Spring Hours

The Great North Running Company (GNRC), was founded on the basics of service. We wanted to provide a service, that was a passion to us! We started out as 3RUN3 in Metro Detroit. We were a running group that met multiple times a week, training for the next race. 

After 3RUN3 was off and running(literally), we went one step further and started to develop a marketing strategy for a pipedream future. It was a pretty successfull running group, but we still wanted more. So I became a certified Jeff Galloway instructor. I was the only certified instructor at the time, endorsed by Jeff Galloway, to teach his method of injury free running.

The Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method is evergrowing in popularity across the country. In the trainings I have offered, we were able to best clients previous times in half marathons by over 1 hour! It is extremely enjoyable to see when people finish races, how far they surpassed their goals and expectations for the training segment. But I still wanted more...

With being a native to Northern Michigan, and an avid runner, I obviously noticed the lack of running events throughout the tip of the mitt. Many of our races, we travelled out of state due to the lack of events in Northern Michigan. Plus we just got tired of the same scenery running in the big city. So, the talks began about hosting a couple of running events in Northern Michigan.

In preparing for hosting the running events, I found myself thinking, "what if...". That is when the concept of the running store came about. I was scared to mention it, as I have had a few quick thinking ideas that  after a few days(and drinks), I realized were either beyond crazy, or just stupid...but this wasn't one of them. 

So, on our evening rides, we would talk about a store. Things like location, rent, items amongst other things. Then we started just looking for a good priced storefront, and I found one! What I thought was an ok location, good enough to get us by until we could find something better. Then one night, about two months later, my wife said "lets go for a ride and see whats out there". So we did...

We drove to Wolverine, Indian River, Topinabee, Cheboygan, back to Alanson and then home. While in Alanson, right at the corner of M-68 and US-31, she noticed a for lease sign, so we stopped. It was 9(ish)pm, and the number looked like a cell, so I just sent a quick text asking for terms, never  expecting someone to respond the very next day. The owner asked if and when we could meet after a long discussion on the phone. Not just a typical phone discussion, but a genuine discussion, like one you would have with a long lost friend.