Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Running Into Summer

Word from the Coach

Most of the longer events are behind us. We still have marathons coming up for Penny Garza (Alaska) and Brian Schultz (San Diego) in the next few weeks. Most of our group will now focus on some shorter distance runs and some sprint triathlons for a few.

Volte has also started training for one of the fall marathons already -- the Tunnel Light Marathon on September 17 in Washington state.

Bill Dwyer

Last weekend, there were two additional sets of results that we needed to gather more information on.

Our resident Volte athlete in California, Kate Semmelrogge Thomas, ran The Mother's Day Run 5K in El Sobrante, California on Saturday, May 13.

She took first in her age group, but didn't realize it until she checked her results at home.

Kate comes into the finish hands raised high!  A new Volte finishing pose perhaps?
(Photo courtesy of Mother's Day Run 5K)
"I "ran" a 5K for Mother's Day," Kate said.  "I left as soon as I was done. I'm pregnant, I'm tired, and I was starving!"

Six of our athletes and a trio of friends participated in Run The Woodlands 5K on the same day, Saturday, May 13, in a race that raised money for Mila's Journey Foundation, and included a silent auction.

Mila's Journey Foundation is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to supporting colon cancer research, young adults battling colon cancer, and equally important, advocates for early testing and treatment.

The Foundation honors the young wife and mother Mila Barefield, who is living with untreatable stage IV colon cancer.

Its mission is simple. We HOPE to CURE.  We AIM to CARE.  We VOW to FIGHT.

The catalyst and inspiration has been Jamila Barefield, whose journey began long before her colon cancer diagnosis by first providing care for her mother, Patricia Barney.

Mrs. Barney was diagnosed in 2012 and is now cancer-free.

Dana-Sue Crews, Rebeca Wells, Jamila Barefield, Brian Barefield
(Photo courtesy of Dana-Sue Crews)
Unfortunately Jamila’s fate took a different turn and she has been battling the disease since 2014 and is now in the hospice stage. Jamila has embraced her battle, continuously focused on the positive and striving only to focus on others.  She is and always will be our spirit.

Mila’s Journey's goal is to positively influence one person at a time and collectively fight, as Jamila’s fight has instilled in us the persistence necessary to make a difference.

In Jamila's companion spirit, our Volte athletes ran in pairs:  Mayra Caamano and Juan Flores ran together, finishing in a time of 24:06.

Ray Hyde and his son, Alexander, crossed in 30:23, while wife Carrie and their younger son Braeden stopped the clock in 38:43.

Volte friends Gary Kroll, Vince Attanucci and Ken Johnson posted times of 25:11, 25:47 and 38:40.

The race and event was supported by our own Rich Cooper, Dana-Susan Crews and the Fleet Feet staff.

Last weekend, in her first race home after participating in Liberty University's 44th annual commencement exercises the Saturday before, Waverly Walk, 21, took first place in her 20-24 age group at the 13th annual Impact A Hero 5K, held at Constellation Field in Sugar Land on Saturday, May 20.

The course reportedly was 3.25-3.27 miles, but may have also been slightly longer.  Waverly's time was 33:24.

As a runner, when you're out of town, what do you do?  Sign up for a race.

When you're out of state?  Sign up for a race.

When you're out of the country?  You've got it.  Sign up for a race.

Leanne Rosser and her husband, Jim, spent three weeks traipsing around Europe and the latter portion of the trip deposited the two in Vienna, Austria on Sunday, May 21.

Which put her in town for the 30th running of the largest women's only race in all of Europe, the Osterreichischer Frauenlauf 10K (and the companion 5K, which hosted the majority of the runners).

Approximately 35,000 runners were registered for the two races.

Air time in Austria for the American
(Photo courtesy of Jim Rosser)
Invoking her best Martina Pluda impersonation, Leanne ran nearly even splits -- 25:32 over the course's first half and 25:49 on the back half for a finishing time of 51:25.

"Not too shabby, especially after eating and drinking and basically being a slug for the past three weeks in Europe," she said.

Of the 10K finishers, Leanne was 706th out of 5,587 -- and she was the fifth fastest American out of 25.

"Well, that was fun!," she remarked on an Instagram post.  "I just completed a 10K in Vienna, beautiful course, very well organized, nice finish shirt, and great medal.

"This race had 32,000 plus finishers - all women, great crowd support and even bands along the course."

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