Generations

Generation 0:  The Founders.  2011-2012

The Milwaukee Running Group was started in October 2011 by Harvinder Bhatia (Harvey) who attended one or two runs per week for about a year while also commuting to New York for work as a financial analyst during the week.  The founding members hosted two or three runs per week at Alterra Coffee (now Colectivo), and gathered socially for occasional meals.  The momentum and growth of the Milwaukee Running Group began with the members of Generation 1.

Prominent Gen 0 members include:  Harvey Bhatia, Irena (Ina) Zhang , Carrie, Mindy Wittig, John Gamrat, Bridget (Foley) Sandercock, Rob Herman, Jamie Hardgrove, Patrick Bieser, Brad Schommer, Kurt Ohlinger, Rachael Murray, Ben & Lori Sykes, Arun Sarkar.

Generation 1:  The Party’ers.  2011-2013

This was the generation that defined the soul of the Milwaukee Running Group, fueled it’s growth, designed the PBR logo, began the Goodwill Party tradition and beer at Southshore on Wednesdays and summer “grass skirt” picnics and the Friendsgiving tradition.  This group was notable for their partying and frequent visits to Stubby’s.

Prominent Gen 1 members include: Dan Szedziewski, Bridget (Foley) Sandercock, Rob Salamon, Emily Larson, Lauren Harkness, Matt Jacobson, Matt Dunham, Karley Sopcic, Caitlin Taylor, Marie Coffey, Kristin (Kelsey) Brooks , Patrick Courtney, Lisa Garcia, Michael Sandercock, Greg Hepner, Tom Gonnering, Lynn Balistreri, Karen Jacobson, Peter Gower, Norman Barrientos, Ben & Lori Sykes.

Generation 2:  The Players. 2012-2014

This generation began organizing new activities outside of the running group. Teams for volleyball, soccer, Brewer games, trivia night at Jo-Cat’s on Brady Street.

Prominent Gen 2 members include:  Dean Gilles, Andrea (Sparrow) Gilles, Wade Thelen, Cris Zamora, Tom Fullmer, Aaron Saeugling, Bill Livingston, Maggie Bansik, Andrew Miller, Sam Crahan, Gina Becker, Matt Friedel, Tammy Cohen, Anne Coffman, Keriann Conlin, Ben Glasspoole, Vivian Yates, Jill Middendorf, Manoj Swearingen, Zulfiqar Ali.  Gen 2a.  The Unicorn Sisters:  Kelley Malone, Megan Starshak, Carly Nichols, Lauren Harkness.

Generation 3: The OMGers. 2014-2015

OMG was (re)born in October 2014. This is the generation that organized OMG and navigated the MRG-OMG split.

Prominent Gen 3 members include:  Clint Piper, Christina (Lundberg) Moehn, Joe Campagna, Tyler & Jenny Zwagerman, Ryan Thome, Sarah Mikesell, Andrei Nemilentsau, Ryan Frazier, Jennifer Hubbard, Emily Meyer, Alex Moehn, Natalie Meurer, Jeff Fee, Jodi Kleinfeldt, Anne Opseth, Hanna Gichard, Emily (Deandra) Stenhoff,  Brenna Skelly, Thomas Baker, Emily Meingast, Lisa Dretske.

Generation 4:  The Organizers. 2015-2018

This group is notable for adding structure and organization, expanded the group to include more slower runners, introduced Monday night Trivia (Brenna), the Monday Meal tradition, hill workouts, moving track to Shorewood, adding plyometrics and yoga, and offering singlets for the first time.  This group has sustained longer than any previous generations.

Prominent Gen 4 members include: Kaitlyn & James Wright, Veronica Brewer, Nicole Weeks, Amy Gnadt, Dan Davies, Andy Garza, Chad Burn, Caci Dishman, Apostoli Evreniadis, Shelley Gibson, Cat Guinan, Alex Herum, Laura Lofton, Monica Pallo, Kenzie Schroeder, Dan Sibbernsen, Emily Steinhafel, Emily Jo Peterson, Erik Stevens, Jordan Wall, Laura Lofton, Monica Pallo, Caci Dishman, Aaron Pierce, Jen Walsch, Alan Lapre.

Generation 5:  (Need a nickname)  2017-2018

Runs expanded to Tosa. Now 14 scheduled runs per week.

Prominent Gen 5 members include:  Anne Miller, Marcus Walz, Phil Gessler, Sam Goldberg, Richard Ehlert, Christopher Ligatti, Jessica O’Brien, Alec Johnson, Alex Herum, Andy Dakin, Drew Feller.