and 39 hours into said race. John considers himself lucky enough to have run ultras in California, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Ohio and in Northern Ontario, Canada.
John was born downstate in Port Jervis, NY along the Delaware River and was recruited out of college by Eastman Kodak where he worked for 27 yeas as a scientist/chemist for 27 years until the end of 2008. He has two college-aged daughters, Elizabeth and Katy. John enjoys writing about his adventures and has an online column that is found on the Rochester Running Page. He also has stories posted on his running club's site, The Virginia Happy Trails Running Club and on the Medved Website.
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Husband, Trail Maven, Father of 3, The Godfather of Snowshoeing, Professional Pedestrian (yes, the rumors are true, Mort does not drive), Off-Road Warrior have all been used to describe Mort. He has been at Medved for the better part of the last 18 years, managing the store for the past 7 years. Mort's passion for off-road activities has led to Medved being the premier store for trail running in the Rochester area. He can be credited with introducing trail running to many current and former Medved employees. Even more significant, Mort can be credited for not only building the snowshoe business in our store, but with generating local interest in the sport, introducing area runners to snowshoe racing. Mort's passion for off-road pursuits led to the creation of some of the area's most popular and unique trail and snowshoe races. The perennially sold out Muddy Sneaker 20K Trail Run, the visually spectacular Frozen Assets 5K Snowshoe Race, the unique and challenging Cast-A-Shadow 6 Hour Snowshoe Race and Relay (that ends with headlamps) and the most challenging, Out of Bounds Half Marathon and 10K at Bristol Mountain (yes, a trail race at a ski resort). This all culminated in the formation of 
Jeff started running in 1997 for Fairport High School as a sophomore. In his Senior Year, Jeff won the Section V Cross Country Individual Section Title. After High School, Jeff spent three years at Oswego State before transferring to Geneseo State. While at Geneseo, Jeff was a three time All American (twice in cross country and once in track).
It is only fitting as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary we spotlight, and provide a couple extra pictures of, Craig Curtice, who has been here for all but two of those years. 
If you've stopped into Medved on a weekday, chances are that you've been given some attention from Debbie Lawrence, a dedicated member of the Medved staff. Here's a few words from Debbie: 
Continuing the tour of our staff, we have landed on one of our part-time managers, Dan Andrus, aka Sprout or Magellan (we'll talk about that one later). Dan has been at Medved since April of 2000, and is one of a handful of current staffers who date back to the old store. Dan cites "the great people I work with" and helping people find the right shoe, as reasons he has worked here for so long. 
John has been a Medved employee since Spring 2003, starting initially as a part-timer then assuming the full-time position of Assistant Manager. John was in that capacity for several years before he returned to the engineering field, remaining with us as a part-time Assistant Manager.
Sherry has been with us for close to 3 years, and serves a dual role for the store. While she puts some time in on the floor, her main focus is as an ambassador, representing us at health fairs, out of store events, and she runs our training programs for the Medved Lilac 5k/10k and the Medved 10 Ugly Men 5k. Outside of the store, Sherry also is a Yoga teacher, a part-time student and she is a member of GVH. She coaches at the Easter Regional Elite Distance Running Camp at Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. She has also been known to run with the Brighton cross country teams and snowshoe club. She is the proud mom of David (15) and Daniel (12). 
Adam has been at the store since October of 2007 and has grown into one of our more regular employees while finishing up his Master's Degree in School Counseling from the University of Rochester. Not coincidentally, Adam aspires to be a school counselor, where he would also like to coach cross country and/or track wherever he ends up. He has recently taken a job at East High School as a long term sub. 
Connor, a standout runner at Fairport High School and Division I Binghamton University, has been with us since the summer of 2006. In high school, he led his team to the Section V, Class AA title in XC, and in track was a member of a Section V AA and Monroe County championship teams. After graduating high school, Connor went on to SUNY Binghamton where he studied Psychology and was a 4 year member on the track and cross country teams. His studies led him to conduct some research in an environmental neuro psychology lab on the way to earning his Bachelor's degree. He was no slouch with the running shoes either, boasting PRs of 15:40 and 32:17 on the track in the 5k and 10k, respectively.
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