Santa Volte's Best of 2016!

So we put out the "What was your "A" race in 2016?" to all Volte runners and we're appreciative of everyone who took part -- and we want to have your race reports throughout 2017.

You don't have to be a great writer as we've got a pretty solid editor in Nine Volte.

We didn't want to take away from your message, but Volte founder Bill Dwyer, who we also dub "Santa Volte" (see below), gave us his thoughts of "A" events from 2016 -- Grandma's Marathon in July and Wineglass Marathon in early October.

Santa Volte bringing Christmas cheer year-round -- and from 2009, promoting the Bill Crews Remission Run
(Photo courtesy of Jon Walk)

Grandma's Marathon, Duluth, Minnesota 

"It was an outstanding trip with George Roffe, Trudy Regnier, Hope Jimenez (running her first marathon) and Rapha Machado."

"The University of Minnesota-Duluth dorms were outstanding and the hospitality of the staff there was off the charts."

"The whole town is very involved in making your stay in Duluth extraordinary."

"They have a nice expo and pasta dinner.  Hope was even interviewed by the local news."

"Everything was great, except the race day weather as the temperatures climbed into the high 80's making it very tough for all the runners."

Bill added that "the course (there) is NOT flat", "TSA won't let a 16-ounce bottle of shampoo go through security" (noting that Hope was nearly left behind) and "White Tail Deer and marathon start lines don't mix well."  He noted that no one was hurt.  (Editor's note:  That deer's been on the loose since the 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon. ~NV)

Wineglass Marathon, Corning, New York                

"Another outstanding trip and this time I traveled separate from the group to surprise everyone at the pasta party."

"Our crew included Hope Jimenez (who was the overall 5K winner), Michelle McGill, Tammy Grado, Kristi Chen, Jen Smith, Leanne Rosser (Half), Alan Ramsey, Carrie Hyde, Erica Cahill (now Coleman) and Penny Garza (support)."

"This event is not too far from where I grew up so just being there brought back a lot of memories."
"Hope, Penny and I traveled separate from the main group so we could surprise them at the pasta dinner.  We were successful with the help of our inside man Alan Ramsey."

"Nice expo,  and a beautiful town."

Bill also noted that they kept bumping into Runner's World Chief Running Officer Bart Yasso ("very nice guy" he said) and he hung out with us Sunday night after the race.

"Conolies!!" was the first one-word sentence we've seen from Bill in quite some time.

He added that they met and visited with Runner's World cover finalist Rhonda Foulds, who he described as an "awesome woman", noted that Hope, Penny and Leanne & Jim Rosser (after Leanne finished her half) "were all outstanding" in supporting the rest of the team and that a "quick trip to Niagara Falls capped off a wonderful long weekend."

Bill did note that, as a runner, his "A" race -- "actually the only race" -- was Texas 10 Series 5-miler in Katy.  "Yes, I was entered", he said, but strong storms in the area caused for the event to be cancelled.

Santa Volte says he'll be recruiting a few folks in 2017 to take a few pictures while he's out on a course or two -- with a bib on!

One is likely to be the Baytown Bud Heatwave on the Fourth of July.

"I never ran the original version of this race before it went away," he said.  "Local race director Robby Sabban brought it back a few years ago (2011) and 2017 will be the last time it'll be run in Baytown as the title sponsor will be moving down the road to Mont Belvieu."

"While I will run a few events before, this is the one I want to check off.  It would be great to have a big group from Volte for this race."

With enough to earn Volte a seat in the race's annual Fourth of July Sausage Eating Contest.