Nah.
Just the fact that the last major racing weekend of the spring closed out April with our athletes at Revel Mt. Charleston and Texas 10 Sienna.
Most will go into maintenance mode, as far as racing goes, until we begin gearing up for the following Fall 2017 - Winter 2018 events, among others:
+ Ten For Texas,
+ The fall races of the Texas 10 Series,
+ The Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon and,
+ The Woodlands Marathon and Half Marathon
However, Volte will still be seen far and wide.
And we were racing the last two weekends in Oregon, Maryland, Pennsylvania and England!
Speaking of The Woodlands Marathon, redemption from his effort two months ago came for Mike Csikos on Sunday, May 7 at the Eugene (Oregon) Marathon in TrackTown USA.
Mike secured his Boston Qualifier with his third fastest marathon ever -- 3:20:52.
Needing to meet the 3:25 standard, Mike did so - with four minutes and eight seconds to spare -- by running near even splits, going through the first half in 1:39:55 and the back in 1:40:57.
He was 16th of 25 runners who met Boston's qualifying standard for 45- to 49-year-old men.
It was a family affair at the UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon and the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon.
Volte athlete Paul Vita tackled the course in 2:24:49, while Paul's brother Mike stopped the clock 22 minutes before him in 2:02:49.
 |
| Da Vita boys outside of PNC Park in Pittsburgh after the UPMC Health Plan Half Marathon (Photo courtesy of Mike Vita) |
The two ran together four years ago as Vincent finished two seconds ahead of Michael in 4:16:29, but on Sunday, May 7, Michael covered the distance in 4:11:40 while Dad crossed the finish line in 4:54:31.
Vincent's times at Pittsburgh are as follows: 4:14:35 (2011), 4:42:32 (2012), 4:16:29 (2013), 3:58:51 (2014) and 4:54:31 (2017).
It was Vincent's 49th career marathon and Michael's 17th.
Last Saturday, May 13, Sandra Tezino, like Laura Godfrey did at Texas 10 Sienna two weeks earlier, put her post-Boston Marathon fitness to the test with a half in Maryland.
"I can't go to Baltimore and not run a race," said Sandra. "It was a lot of rolling hills and I was determined not to walk any of them. Mission accomplished."
 |
| Glassware, not hardware. Way to go, Sandra, representing in Maryland. (Photo courtesy of Sandra Tezino) |
And on Sunday, May 14, Jen Smith found the hills in the UK to counteract the nice, steady decline at the Revel Mount Charleston Half Marathon.
She competed in the Bath Two Tunnels Hilly Ticket Half Marathon in Bath, Somerset, UK.
And the day before the race, Jen was hoping their were different roads for the race.
"Just got to Bath to tour today. The roads are 12% grade. A bit intimidated." she remarked. "Of course I picked the harder and not certified course that is closer to 13.4 miles with lots of hills.
"Me and my great ideas. Reading the pre-race instructions ... it's a long climb. If they say it's long, I may die."
It was. But she's still here to tell her story, which can be found here.
She was fifth in her age group in 2:05:41.
"I ran my first trail race today (although I missed reading that part when I signed up). I loved it," she said. "The best quote of the day was when a guy passed me walking as I was attempting to run up the hill.
"He said, 'the key to these kinds of races is knowing when to walk. It's time to walk.' "
She added, "I found out he was an ultra marathoner. Smart guy. I definitely walked faster than I ran parts of the hill."
Regarding the course, "I knew there were tunnels, I knew there were hills, I had no idea it was a trail run too. I got bit, I got lost, I had to climb a fence, it was a blast."
Maybe she's ready for Cactus Rose.
Closer to home, four of our athletes and three Volte friends took part in the 14th annual CB&I Tri - The Woodlands Triathlon, which included a 500-meter swim in Lake Woodlands and a 12.25-mile bike and five kilometer run on the roads and Waterway pathways.
"One and Done" Bonnie Scholz led our Volte athletes with a time of 1:25:53.
Mike Kuykendall and Dana Formon finished in 1:30:58 and 1:32:39, while Geri Henry was one spot off the podium in 1:53:28.
Volte friend Kate Looney was the seventh overall female and fourth non-elite with her blazing time of 1:06:48, good for second in her age group.
Multi-time Ironman and overall good guy John Laskowski made it in 1:12:36 while Pam Meaux rounded out the Volte friends with her 7th-place age group, 1:22:48 finish.
Each and every year, Volte is heavily involved with the production of the Benevolent Missions International (BMI) 5K in Conroe. The race was held on Saturday, May 6.
Randy Harris served as race director, Brian Jackson handled everything behind the scenes and our founder Bill Dwyer was once again: "the cone guy"!
Seven racers. Seven pieces of hardware.
Skye Taylor Moody was the first overall women, gaining the win in 18:58.
 |
| The Mercedes Benz is not as close as it appears! Brian Jackson sporting #1 for doing it all at BMI 5K. (Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer) |
The other first-place age group finish went to Curtis Hooper as he stopped the clock in 19:02.
Juan Flores, Lauren Hoffart and Marta Mixa all went home with second place age group awards.
The Bearded One led the trio in 21:32, while Lauren and Marta posted times of 28:12 and 30:12, respectively.
Volte's Jill Tresaugue wasn't up for the Santo de Mayo 5K in Houston, just outside of St. Arnold's Brewery, on Sunday, May 7, but her husband and children were.
Ryan, her son, was first in his age group in 17:29 -- and third overall.
Husband Matt and their other son, Jack, ran together and finished in 26:36.
In Cypress the same morning, the Park family participated in the Big Little JC events.
Daughter Riley ran the 1K race and never walked a step, according to her father, Jerritt.
He also reported that his son Brayden competed in the 1/4-mile run, 1-mile bike and 1/4-mile run duathlon and was first on the run, 22nd after the bike and near the top 10 at the finish.
Jerritt, meanwhile, won his age group in the 5K with a showing of 21:49.
And always good Volte representation at The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K on Sunday, May 7 at Barbara Bush Elementary.
Our Mary Carter served as the race timer and recorded the following efforts:
 |
| Yaya Herrera running strong as she's ready to exit the Barbara Bush parking lot. (Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer) |
And, finally, last Saturday, May 13, many Volte runners were involved with a charity event, Mila's Journey 5K, which piggy-backed off the regular Run The Woodlands 5K.
Organizers included Dana Susan Crews, Rich Cooper and many others. We'll have more to share on this with our next report.
No comments:
Post a Comment