Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Volte And Friends Race In Christmas 2016

Racing near the end of any year always get a little light, but certainly no less fierce!

And Volte and friends didn't disappoint.

Claudia McMeeken ran with her best friend to the tune of 1:35:24 at Saturday, December 17's Houston's 12K of Christmas in downtown Houston just outside the Wortham Center and out and back Memorial Drive.

Not wanting to let any of that fitness gained for the last Texas 10 race a couple of weeks earlier go to waste, Alfredo Gonzalez covered the distance in 1:36:22.

Speaking of not letting things go to waste, our next group of runners didn't let 30-plus degrees temperatures and, at times, winds to match get in the way of a DNS at the Santa Hustle in Galveston last Sunday (December 18)

With a location change to the Galveston Yacht Basin from The Strand after local business complained to city government, the spirit wasn't any less festive.

The Hoffarts ran the 5K -- Lauren in 28:24 and Jared in 32:45.

As did Gabby Brockett, who paced a friend to a 45:58 finish.

"We thought about not even running it and staying back at the hotel with hot cocoa ... but, runners don't do that, right?" Brockett remarked.  "Let's just say, we were super happy to see the finish line!"

The bigger cup of post-race coffee goes to Andrea Zapalac, who really braved some of the stiffest headwinds of the day on the return south down the Seawall during the Half Marathon.

"I was a little sick and it was cold and windy.  Will never do it again in my entire life," she exclaimed.  "I did (though) beat my Cypress Half by eight minutes!"

Well, then, it was worth it!

I'm sure Carrie Hyde can even arrange for some Tim Horton's - aside from the hot chocolate at the track on Tuesday night (thank you!) - for the fine 2:22:09 showing for Andrea.

Our friends, Jon Walk and his daughter, Waverly, never seem to let a road trip - this one a drive home from Liberty University for winter break - get in the way of a race.

It is like, "Where are we going to be and is there a race there?"

The two ran the Lakeside Viking 5K in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday morning, December 17 in low 30 degrees temperatures.

And Waverly made up for a Thanksgiving Day 10K defeat to Dad in Lake Jackson by mastering the downhill in mile three.

With Dad trailing by only 10 seconds at mile two, Waverly, who trains on the hills in Lynchburg, Virginia in the fall, opened it up to finish in 30:04 -- a 51-second win.

The course manually measured to be 3.27 miles, which would equate to 28:34 (9:11) and 29:22 (9:27) 5K equivalents for the two.

It was Waverly's 13th state to run a race in while Dad recorded a finish in his 283rd north American city or town.

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