With the bulk of our group training through the summer for September’s Tunnel Light Marathon and racing still not having returned to its pre-pandemic levels, our update is – holiday to holiday!
(Post) Fourth of July to Labor Day.
Long-time Volte member Dana Formon got things started on the next to last Saturday in July at the Tri Boulder Olympic Triathlon in Colorado.
She finished the 1,500-meter swim, 26.4-mile bike and 6.2-mile run course in 3:14:42 – all at 5,328 feet above sea level.
The next day, minus all that elevation, Volte friends Meredith Moss and Alejandro Bedoya competed in the Cypress Sprint Triathlon closer to home.
Meredith was third in her age group with a time of 1:15:26 through and on the 55-meter swim, 13-mile bike and 5-kilometer run course.
Bedoya was not too far behind in 1:17:49.
After The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K got things rolling on Sunday, August 1, the rest of the month was pretty epic.
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| Always a great show of Volte runners at the monthly TWRC Sunday Night 5K (Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer) |
Jerritt Park outpaced Rob Gay to win the race by more than a minute.
Jerritt knocked down a time of 22:10, while Rob followed in 23:32.
Volte friends Curtis Barton and Edson Jones found their way to the finish next in 26:40 and 28:33, respectively.
Jane Campbell ran with her son Simon to a 37:56 finish while Layton Gill and his son Carson gave the Seven Hills Running Club’s Ken Johnson a target the whole way, stopping the clock in 45 minutes even while Ken was three minutes behind in 48:17.
Epic Part 1 came from Ramon Rosales, Jr., who rolled off a pair of 60Ks on back-to-back days on Saturday and Sunday, August 7-8 at Capt’ n Karl’s Colorado Bend and Muleshoe Bend.
Both events, produced by Tejas Trails, as part of their COVID-19 protocols, allowed runners to cover the courses at various times.
Ramon ran the Colorado Bend course in 7:28:16, good for fourth overall and first in his age group.
The following day, he recorded the best time on the course in Spicewood in 5:08:22.
Saturday, August 14 had some awesomeness and some epic.
You decide which was which!
Junior Chloe Kramer-Caamano, the daughter of our Mayra Caamano, competed for her high school in the Cypress (Bridgeland) XC Relay, which featured a pair of teammates running a total of four miles but alternating a mile at a time.
Kramer-Caamano and her teammate finished 40th of 71 teams in the Varsity D1 division – in 26:00.6 for four miles - with Chloe clocking miles of 6:27 and 6:49.
Kim White and Julie Stevenson won their age groups at the Southern Star Brewing 5K in Conroe that was nearly at its pre-pandemic finisher levels (within 80% of their previous highs).
Kim posted a division-winning time of 23:26 while Julie grabbed hers in a time of 25:03.
Volte friends represented too.
Mark Amann won the overall title in 17:28. Dr. John Slate and Scott Haney kept it close with marks of 26:52 and 27:30, respectively.
Randy Bradley we’re sure was smiling, keeping it under 30 minutes with a time of 29:34 and Ken Johnson was third in his age group in 47:24.
In Medora, North Dakota, population 134, Holly Benson ran her tenth career marathon and checked off another state by doing so.
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| Holly representing the Lone Star state in North Dakota for the Badlands Trail Marathon (Photo courtesy of Holly Benson) |
She ran the Badlands Trail Marathon, produced by Eagle Endurance, who she called a “great group”, in 7:23:31, good to be the second overall female finisher.
Medora sits at 2,267 feet above sea level and the course traversed through the Little Missouri National Grassland and on the famous Maah Daah Hey Trail.
The trail is noted to be the longest and most grueling single-track mountain biking route in the United States.
Probably why Holly said that it was all “mountainous to this Texas girl,” as she covered 2,391 feet of elevation gain, but exclaimed that it was beautiful, yet hot.
Speaking of hot, they don’t call it the Habanero Hundred Trail Run for nothing.
So hot, they start it all at 12 noon.
However, we’re inclined to think that the heat doesn’t bother the Murillo family too much.
In the 10K, Gus outran Luis to the finish line to take first place overall in 44:59. Luis came along in 47:03.
Bonnie Scholz interrupted the Murillo train to take second overall women in the 20K in 2:31:52.
Juan Murillo ran the 50K in 7:15:07.
And something you rarely see, a 70-year-old man – specifically, Jose Murillo – completing a 100-miler to obviously take first in his age group in 28 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds.
Mimi Torrez covered 60K – 37.2 miles – of the 100K race distance.
Volte friend Erika Park almost didn’t go to Manitou Springs, Colorado to compete in the Pikes Peak Marathon on Sunday, August 22.
Logistics for a while were the biggest challenge in being able to be sure that she was able to get back for two of her daughter’s first days of school, including her second oldest’s “last first day” as she’s a senior.
Travel karma worked out and Erika did the work for a 7:19:22 finish, including 3:55:08 on the ascent and 3:24:13 on the descent.
The race encompasses a 7,800 foot vertical climb, taking runners from Manitou Springs, Colorado, along the Barr Trail to the summit of Pikes Peak at 14,115 feet, and back down.
She had done the Ascent in 2013, doing so in 4:11:42; therefore, she was thrilled – without a goal of defeating that time – of being able to lower her time on the up portion of the course.
Some of our Volte and friends of Volte youngsters competed in the Friday Night Lights cross country meet hosted by The Woodlands High School girls cross country booster club on Friday, August 27.
In the eighth-grade boys race, Jack Tresaugue, the daughter of Volte friend Jill, won the mile and a half race in 8:44.2.
Our Brayden Park, the son of Jerritt and Kristi Park, was 10th overall in 9:17.5.
Miles Delzer, the son of Volte friends Ronnie and Stefanie Delzer, ran the race in 12:03.8.
The eighth-grade girls race saw Madi Hanyzewski, the daughter of our Brian and Laura Hanyzewski, run the 1.5 mile distance in 11:22.7 followed by Brooke Kramer-Caamano, in her first cross country meet and the daughter of our Mayra Caamano, with a time of 11:43.6.
Luke Tresaugue was fifth in the Varsity Boys Open race in 8:40.2 over a mile and a half.
Saturday, August 28 was yet another busy day for our racers.
Brooke’s older sister, Chloe, ran a two-mile race against fellow juniors in the Kingwood Classmate Challenge.
Her team was second behind Humble Kingwood and she ran her two miles in 13:25.86 – good for 17th of 78 runners.
Dana Forman added another Olympic distance triathlon – the Boulder Sunset Triathlon – to her athletic resume and shaved almost five minutes from her time two weeks earlier.
She took control of the 1,500-meter swim, 24.4-mile bike and 6.2-mile run course in 3:09:54.
Earlier that morning, Ramon Rosales, Jr. ran the tough Capt’n Karl’s Reveille Peak Ranch 60K in Burnet and finished second overall in 6:40:24 – in an actual race.
The Murillo family rested up and was back at it at the Night Moves Trail Run in San Felipe.
Luis won the 5K in 19:44. Gus won the 10K in 41:31, while Juan and father Jose won their age groups in 48:07 and 1:00:24, respectively.
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| Bonnie Scholz and her sister Michele Frugia before the headlamps went on. (Photo courtesy of Run In Texas) |
Bonnie Scholz and her sister Michele Fregia Hogan ran the El Chupacabra de Houston Night Trail Run 10K in Lake Houston Wilderness Park in New Caney.
Bonnie was first in her age group in 58:07, while Michele completed the course in 1:15:00.
And finally, Sunday, September 5 brought us to another The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K which was featured by Ken Johnson running his 1,200th race and his 699th 5K – and doing so in 46:38.
Jerritt Park once again led the way in 22:52.
Christopher Branch, Todd Hunter and Judith Albarran all ran together while some slight separations at the finish. Chris and Todd were two seconds apart in 27:57 and 27:59, while Judith Albarran followed in 28:13.
Steven Sfier and Tim Russell finished together in 31:57.
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