Volte Wraps Up Busy Weekend on the Roads

Trails, ultras, triathlons and then there were just road racers.

Voltes and friends were busy chewing up courses from New York City to Chicago and Aggieland to Tobacco Road.

Volte’s Todd Snider and Volte friend Laura Comeaux kicked off the weekend with Saturday races in College Station and Chicago, respectively.

Snider, 43, bested his 10-mile personal best – set at last December’s Texas 10 Conroe -- by just over five minutes with a 1:23:51 showing at the BCS 5 and Dime, part of the BCS Marathon Race Series.

Meanwhile, Comeaux, 35, who has been running on Saturday mornings and just started track workouts with us last week, ran the Hot Chocolate 15K at Chicago’s Grant Park in 1:33:22, finishing in the top half of her division.

Mike Csikos, Tammy Ninke and Gabby Brockett were three of the over 50,000 finishers – 50,304, to be exact -- of the ING New York Marathon, making it the world's largest marathon ever.

It was Csikos’ second trip to the Big Apple for the marathon.  Two years ago, he ran the iconic race in 3:48:40.

This year, his goal was in the mid-3:20’s, but leg cramps had other notions.

Yet, they don’t call Csikos “Sunshine” for nothing.

“On a positive note, I did run a 4-minute NYC PR,” he said.  “The finishing time (3:45:31) wasn't close to what I thought I could do, but I want you to know that I gave a good honest effort.”

Csikos said that he started to experience the cramps after mile 20.  He had rolled through the 30K mark nearly 12 minutes better than he had two years earlier.

“I knew after the 21st mile that it was going to be tough to maintain any type of normal pace, (but) I just had to get to the finish line,” he said.  “I was hurting but I tried to be smart about managing the cramps.  After mile 23, there were times that I couldn't run more than a minute without cramping again.”

Tammy Ninke making the turn off the bridge just past the halfway mark of the ING New York City Marathon
(Photo courtesy of Tom Ninke)

Running in her first marathon in approximately two years, Ninke, 38, crossed the finish line in 4:35:23.

And Brockett, well, it was her third marathon in three months – and second personal best.

“It was a hard race to PR in.  For me, it was the hardest race ever,” she said after experiencing headwinds all the way to the Bronx, near mile 20.  “It was the most challenging, but the most fulfilling race as well.”

Brockett’s 4:43:31 bettered her 4:47:37 previous best set in late September at the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio.

Volte friend Jon Walk, 46, snuck off to not only see his daughter, Waverly, at Liberty University in Virginia, but also picked up a marathon finish in his 33rd state with a time of 5:21:38 at the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, North Carolina on Sunday.

It was his 51st career marathon – coming just seven days after recording state number 32 in Massachusetts.

Wrapping up the day back home at The Woodlands Running Club’s Sunday Night 5K were steady showings from Justin Bui, Jerritt Park and Randy Smith.

Justin Bui and Jerritt Park head out to Crown Ridge the same way that they'd come in
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

In a race with 19 total finishers, after more than 80 children completed miles (some as many as three) as part of The Woodlands Running Club’s Juniors program, Bui led Voltes with a time of 19:35.

Park and Smith followed in 20:49 and 21:51, respectively.

The next The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K is set for Sunday, December 1.