Volte Leveraged Great Mid-April Weather to Solid Racing Results

The second weekend of April - Saturday and Sunday, April 8-9 - was quiet from a racing standpoint as it was Easter Weekend.

When The Woodlands Township Parks and Recreation Department moved Muddy Trails to February, it opened an opportunity for them to create the Run and Done 3.1 race that is held completely on The Woodlands Waterway.

The Park family took home a pair of second-place age group awards to add to their Easter baskets as Brayden finished in 17:16 while his Mom, Kristi, put down a time of 22:24.

Dawn Spoljaric led our Volte friends by denying Kristi a first-place award as she led their division with a time of 20:57.  Northside Running's Cristina Gray slipped in under 25 minutes in a time of 24:59, while one of The Woodlands' all-time legends, Jim Braden, 87 years young, won his age group in 39:10.

5 ... 3 ... 1 ... PR! for George Orebe at this year's Vintage Park 13.1.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Earlier in the following week, Chloe Kramer, the daughter of Volte's Mayra Caamano, ran her last high school race as she finished eighth overall in the 3,200 meter run in a time of 12:02.35 at the UIL 13-6A district meet that was held at The Woodlands College Park High School.

The following Saturday, April 15, Jerritt Park finished his 32nd race of the year with a second place overall finish of 20:52 in the Spindle Tree parkrun 5K #65 in Magnolia.  

Volte friend Vincent Attanucci completed his 23rd career parkrun in 28:58.

Running in just his second race in the last year or so, Randy Harris won his age group in The Mercy Run 10K in Carrollton (DFW Metroplex) in 48:35.

And with our folks taking in the entire Boston experience, a few ran the B.A.A. 5K as an easy shake-out run.

Erika Sampson led in a time of 26:19 while Judith Albarran and Christopher Branch finished together in 27:52.

Jetola Anderson-Blair led our friends in 26:59 and Allison Urvan ran with a friend in a time of 31:13.

On Sunday, April 16, we headed off into four different directions.

Jennifer Vieira ran with her daughter Megan Wittrop at the Austin American-Statesman Capitol 10K in a time of 1:32:55.

The Murillo family raided the prize chest of the Run For the Rose 5K in Houston as Luis, Juan and Jose all carted home first place age group awards.

Luis led with a time of 17:06.  Juan finished in 19:04 and Jose posted an always impressive 23:33.

Waverly Walk with a steady performance in the Vintage Park 13.1
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

A good group of four took to the trails in Huntsville State Park taking part in the Gator Bait Trail Runs.

Tim Russell won his age group in the 5K in 31:17.

And the 15K, well, it was more like 12 miles.

Jerritt Park took first place in his division in 1:47:24 followed by Rob Myers who was second in his age group in 2:03:11.  

Brittany Haddad rounded out our team in 2:08:50.

On the long course, Jerritt explained it this way:

"So I’m in fourth and miss a turn," he said.  "But then the lead pack misses a turn and then the whole rest of the field misses the same turn.

"I met up with the leaders and we decided to back track.

"We were nice and told the next 30 people they were going the wrong way.  We ended up running 12.4 miles!"

Only thing that Jerritt was really bummed about is that this year's Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee hadn't started yet and he couldn't count the bonus miles for that yet!

Volte wrapped up weeks two and three of April at the Vintage Park 13.1 and 5K, along Highway 249 in northwest Houston.

Rich Cooper was Volte's only runner in the 5K with a second place age group finish of 27:20.  Volte alumni, friend and Northside Running's Marta Mixa won her age group in a time of 27:59.

George Orebe led us in the half marathon with a first place age group finish of 1:35:21.  Mary Ann Miller followed with a time of 2:18:46.

Finishing her 23rd career half marathon, in her 30 halves by age 30 quest, Waverly Walk finished in 2:21:10.

It was super great for us to see Holly Benson, who came over from Liberty, to run as she finished in 2:26:23 - while being five months pregnant!

Lillian Evans and her runners are all smiles at about mile 6 of the Vintage Park 13.1
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

And Lillian Evans was right on the money leading the 2:30 group as a pacer as she crossed the finish in 2:29:07.

Our friends did well too.

Mark Amann was first overall in 1:14:09 and Than Dinh was the first men's masters finisher in 1:26:08.

First in his age group was Mark Poole in 1:37:45.

Dawn Spojaric posted a personal best time with a third place age group finish of 1:42:20.

Former Team Strive triathlete Courtney Grube ran the distance in 1:52:50 while Tabatha Poole also took home a third-place age group bottle of wine after her 2:07:33 effort.