Plenty of reasons to run, says Wolseley store owner

When Caroline Fisher was considering what to name her business, she wanted to focus on one of the best features of living in the prairies. Big Sky Run Co. opened on Tache Avenue just as the covid pandemic was ending, and there was an uptick in the number of people running in Winnipeg. 

Fisher, a Wolseley resident who owns the store with her husband Josh says she has since learned that she is one of very few woman sports store owners in the country. But with the stated goal of US president Trump to impose tariffs, one of her goals, to support progressive businesses, is up in the air.

Fisher offers a shoe fitting service, and familiarity with a large selection of running and trail shoes. Finding good fitting shoes can be a very frustrating experience, and difficult to do online. There are also new developments in shoe technology that can offer different benefits, explains Fisher.

Carbon inserts are a new addition that can add a bounce to a runner’s step that can make for energy savings while training or racing, and at the opposite end of the spectrum in shoe design, some runners will prefer as next to nothing as you can get; some of Big Sky’s best sellers are the colourful individual toe socks that can fit into some of the barefoot runner styles.

“I think that some people really like the way a cushiony running shoe feels. And then some people want to feel the ground,” says Fisher. “So for some people, that means a super squishy shoe and then for others, it means a minimalist shoe where they hardly have anything between the ground and their foot.” And she sends a call out to Wolseleyites who covet Blundstone boots; she has found a better, and more environmentally responsible shoe.

Fisher is also hoping to introduce new people to running and to inspire community connections. 

Big Sky keeps toys in the store for a weekly parent and baby run on Tuesday mornings, and organizes two other weekly runs through St Boniface, and sometimes across the river to the Osborne area. Runners of all abilities are welcome. 

In January, Fisher organized a daily 20 minute run challenge, and to her surprize, almost 300 people signed up, picked up their red toques and logged their hours with the store, paying $40 to enter and receiving a $40 gift card for a future purchase. The red hats really stood out, she says and the runners could see who else was doing the challenge.

The connections people make can help them get into, and to keep up, with a fitness plan, says Fisher. 

For two years in a row Fisher has organized a Reconcilliation Run with Trechelle Bunn, (former Youth Chief, but just elected as the first woman Chief of the Birdtail Dakota Nation). The run offers the opportunity for runners to do a satellite run in Winnipeg, to hear from Bunn and to meet Residential School Survivors along a route that stops at the former residential school on Academy Road. 

Wolseley writer, and artist Brent Manke has used humour to commemorate the accomplishments he’s achieved in running by illustrating some of the notable or challenging moments he’s experienced along the way. He soon realized that other people liked his work, and Fisher asked if she could sell his posters at the store. A hand drawing of the Winnipeg marathon route has doodles of details along the way that any runner could appreciate – including “forgot to smile for the camera,” and  “passed by someone 3 times my age.”

“You end up interacting with people from all walks of life who you never would have encountered if it weren’t for the fact that you both run. It’s a really neat way to meet people and learn about things that they do and different people in the city,” says Fisher. 

So far, says Fisher, although many of the shoe brands carried in the store are from American companies, because they are manufactured and shipped from overseas, they have not as yet been affected by additional tariff fees. However she doesn’t know what will end up happening with two American clothing suppliers who she was glad to partner with – women-owned progressive businesses, one of whom sent a message apologizing for the actions of their president.  

No matter what happens, Fisher will continue to welcome beginner, and more experienced runners, of all ages into the store’s bright and inviting space -“ I want it to be as comfortable as a living room,” she says. “Stop by for coffee!,” she invites.