Awards Galore to Close February 2024

The end of February is the sweet spot in the racing calendar, locally and statewide, where there are a lot of quality races to choose from.

Two races in our own backyard on Saturday, February 24 included the JohnEagleHonda.com 5K as part of the Legacy Capital The Woodlands Marathon and Spindle Tree parkrun 5K #111.

The Park family was in full force for the JohnEagleHonda.com 5K.

Mom Kristi was cheering, but the rest of the crew was running.

Brayden, a sophomore at The Woodlands High School, was second overall in 17:29.

Brayden Park on his way to a second place finish in the JohnEagleHonda.com 5K.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Jerritt finished his 15th race of the year in a time of 20:15, good for first in his age group.

And Riley ran a personal-best time of 23:47, breaking her pre-race goal of 24 minutes.

Not sure if Paolo Biagi heard her footsteps or not, but he made it to the finish line in 23:28, winning first in his division.

Volte friend Dawn Spoljaric claimed first in her age group in 21:25, while all four Spoljaric children competed in the 2K.

Santino, 5, was first in his division in 9:50.  

Lucianella, 9, took the family honors in 8:22 to be the second fastest female.  

Vincenzo, 12, was three seconds behind in 8:25, and grabbed third place in his age group, while Serafina, 7, finished in 11:47.

Volte friend Ken Johnson was second in his age group in 50:40.

Legacy Capital The Woodlands Marathon race director Willie Fowlkes
flashing ... the peace sign as he leads JohnEagleHonda.com 5K racers!
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Out at Spindle Tree, Volte friends Randall Ivins and Vincent Attanucci ran the three-loop (mostly) oval course in 26:51 and 37:59, respectively.

Just off of downtown Houston, a good group of five took part in the Rodeo Run 5K and 10K.

Christopher Branch was the only one in the 5K, finishing second in his division in 21:10.  

Volte friend Josh Rivas was first in his in 20:17.

Jason Bodie led the way in the 10K in 48:03.  Judith Albarran finished in 49:11.  Jennifer Vieira and Mike Kuykendall posted efforts of 1:18:02 and 1:29:17, respectively.

Volte friends John Nguyen and Sabina Lorca were timed in 45:03 and 48:16, respectively.  Sabina was second in her division.

The next day, another quintet ran the Cowtown Half Marathon in Fort Worth.

Running as part of an ExxonMobil team, Jeffery Howard and Darren Hadden nailed down respective times of 1:25:22 and 1:41:12.

"Sunshine" Mike Csikos finished in 1:51:17, while Bill Crews ran with his daughter, Morgan.  They finished in 2:01:33.  (Well, Morgan nipped Dad by two seconds!)

In Pearland, Jerritt Park and Erika Sampson invaded the double loop course that was the Pearland Half Marathon.

Park, in race no. 16 and his third half marathon, grabbed the age group win with a new personal best of 1:36:14.

He said that he stayed ahead of the 1:35 pacers until about mile 10 and then kept them in sight to guide him to a new best mark.

Erika was the second overall women's master finisher in 1:48:52.

Volte friend Josh Rivas doubled his weekend hardware pleasure with a Sunday age group win of 1:34:24.  

Jetola Anderson-Blair won hers in 1:56:47 while C. Stephenson-Lake was second in hers in 1:45:01.

From February, With Love

It's been awhile.  Nine Volte still loves you all.

Some of the results, though, got held up in one of Volte's remote offices in upstate New York.

And, yeah, there's that "Oceanfront Property in Arizona" too!

Here we go.

February 2024 was one of those short months -- just four weekends.

So short, this report is only going to cover the first three.  (You get what you pay for, right?)

Of course, Volte athletes and friends make the most of it.

A little downtime for most between Houston and The Woodlands, but of course, we have our serial racers.

We start with the Spindle Tree parkrun 5K edition #108 on Saturday, February 3.

Jerritt Park made the most of a rainy day with his 10th race of the year, a time of 21:08 that was good for second overall.

Volte friend Vincent Attanucci covered the distance in 34:46, while Ken Johnson did so in 51:39.

The next morning, Sunday, February 4, we had a small group journey to Missouri City to close out the 2023-2024 Texas 10 Series.

Lu takes another check from race director Willie Fowlkes in Sienna
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Lu Bouanga won the Texas 10 Sienna in a time of 54:31.  

Jerritt, in his 11th race of the year, won his age group in 1:13:26.

Jerritt looking for the exit ramp of Texas 10 Sienna
(Photo courtesy of Bill Dwyer)

Our friends did well as Mark Amann won his age group in 58:39 while C. Stephenson-Lake was second in hers in 1:20:32.

In the 5-mile event, Mike Kuykendall grabbed first in his division in 54:31, while three of our friends earned hardware - a first and a pair of seconds.

Volte friend Doug Earle, who was involved in putting on the original The Woodlands Marathon, won his division in 48:22.  Erin Gowton and Ken Johnson were runners-up in 42:56 and 1:23:52, respectively.

And friend Jimmie Gowton closed the morning out with a Fort Bend Gator 5K time of 54:16.

Working back toward the northside, the Murillos descended on downtown Houston for the 22nd annual Rockets Run 5K.

Luis took first in his division in 19:07, Juan crossed center court in 21:18, Jose also won his age group in 24:46, while Nickolas rounded out the family in a time of 28:25.

Sherry Cameron finished the race in 39:00.

A hardy group of five closed out the first week of the month at the Sunday Night 5K, hosted on the first Sunday of every month at Barbara Bush Elementary.

Even with a pit stop in the middle - we know, a little too much information, but Jerritt Park won in a time of 24:09 -- his 12th race of the year - and third of the weekend.

Tammy Grado and Paolo Biagi stopped the organizer's watch in 28:21 and 28;23, respectively, while George Rux finished in 43:55.  

Ken Johnson also ran his third race of the weekend with a time of 51:35.

The following weekend, Volte spread out a little bit.

Greg and Cathy Broad traveled to Dallas to run the Hot Chocolate 5K and they completed the distance in 57:50.

Tanyia Davila ventured east - well, actually south, the editor learned on review - to Hilton Head, South Carolina, not for golf but to run the Hilton Head Half Marathon, which she did in 2:05:05.

Juan and Jose Murillo drew the long straws for distance with the Rocky Raccoon 50K at Huntsville State Park.

Father (Jose) and son (Juan) both were second in their age group.

Juan finished first in 5:44:16, while Jose was greeted by race director Chris McWatters at the finish after a time of 7:42:49.

Jerritt limited himself with just one race - the San Marcos Half Marathon.

He was 11th overall and second in his division with a time of 1:39:37.  It was his second half of the year - the goal is 24 - and 13th race overall.

Weekend two, 31 miles.  Weekend three, Monica Rose ended up doubling it!

She was the third overall woman - covering 62 miles - in the 48-hour Jackalope Jam at Cat Spring on Friday and Saturday, February 16-17.

Volte friend Vincent Attanucci ran, on Saturday, February 17, his 66th Spindle Tree parkrun 5K ever - the 110th edition - in 40:31.

Jerritt, meanwhile, was resting up for that afternoon's Muddy Trails 5K - his 14th race of the year.

He needed it as the course ended up being 3.42 miles, but he grabbed third in his age group in 23:01.

Paolo Biagi ran it in 26:29, Steven Sfeir in 33:31, Rob Myers close behind in 33:47 and Debra Myers in 41 minutes even.

The Grubes - friends from the Team Strive days - also ran the race.  Daniel - or Danny, as he's affectionately known to most - kept a few steps in front of his wife, Courtney.

Danny finished in 24:21, while Courtney was the first master's female runner in 24:42, and their son, Tyler, was second in his age group in 26:02.

Volte friend Randall Ivins took third in his division in 31:13.