Volte Did Indeed Labor on Labor Day Weekend

While we had a number of runners competing before and after the Labor Day holiday, seems like our Nine Volte took a little time off during that time – and is now getting us caught up.

It was Volte girl power at the 15th annual Beneezy Purple Monkey 10K and 5K in Alvin on Saturday, August 31.

Our ladies went three-for-three in coming home with purple monkeys – the beloved prize for placing in your age group.

Purple monkey for you, purple monkey for you ... Volte even better than Oprah as Yvette, Amanda and Liah all place.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

There’s a poignant and notable story on the race’s website that is worthy of reading. 

You can find it here.

Amanda Jenkins ran the 5K and was first overall in a time of 18:25.  Liah Olsen took second in her age group in 27:35.

Focused and first is Amanda Jenkins as she bears down on the Purple Monkey 5K finish line.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Yvette Guerra got her purple monkey with a third-place age group finish in the 10K of 52:33.

Oh, and when we said “first overall” two sentences ago, it wasn’t just first overall female.  She was the first across the finish line – guys or girls.

In fact, in the 10K, the top two finishers were some of Houston’s best female races, Lauren Stroud and Chelsea Barr, beating the field and all of the men.

Our friend Vincent Attanucci from The Woodlands, who runs the race every year, was third in his age group with a time of 1:00:36.

Even though Erika Sampson woke up the next morning in Virginia Beach, Virginia a little bit under the weather, she still decided to run the Rock ‘N Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon.

At their prices, anything less than having to visit the doctor, you run.

Erika finished the half marathon in 2:17:16.

Later that evening, a small group of ours came out for the monthly The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K at Barbara Bush Elementary in The Woodlands.

Basking in 96 degrees heat, Jerritt Park slowed it down with a 24:10 finishing time while Sharon Mitchell followed in 31:54.

Making 96 degrees look easy for the Minnesota native Sharon Mitchell at the Sunday Night 5K.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Volte friends Curtis Barton, Vincent Attanucci and Ken Johnson also competed.  Curtis led the three in 27:02, Vincent – who likely still ran long Sunday morning – finished in 35:01 while Ken came to the finish in 46:21.

The heat wasn’t going to slow Jerritt down forever though.

The next morning, he and his son, Brayden, were off to Katy to run the Back to School 5K on Monday, September 2.

Dad beat son again as Jerritt finished in 21:36 and Brayden ran a solid 23:23.

Volte friend Sonia Dhodapkar won her age group in 22:34.

Two Volte friends – Reggie Bruhn and Ken Rademacher – competed the following Saturday at Ironman Wisconsin in Madison, the state’s capitol.

Bruhn, who is coached by TxTri’s – and one of the best people in our endurance sports community in Montgomery County – Sandra Sutherland, finished in 13 hours, 25 minutes and four seconds.

He swam the 2.4 miles in 1:33:04, biked 112 miles in 6:36:43 and ran the 26.2 miles in 4:53:42.

Ken finished his third career Ironman in 14:28:33 with the following splits:  1:37:34 (swim), 7:11:59 (bike) and 5:18:47 (run).

Volte friend Jon Walk was in Pennsylvania for Labor Day weekend and - in the spirit of fellow Pennsylvanian Jerritt Park – he squeezed in two races.

He raced a first-year event on Saturday, August 31 in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania – the Run For Their Lives 5K.

Mostly everybody got to run a little extra in this race as either the leaders missed the first veer to the left or a volunteer failed to direct them.

Jon figures he ran about 3.5 miles and finished in 32:30.

Two days later, before heading back to Texas, he ran in the Labor Day Pump and Run 5K in Tipton, Pennsylvania – a race that started less than a mile from his grandparents’ house.

A mix of cross country (on the way out), roads and trail (on the way back), Jon covered the distance in 32:44 after rains blew through the area in the night to cool things down on race morning.

Runners could reduce their time by bench-pressing their weight (or a percentage of it based on age) so many times before the race start.  To be sure not to embarrass himself, he passed.