Another Great Year for Volte at The Woodlands Marathon

Forty athletes.  

Sixteen friends (and probably more that we didn't list).  

All participated in the 12th annual Legacy Capital The Woodlands Marathon weekend nearly three weeks ago.

With many of the Volte family serving on the race committee or in volunteer roles, thank you from all of us for being a part and supporting our hometown race!

Our lucky seven in The Woodlands Marathon 10K was led by The Woodlands High School freshman Brayden Park, who finished third in his age group in 38:06, tenth among all males and 12th overall.

His father Jarrett also earned hardware with a second place age group time of 42:29.

Park is the only Jerritt that has ever finished a race in conjunction with The Woodlands Marathon
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

In between the two was Volte friend, alumni and Mach 5 Racing coach Kate Looney, who won the 5K at The Woodlands Marathon in 2015, but finished third overall in 39 minutes even.

Sabrina Mengual and Angel Martinez Interiano crossed the finish line together in 56:14 less than a minute in front of Rob Myers, who stopped the clock in 57:03.  

It was Rob's ninth race finish of an event at The Woodlands Marathon, after six half marathons and two marathons.

Finishing in just over an hour was Brittany Haddad in 1:01:03 while Mike Kuykendall continued to tune up for triathlon season in 1:04:07 and George Rux powerwalked the course in 1:32:47.

When Brittany Haddad sports the Volte Orange it almost looks Burnt Orange.  Hook 'em!
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Twenty-six Volte athletes ran the 12th annual Houston Methodist Orthopedics and Sports Medicine The Woodlands Half Marathon plus another nine Volte friends.

Lu Bouanga led us all in a time of 1:11:21 while Robert King improved his time by six minutes from a year ago with a showing of 1:24:01.

The breeze from Lu Bouanga nearly knocked the cone over!
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Great race from Robert King, and likely had a quip on his mind as he went by!
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Gustavo Murillo, who ran 3:02 five years ago in the marathon, slipped under 1:30 in the half with a 1:29:51 and almost pulled Beto Alvarez with him, but Beto was two seconds over in 1:30:02.

Volte friend Rip Reynolds, who has finished all 12 The Woodlands Half Marathons, led Christopher Branch across the line with a time of 1:31:09 while Chris was three seconds behind.  

All of Rip's times have been between 1:27:33 and 1:31:09 over those 12 races, while Chris has brought his time down from 1:49:11 in 2019 and 1:38:52 in 2020.

Volte friends Halie Elzoghbi and Auggie Campbell posted respective efforts of 1:32:41 and 1:34:57 before Kim White grabbed third place in his age group in 1:39:38 while shaving five minutes off of last year's time.

Gourav Kumar and Trey Taylor owned the 1:41 minute with marks of 1:41:04 and 1:41:33, respectively, while Volte friend Paul Blutt and Santiago Alvarez ended their mornings with times of 1:44:39 and 1:45:01.

Paul was one of the two 1:45 half marathon pacers with Casey Wilson.

Meanwhile, Jason Bodie, Jane Cardnell and Rob Gay all were quite chuffed with their jolly run down the motorways of The Woodlands as they all finished together - nearly hands-in-hands - in 1:46:09.

Erika Sampson finished her third The Woodlands Half Marathon in 1:48:33 followed by Paolo Biagi in his fifth The Woodlands Half Marathon finish - and best - in 1:49:52.

Kimberly Simmons was just over the 1:50 mark in 1:50:13, but went home with a second place age group award to boot!

Urica Chevis and Volte friend Kahn Grice together were close behind in 1:50:20 while Tammy Grado and Kyley Hampton easily stayed under two hours in 1:51:17 and 1:52:20, respectively.

It was Grado's eighth The Woodlands Half Marathon and her best ever - a year removed from pacing her daughter Taylor to her first half marathon finish.  

Hampton shaved more than nine minutes from her 2021 half marathon time of 2:01:58.

Improving on his time from the last two The Woodlands Half Marathons was Michael Donelan with a finish of 2:01:14.  

He has run eight The Woodlands Half Marathons like Grado and two The Woodlands Marathons - and is the second fastest half marathoner in the event's history with four or more finishes at the age of 70 and older behind Porter's Lee Topham.

A trio of Volte friends took Donelan's lead - Cristina Gray finished her fifth career The Woodlands Half in 2:04:43, William Ott his ninth in 2:09:18 and Kevin Kranson debuted in 2:11:01.

Susan Rouse finished her seventh The Woodlands Half Marathon in 2:14:01 - to go along with a pair of The Woodlands Marathon, while Michelle Wells ran her first The Woodlands Half - in 2:15:58 - after running the 5K race seven times between 2013 and 2020.

Volte friend Mariela Rodriguez with Woodlands Fit finished her third straight The Woodlands Half Marathon in 2:30:17 - an event best for her, while Volte coach Rich Cooper recorded his seventh The Woodlands Half Marathon in a time of 2:30:33.

The seventh The Woodlands Half Marathon came nice, steady for Volte coach Rich Cooper.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Kimberly Roth and Lori Tell worked together to come to the finish line in 3:15:05 while Jessica Shen and Heiki Dierck teamed up for an effort of 3:18:29.

In the marathon, we played a pair of sixes - six Volte athletes and six friends.

Third in his age group in the marathon was Volte friend Than Dinh, with a Boston qualifying time of 3:13:34.  

Dinh is a Spring High graduate who Bill helped coach on the side in the late 1980s.  Than's older brother and sister graduated with Waverly Walk's father, Jon.

Finishing her third The Woodlands Marathon - to go along with a pair of half marathon finishes - was Devyn Cook, who covered the distance in 3:39:06 - just ten seconds in front of Mark Embry.  

Embry was running his first event at The Woodlands Marathon.

Volte friend Lorena Rowell finished her second The Woodlands Marathon in 3:44:47 while another Volte friend Dawn Spoljaric notched her best of four career The Woodlands Marathons in 3:45:26.

Faith Craig's father Thomas Thomson recorded a time of 3:55:26 - the second fastest of his six The Woodlands Marathon races.  

He went home to Shavano Park, in the greater San Antonio Area, and ran a half marathon the following day.

In her tenth year at a The Woodlands Marathon race and her 12th race finish, Julie White completed her first one in her married name - and the marathon was the second best time - 4:06:04 - of her seven The Woodlands Marathon journeys.  

Some call 511 for traffic info; Julie White dials in her second best The Woodlands Marathon
finish ever!  (Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Julie also has three half marathons and a pair of 5K finishes here to her credit.

"Waverly Walk from Spring.  The family PR is going to go down!" said the announcer.

Waverly Walk has the marathon mantle passed to her by her father, Jon, at the finish!
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

And she finished her third career marathon in 4:45:27 - to go with her 2:06:47 half PR at The Woodlands two years - to take down her Dad's best of 54 marathon finishes, 4:47:32 at the Freescale Austin Marathon in 2006.

Volte friend Cheryl Edwards ran the distance in 5:20:17 just a short while before another Volte friend - Vincent Attanucci - finished his 11th The Woodlands Marathon in 5:24:37.

And getting every minute and penny out of his entry fee was Neven Krstulovic-Opara, who closed out our efforts with a 5:55:16 finish - his seventh The Woodlands Marathon in addition to his two The Woodlands Half Marathon finishes.

Great work by everybody that toed the starting line, crossed the finish, volunteered or worked on the race committee!

Wins, Classic Races and Old Mainstays Kick Off March for Volte

Outside of the 12th annual Legacy Capital The Woodlands Marathon and its affiliated events more than two weeks ago, Volte had athletes at other events that weekend.

The big news is that Volte had another first place finish at the Miles for Meals event in Conroe on Saturday, March 4.

Two years after Mayra Caamano won the women's 10K race there, Stephanie Reed picked up the ladies' 5K victory - while finishing eight overall - in a time of 22:45.

Stephanie Reed gets the gold shiny medal for winning overall!
(Photo courtesy of Christopher Reed)

Her husband Christopher clipped 20 minutes by a second to finish third overall.

Volte is also pretty proud of Judith Albarran representing us well as an ambassador for the Bayou City Classic 10K, one of the two oldest 10K races in the state of Texas along with the Statesman Capital 10K in Austin.

While she grabbed first in her age group in a time of 46:40, she pulled a few friends along to participate in downtown Houston as opposed to The Woodlands.

Jose Murillo was first in his division in the companion 5K event in 25:59.

The master's division of the 10K was won by one of our athletes and a friend of Volte.

Ramon Rosales took the win with a mark of 35:19 while Houston's Erika Park was first for the ladies in 41:51.

Juan Murillo and Robert Cardnell stopped the clock, respectively, in 42:22 and 43:29, while Volte friend Josh Rivas ran the distance in 48:06.

The following day, Sunday, March 5, Volte friend Greg Broad traveled to Arkansas to finish the Little Rock Marathon in 5:27:53.

A little bit closer to Houston was Eunice Allen, who ran the Towne Lake 5K in McKinney, in 30:18.

Good group at that evening's The Woodlands Running Club Sunday Night 5K at Barbara Bush Elementary in The Woodlands.

Jerritt Park led the way with a 21:46 finish, while Tim Russell and Rob Myers finished together in 31:46 and Deb Myers and Llana Bingham did so together too in 36:49.

Volte friend Randall Ivins came across the line in 30:19 and Ken Johnson followed in 47:20.

The following week in the 60th running of the Spindle Tree park run 5K in Magnolia, Jerritt was ninth overall in 21:15, while his wife, Kristi, was the third overall female in 23:50.  

Ken was first in his age group in 48:22.

Volte Goes Green for St. Patrick's Day on the Track, Road and Trails

This past Saturday morning, Volte founder Bill Dwyer was asking John Stevens how his son, Henry, who runs for Trina Jones' Spring Providence Classical School track team, was doing.

He told Bill that Henry had run the 1600 meters Friday night at the 71st annual Texas Southern University Relays in 4:51 and that he was going to run the 3200 meters later that day.

While Henry ran 10:34, ten seconds better than The Woodlands' Jack Tresague, John told Bill that there was a Volte runner in the 5K Friday night.

It was our Lu Bouanga!

Lu, who ran collegiately for East Central Oklahoma, wasn't too far off of his collegiate PR of 15:47.04 as he was second overall in the University 5K.

He covered the distance in 16:15.58, second only to current Texas Southern graduate student Albert Norman.

The racing season is starting to pick up even after the completion of January's Chevron Houston Marathon, the 2022-2023 campaign of the Texas 10 Series and the 12th annual Legacy Capital The Woodlands Marathon.

The biggest news is that Randy Harris ran his first race in about a year at the Eva Strong Memorial 10K in Uvalde Saturday morning.

He was second overall in 46:51 - and ran it in wire-to-wire rain, according to the race's timer, Ricky Garza with Zapata Roadrunners.

Randy is now an assistant principal at Uvalde High School.

Jerritt Park's road to 100 races in 2023 went through Keller Saturday morning as he traveled to the Metroplex as his son, Brayden, was competing in the Texas Distance Festival, hosted by Southlake Carroll High School.

Missing a chance to run in the Bear Creek Greenbelt parkrun 5K in Keller, Jerritt opted for the Shannon Brewing Company's St. Patrick's 5K, where he was first in his age group in 21 minutes even.

He said it was "super hilly" - for a flatlander - as he was also third overall.

Transitioning to this weekend's trail races, Volte had friends at the 61st running of the Spindle Tree park run 5K in east Magnolia.

Stoya Laydevant set a new Spindle Tree park run course record in 18:29 on the triple loop crushed trail track.  She was third overall and first female.

Her parents - Meri and Pierre - finished in 25:02 and 26:43, respectively, and first in their respective age groups, while Vincent Attanucci completed his 21st career park run in a personal park run best of 28:58.

What happens - sometimes - when you run every day - for 7,377 days, as of Monday, March 20, 2023.

Volte had two runners participating in Trail Racing Over Texas' San Felipe Shootout at Stephen F. Austin State Park on Saturday.

The San Felipe Shootout allows for runners to run a 5K, 10K and half marathon consecutively in one morning.

The 5K began at 7:30, the 10K an hour later and the half marathon at 10:30 a.m.

Paolo Biagi finished the 5K in 26:20 and the 10K in 59:26 and was the sixth overall masters male in both races.

Meanwhile, Nita Shinde chewed up and spit out the entire trail - running all three races and completing the Shootout.

Her times were 36:45 in the 5K, 1:35:25 in the 10K and 3:29:00 in the half marathon.

Moving back to crushed trail surfaces, we had four athletes and as many friends competing in this weekend's Seabrook Lucky Trail Marathon.

On Saturday, with their coach Rich Cooper in-person supporting their efforts, Andrew Carrillo and Mike D'Errico took first and third in their age groups in Saturday's half marathon in 1:34:34 and 1:39:39, respectively.

Running Alliance Sport ambassadors - and Volte friends - Alvaro and Lusi Trejo teammed up with two more Trejos - Isabel and Suvenal - to make up Team Trejo and finish the marathon relay on Saturday in 3:59:15.

They came back on Sunday morning - as cold, but not as wet as Saturday morning - and ran the 5K in 25:52 and 40:37.  Alvaro earned third place in his age group.

Earning sparkling new personal bests in the Quarter Marathon - and their first time to ever run the distance - were Kim and Julie White.

Kim was second in his age group in 50:15, while Julie was first in hers in 53:01.

Volte friend Sabina Lorca not only ran the half marathon in a first place division finish of 1:46:55, she also sang the National Anthem to start the morning.

Working our way back to the track, it was noted earlier that Jerritt and Kristi's son Brayden was running the 1600 meters at the Texas Distance Festival in Southlake Carroll.

Just under 550 young men ran the 1600 meters and 378 were under five minutes.

Brayden clocked a time of 4:50.056.

At Saturday's Kingwood True Team Meet, which featured the host school, Kingwood HS, Montgomery HS and The Woodlands College Park, the daughter of Mayra Caamano - Chloe Kramer - was fifth overall in the 1600 meters, posting a career best time of 5:25.84 in her senior year.

She was second three weeks ago at the Klein Cain Invitational in the 3200 meters in 11:44.04.