Volte Weekend Recap: Hills, Hills and More Hills

“V” is not only for Volte, but also for variety.  And variety, it has been said, is the spice of life.

Hills are too.  And Voltes had their dose of them this past weekend.

On a course that her coach Bill Dwyer states is at least 8 to 10 minutes slower than the one that she posted her previous best marathon time, Naika Vargas rocked the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco on Sunday for a 6-minute and 28-second PR.

Naika is all smiles at mile 15
Photo courtesy of Ricardo Vargas

With her 4:07:30 performance, she bettered her 4:13:58 time from earlier this year at the Fidelity Investments The Woodlands Marathon.

She said that she “felt strong” and Dwyer gushed that it was an “outstanding run”.

When the local running club calls itself the Seven Hills Running Club and they produce their own event, the 35th annual Huntsville Half Marathon, Quarter Marathon and 5K, you know that it isn’t going to be in the flattest part of town.

Yet this was a course that he said himself, “I know (it) well, so it was easy to know when to work hard and when to consolidate.”

And that’s the strategy that George Roffe used to post a third-place age group winning time of 1:09:26 in the Huntsville Quarter Marathon, which is 6.55 miles.

George Roffe letting it fly on one of Huntsville's trademark hills.
Photo courtesy of Trudy Regnier

“This race was beyond my current training,” he said.  “I’ve known some good things are coming my way, but thought it would take more time.”

He credited his quality performance, other than his coaching, on two things:  1.) leaving his watch “in the bag”, which he said was hard, and 2.) race management, adding “I made sure I put out effort on the up-hills, but not too much and I also let myself loose on the down-hills, but still enjoy an active recovery.”

And some promising times to come, says Dwyer.

“(This was a) very good effort for George,” he said.  “He’s well on his way to some quality events in 2014.”

Derek Bailey has had quite a bit of quality for 2013 and Saturday’s Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon was no different.

Derek shows us that Kansas City loves the Chiefs so much their port-a-cans are red too!
Photo courtesy of Derek Bailey

He finished his 20th career marathon – and one in his 16th state – with a time of 3:07:35, which was good for 45th overall, 42nd overall male and 12th in a tough 30-34 age group.

It was his 6th best marathon ever and his 8th sub-3:10 in his last 10 marathons (all in the last two years).

Derek is now gunning for his fifth consecutive Chevron Houston Marathon.

Speaking of gunning it, well, that’s just what Tammy Grado did as she harnessed her post-marathon fitness to win her age group Saturday at the Duck Dash 5K in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Only 40 seconds off of her 23:52 PR at the 2012 Bill Crews Remission Run, Tammy won in 24:32.

Ducking it up with Jep Robertson
Photo courtesy of Tammy Grado

“Duck it up!” she exclaimed.  “My trophy was a redneck wineglass.  Gotta love it!  It was my first time in Shreveport and it was fun meeting Jep Robertson.”

Robertson is one of the stars of A&E’s hit TV show, “Duck Dynasty”.

Llana and Tammy with their redneck wineglasses
Photo courtesy of Tammy Grado

Not left out of the fun, though, was Llana Bingham, who captured third in her age group in 27:07, and Tammy’s daughter, Cassidy, who finished in 34:04.

A lot of our Volte friends also saw action this past weekend and we enjoy sharing their successes as they often spend time with us as a group or at individual workouts.

Aida Madrid and Jovita Galicia, who join us on our Saturday long runs from time to time, also ran the Nike Women’s Marathon on Sunday and finished in 4:21:53 and 4:28:45, respectively.  They’ve also been participating in the Texas 10 Series events.

Also in San Francisco was The Woodlands Team In Training’s Kate Thomas, who while raising over $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society also posted a 2:56:02 in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon.

Trudy Regnier grabbed first place in her age group at the Huntsville Quarter Marathon on Saturday in 1:02:43.

Friends of the Running Community’s Jon Walk added three cities in his quest to run a race in 100 Texas cities or towns with 5K finishes in Boerne (Friday night), Seguin (Saturday night) and Kyle (Sunday morning).

He said that he missed the “quad” on Saturday morning as the 10K that seemed to straddle the city limits of Schertz and Selma because he wasn’t prepared – clothing-wise – for the 52 degrees and stiff winds.

He now has 92 Texas cities or towns, since 2003, to his credit after finishes of 29:48, 29:42 and 30:12.