Texas 10 Series - Female - Single-Age Bests - 2020-2021 Season

Below is the best time from every single age of all females that have participated in a Texas 10 Series race in the 2020-2021 season.  

The age, time, name, city and race are listed.

10 - 1:25:00 - Haley Roth, Beaumont - (Huntsville)

12 - 1:35:42 - Savannah Smith, Franklin - (College Station)

13 - 1:34:41 - Rylie Seale, Lovelady - (College Station)

14 - 1:31:56 - Minnie Beedle, Conroe - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

15 - 1:33:35 - Mackenzie Dixon, Montgomery - (Conroe)

16 - 1:37:48 - Tristan Schkade, Missouri City - (Sienna)

17 - 1:38:19 - Isabelle Morcombe, College Station - (College Station)

18 - 1:11:38 - Morgan Brown, Spring - (College Station)

19 - 1:53:08 - Breanna Gamble, Cypress - (College Station)

21 - 1:15:18 - Vita Riera, College Station - (College Station)

22 - 1:47:36 - Kirsten Ough, Spring - (Katy)

23 - 1:25:18 - Hanna Trocko, Spring - (Katy)

25 - 0:58:34 - Gabriela Deleon, Irving - (Katy)

26 - 1:35:34 - Brittany Rogers, College Station - (College Station)

27 - 1:36:39 - Amy Ly, Spring - (College Station)

28 - 1:12:28 - Ally Milner, Houston - (Sienna)

29 - 0:58:09 - Lauren Stroud, Lake Jackson - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

30 - 1:01:42 - Heather Oliva, San Antonio - (Sienna)

31 - 1:21:05 - Yumi Chen, Houston - (Conroe)

32 - 1:05:05 - Melissa Bittick, Seabrook - (Katy)

33 - 1:03:43 - Tiffany Moran, Spring - (Conroe)

34 - 1:24:44 - Mollie Langwell, New Braunfels - (Cypress)
35 - 1:09:58 - Amanda Stephens, Houston - (Cypress)
36 - 1:08:28 - Amber Burleson, Marquez - (Huntsville)

37 - 1:06:34 - Becca Sawyer, Austin - (College Station)

38 - 1:05:39 - Adrienne Langelier, College Station - (Conroe)

39 - 1:05:52 - Halley Pigford, The Woodlands - (Conroe)

40 - 1:05:52 - Halley Pigford, The Woodlands - (Katy)

41 - 1:08:50 - Alison Matthews, Houston - (Cypress)
42 - 1:05:06 - Flora Lai, Houston - (Sienna)

43 - 1:06:25 - Jamie Johnston, Mont Belvieu - (Conroe)

44 - 1:19:28 - Mary Moellmer, Tomball - (Conroe)

45 - 1:15:48 - Akiko Forman, Katy - (Katy)

46 - 1:15:55 - C. Stephenson-Lake, Cypress - (Cypress)

47 - 1:03:27 - Catherine Kruppa, Houston - (Sienna)

48 - 1:22:30 - Sandra Ruiz, Houston - (Conroe)

49 - 1:24:48 - Lara Guerrieri, Cypress - (Sienna)

50 - 1:14:35 - Becky Nesbitt, Hempstead - (Conroe)

51 - 1:16:33 - Becky Nesbitt, Hempstead - (Cypress)
52 - 1:17:43 - Kim Smith, Montgomery - (Conroe)

53 - 1:36:04 - Christine Thoorsell, College Station - (College Station)

54 - 1:13:10 - Nancy Goodnight, Waco - (Conroe)

55 - 1:19:03 - Lyn Denison, Cypress - (Huntsville)

56 - 1:11:07 - Maria P. Whitworth, Houston - (Cypress)
57 - 1:21:23 - Julie Stevenson, The Woodlands - (College Station)

58 - 1:23:30 - Sharon Morin, Houston - (Katy)

59 - 1:27:24 - Jetola Anderson-Blair, Houston - (Sienna)

60 - 1:12:14 - Pam Meaux, The Woodlands - (Katy)

61 - 1:36:10 - Joy Comeau, Katy - (College Station)

62 - 1:37:41 - Mary Pegg, Katy - (Katy)

63 - 1:34:30 - Marta Mixa, Conroe - (Conroe)

64 - 2:00:56 - Joanne Bartles, College Station - (College Station)

66 - 2:05:17 - Marlene Shakra, Houston - (Katy)

68 - 1:47:51 - Becky Fletcher, Spring - (Conroe)

69 - 1:35:10 - Linda Skogsberg, The Woodlands - (Conroe)

Sources:  Texas 10 Series, mychiptime.com

Texas 10 Series 30-Mile Challenge Finishers

Forty-three (43) of 52 eligible runners ran on Sunday at the Cypress 10 to earn their Texas 10 Trifecta 30-Mile Challenge medal by running Katy, Sienna and Cypress on three consecutive Sundays:

-A-

Steve Allen, 48, Huntsville

Mark Amann, 31, Conroe
Jose Avellaneda, 44, Missouri City

-B-

Sagrario Baca, 30, Houston

Kevin Baker, 45, The Woodlands

Joel Barr, 68, Spring

Steve Bickford, 60, Huntsville

Randy Bradley, 58, Spring

-C-

Jessica Carpio, 35, Missouri City

Mario Carrera, 19, Houston

Eugenia Carter, 56, Pasadena

Guillermo Chutrau, 58, Houston

-E-

Ofelia Elizondo, 41, Victoria
Jennifer Ellis, 49, Katy

Karen Ellis, 40, Cypress

-F-

Matthew Ford, 34, Humble

-G-

Robert Gay, 44, Magnolia

James Griffis, 68, The Woodlands

-H-

Darren Hadden, 46, The Woodlands

Hiroshi Hamada, 59, Houston

Esteban Hernandez, 40, Houston

-J-

Willie James, 62, Nacogdoches

Van Joslin, 35, Magnolia

-K-

Samuel Keen, 41, Houston

-L-

Konstantin Loguinov, 44, Houston

-M-

Mary Moellmer, 45, Tomball

Sharon Morin, 58, Houston

Cindy Muniz, 35, Houston

Kirk Myers, 44, Houston

-O-

Heather Oliva, 30, San Antonio

-P-

Bobbie Petersen, 45, Conroe

-R-

Haley Roth, 10, Beaumont

Jayden Roth, 11, Beaumont

Jeff Roth, 46, Beaumont

Juana Roth, 32, Beaumont

Taylor Roy, 41, Tomball

-S-

Erika Sampson, 47, Houston

Hec Seg, 60, Houston

-T-

Gary Tashima, 36, Houston

-W-

Courtney West, 40, Spring

Yanna Williams, 45, Kingwood

Candy Wills, 39, Deer Park

Tabitha Wills, 28, Conroe

Sources:  Texas 10 Series, RunFAR USA

Texas 10 Series - Male - Single-Age Bests - 2020-2021 Season

Below is the best time from every single age of all females that have participated in a Texas 10 Series race in the 2020-2021 season.  

The age, time, name, city and race are listed.

11 - 1:18:47 - Jayden Roth, Beaumont - (Katy)

15 - 1:35:11 - Aaron Smith, Franklin - (College Station)

16 - 0:57:42 - Jack Voelker, Magnolia - (Sienna)

17 - 1:40:59 - Jonathan Mooneyham, Kingwood - (Conroe)

18 - 1:04:57 - Jorge Cantu, Cypress - (Cypress)
19 - 1:12:42 - Mario Carrera, Houston - (Katy)

20 - 0:53:13 - Connor McNellis, Bryan - (College Station)

21 - 1:00:50 - Andrew Hanna, College Station - (College Station)

22 - 1:01:20 - Matt Sandberg, Springfield - (College Station)

23 - 0:58:35 - Lu Bouanga, Houston - (Cypress)

24 - 0:58:51 - Rick Hawley, Spring - (College Station)

25 - 1:04:07 - Pedro Beltran, Waco - (College Station)

26 - 1:12:58 - Jesus Garza, Bryan - (College Station)

27 - 1:05:31 - Andrew Raggio, Spring - (Conroe)

28 - 0:58:07 - Brent Williams, Cypress - (Sienna)

29 - 1:09:40 - Mitchell Sides, Spring - (Katy)

30 - 0:52:34 - Jason Garcia, Conroe - (Conroe)

31 - 0:54:02 - Mark Amann, Conroe - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

32 - 1:12:50 - Jaime Garcia, Houston - (Sienna)

33 - 0:59:00 - Michael MacKelvie, Conroe - (Katy)

34 - 1:05:14 - Matthew Ford, Humble - (Katy)

35 - 0:58:50 - Dustin Joubert, Nacogdoches - (Huntsville)

36 - 1:01:36 - Richard Bralow, Houston - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

37 - 0:56:19 - Luis Murillo, Houston - (Conroe)

38 - 1:12:22 - Luke Gosnell, San Antonio - (College Station)

39 - 1:01:34 - Jeff Short, Pearland - (Sienna)

40 - 0:58:50 - Lars Finanger, Spring - (Conroe)

41 - 0:59:49 - Matthew Manning, Katy - (Cypress)
42 - 0:58:02 - Noe Robles, Addison - (Katy)

43 - 1:06:59 - Leigh Foreman, Houston - (College Station)

44 - 1:00:50 - Paul Chapman, Katy - (Katy)

45 - 1:02:30 - Darren Hadden, The Woodlands - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

46 - 1:01:53 - Darren Hadden, The Woodlands - (Cypress)

47 - 1:08:20 - Michael Prejean, Cypress - (Sienna)

48 - 1:16:58 - Steve Allen, Huntsville - (Conroe)

49 - 1:06:57 - Donald Paull, The Woodlands - (Katy)

50 - 1:01:01 - Patrick Wills, Spring - (Cypress)
51 - 1:03:08 - Mark Speets, Houston - (Conroe)

52 - 1:01:21 - Steve Sievert, Tomball - (Sienna)

53 - 1:04:39 - A.j. Terrell, Katy - (Katy)

54 - 1:01:10 - Brian Gray, Tomball - (Cypress)
55 - 1:07:27 - Steve Schroeder, Sugar Land - (Katy)

56 - 1:53:44 - Michael Pehl, Georgetown - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

57 - 1:07:34 - Mark Fanelli, The Woodlands - (Huntsville)

58 - 1:24:17 - Guillermo Chutrau, Houston - (Cypress)

59 - 1:24:11 - Hiroshi Hamada, Houston - (Cypress)

60 - 1:12:23 - Larry Smith, Wisconsin Rapids, WI - (Cypress)
61 - 1:29:40 - Scott Schweinsberg, Spring - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

62 - 1:12:09 - Willie James, Nacogdoches - (Cypress)

63 - 1:08:28 - Rich Fredrich, Katy - (Cypress)

64 - 1:12:20 - Gregory Thomas, Hockley - (Conroe)

65 - 1:45:10 - David Fox, Houston - (Bridgeland @Conroe)

66 - 1:37:47 - John Salmon, Huntsville - (Huntsville)

67 - 1:24:07 - James Griffis, The Woodlands - (College Station)

68 - 1:21:05 - Joel Barr, Spring - (Katy)

69 - 1:43:41 - Chris Haeckler, Crockett - (Huntsville)

70 - 1:40:09 - Mark Dembeck, The Woodlands - (Conroe)

73 - 1:43:38 - Dave Stadnick, Katy - (Sienna)

Sources:  Texas 10 Series, mychiptime.com

Texas 10 Series 5-Mile 2020-2021 Runners: Three or Four Races (Out of Four)

Through four races of the 2020-2021 Texas 10 Series, these runners have run either three or four 5-Mile races - with three more races - Katy, Sienna and Cypress - to come later this month.

Four Races (12)

Glenn Frable, Cypress

Bethany Gardner, Houston

Erin Gowton, Montgomery

Jimmie Gowton, Montgomery

Bradley Huggins, Franklin

Sara Huggins, Franklin

Ken Johnson, Huntsville

Quintin Kneen, Spring

Patrick Lewis, Huntsville

Chris MacGregor, Houston

Mary Meaux, Conroe

Cindy Ough, Spring

Three Races (13)

Melinda Ardoin, Spring

Cathy Bickford, Huntsville

Ben Castillo, Katy

Guadalupe De Paz, Houston

Kristen Edwards, Conroe

Ben Guidry, Spring

Kirsten Ough, Spring

Gustavo Roque, Houston

Dianna Sarno, Huntsville

Ray Sarno, Huntsville

Holly Steirman, Willis

Kara Stockton, Montgomery

Jon Walk, Spring

Sources:  Texas 10 Series, RunFar Racing Services

Texas 10 Series 10-Mile 2020-2021 Runners: Three or Four Races (Out of Four)

Through four races of the 2020-2021 Texas 10 Series, these runners have run either three or four 10-Mile races - with three more races - Katy, Sienna and Cypress - to come later this month.

Four Races (28)

Steve Allen, Huntsville

Jose Avellaneda, Missouri City

Kevin Baker, The Woodlands

Joel Barr, Spring

Steve Bickford, Huntsville

Mario Carrera, Houston

Eugenia Carter, Pasadena

Daniel Gassett, Spring

James Griffis, The Woodlands

Tommie Hunter, Porter

Van Joslin, Magnolia

Konstantin Loguinov, Houston

Audrey Maness, Spring

Geoff May, Magnolia

Mary Moellmer, Tomball

Sharon Morin, Houston

Kirk Myers, Houston

Bobbie Petersen, Conroe

Michael Prejean, Cypress

Rip Reynolds, The Woodlands

Erika Sampson, Houston

Jeff Short, Pearland

Steve Sievert, Tomball

Gary Tashima, Houston

Courtney West, Spring

Rich Wickboldt, Houston

Candy Willis, Deer Park

Tabitha Willis, Conroe

Three Races (25)

Britney Alban, Montgomery

Mark Amann, Conroe

Mayra Caamano, Conroe

Jessica Carpio, Missouri City

Jennie Elliott, The Woodlands

Leigh Foreman, Houston

Linda Fox, Houston

Nancy Goodnight, Waco

Cristina Gray, Spring

Darren Hadden, The Woodlands

Hiroshi Hamada, Houston

Amanda Jenkins, Houston

Samuel Keen, Houston

Chris Paschke, Houston

Benjamin Rossman, Spring

Haley Roth, Beaumont

Jayden Roth, Beaumont

Jeff Roth, Beaumont

Juana Roth, Beaumont

Taylor Roy, Tomball

Sandra Ruiz, Houston

Tricia Terry, Spring

Angela Wakefield, Houston

Katrina Wakefield, Houston

Yanna Williams, Kingwood

Sources:  Texas 10 Series, RunFar Racing Services

106 Complete The Woodlands Double in 2021

These are the folks who can't pass up a good race, right?

5K on Saturday and then follow it up the next Saturday with the 10K, half marathon or marathon.

Before the event, 117 were identified as having the potential to complete The Woodlands Double, in its third year.

However, 106 did.  

And three additional runners - Spring's Kristina Archuleta (2K and half marathon), Tomball's Curtis Linehan (2K and marathon) and Humble's Michael Williams (2K and 5K) -- ran two events, with one of them being the Pathfinder Pediatric 2K.

Four runners ran the double -- and the 2K with their children.  They included Spring's Chrissy Coffin, Phoenix, Arizona's Taylor Lopez, The Woodlands' James Spencer and Magnolia's Meagan Vernuccio.  (There were parents who registered only as an accompanying parent - and they aren't included in these as they were not timed.)

Congratulations to all who did two or more events.  The detailed lists are as follows:

5K and 10K (21 runners)

0:49:33 - Andrew Littlefield, 29, M, Houston, TX

0:56:21 - Mark Coalmer, 50, M, Tomball, TX

0:58:44 - Bradon Arrant, 15, M, Conroe, TX

0:58:53 - Thomas Samples, 32, M, Clifton, TX

0:59:23 - Kevin Baker, 45, M, The Woodlands, TX

1:07:46 - Ronald Arrington, 56, M, Houston, TX

1:08:35 - Maria Sanchez, 19, F, Spring, TX

1:12:26 - Bartenderx Oropeza, 45, M, Houston, TX

1:13:13 - Hugo Dimas, 40, M, The Woodlands, TX

1:20:20 - Anita Torr, 45, F, Tomball, TX

1:22:56 - Debbie Rudisill, 51, F, Spring, TX

1:25:53 - Stefanie Delzer, 40, F, Spring, TX

1:31:33 - John Rudisill, 52, M, Spring, TX

1:43:55 - Holly Steirman, 43, F, Willis, TX

1:48:32 - Christa Townes, 52, F, Conroe, TX

1:55:02 - Jim Braden, 85, M, Spring, TX

1:55:39 - Puneet Ahuja, 41, M, The Woodlands, TX

1:55:47 - Latiffany Sauls, 50, F, Missouri City, TX

1:57:41 - Sharee Moore, 56, F, Tomball, TX

2:11:33 - Ken Johnson, 79, M, Huntsville, TX

2:22:57 - Rossana Cervantes, 56, F, Spring, TX

5K and Half Marathon (53 runners)

1:37:05 - Ronnie Delzer, 39, M, Spring, TX

1:41:54 - Patrick Wills, 50, M, Spring, TX

1:43:33 - Zachariah Wrobel, 16, M, Houston, TX
1:44:39 - Konstantin Loguinov, 44, M, Houston, TX

1:49:25 - Marcus Lewis, 44, M, Rosharon, TX

1:50:02 - Marcela Jaramillo, 47, F, Spring, TX

1:50:32 - Sean Sipko, 44, M, Spring, TX

1:52:50 - Van Joslin, 35, M, Magnolia, TX

1:54:17 - Alfredo Balli, 49, M, Montgomery, TX

1:56:14 - Maria P. Whitworth, 56, F, Houston, TX

2:03:57 - Joseph Mensching, 44, M, Magnolia, TX

2:03:58 - Jesse Sarabia, 55, M, Houston, TX

2:04:35 - James Spencer, 40, M, The Woodlands, TX

2:07:15 - Donnie Hay, 39, M, Spring, TX

2:13:28 - Lila Carrera, 45, F, Spring, TX

2:18:43 - Amanda Lopez, 42, F, The Woodlands, TX

2:20:45 - John McGowan, 47, M, The Woodlands, TX

2:20:59 - Wendy Peters, 53, F, Splendora, TX

2:23:33 - Angel Rivera, 48, M, Spring, TX

2:25:31 - Bobbie Petersen, 45, F, Conroe, TX

2:27:17 - Katerina Savelieva, 48, F, Spring, TX

2:31:10 - Thomas Cooper, 18, M, The Woodlands, TX

2:35:02 - Diana Sanchez, 40, F, Magnolia, TX

2:37:43 - Kelly Wrobel, 42, F, Houston, TX

2:38:55 - Frank Natale, 49, M, Spring, TX

2:40:28 - Jennifer Lofland, 41, F, Spring, TX

2:40:31 - Britney Alban, 32, F, Montgomery, TX

2:40:39 - Enrique Tabarini, 53, M, Magnolia, TX

2:42:30 - Austin Leblanc, 28, M, Cypress, TX

2:43:46 - Michael Gartner, 59, M, Cedar Park, TX

2:45:12 - Rana Shammas, 27, F, Houston, TX

2:47:20 - Molly Dopico, 11, F, Spring, TX

2:47:32 - Pablo Dopico, 51, M, Spring, TX

2:50:16 - Kathy McWilliams, 76, F, The Woodlands, TX

2:57:37 - Sandra Gonzalez, 49, F, Baytown, TX

2:58:39 - Danielle Cureton, 33, F, Spring, TX

2:59:19 - Yanna Williams, 45, F, Kingwood, TX

3:04:54 - Cameron Seale, 34, F, Huntsville, TX

3:06:01 - Brian McCloskey, 62, M, Spring, TX

3:07:12 - Cecilia Sarabia, 55, F, Houston, TX

3:11:57 - Cayla Byrd, 27, F, Spring, TX

3:16:41 - Kristine Rice, 34, F, Houston, TX

3:17:46 - Patrick Steirman, 45, M, Willis, TX

3:22:00 - Courtney Dunham, 40, F, Spring, TX

3:22:56 - Melissa Valencia-Perez, 42, F, Spring, TX

3:29:07 - Cecylee Pierre, 43, F, Conroe, TX

3:32:55 - Nancy Tran, 56, F, Cypress, TX

3:36:12 - Tammy Crozier, 48, F, Cypress, TX

3:42:27 - Sahar Halim, 29, F, Sugar Land, TX

3:49:45 - Sadie Davis, 40, F, Spring, TX

3:50:52 - Camellia Jacks, 53, F, The Woodlands, TX

4:08:55 - Kristen Ingram, 28, F, Cypress, TX

4:09:10 - Keith Ingram, 72, M, Spring, TX

5K and Marathon (32 runners)

3:23:22 - Roger King, 39, M, Conroe, TX

3:35:03 - Greg Gibbons, 48, M, Spring, TX

3:37:34 - Robert King, 39, M, Conroe, TX

3:40:02 - Bryan Alsdorf, 38, M, Spring, TX

3:53:08 - Regina Massingill, 37, F, Houston, TX

3:57:15 - Gabriel Belforti, 49, M, The Woodlands, TX

3:59:03 - Mark Bonney, 50, M, The Woodlands, TX

4:00:49 - Robert Stepp, 60, M, Spring, TX

4:01:38 - Nikki Cannon, 39, F, Houston, TX

4:04:15 - Pedro Colunga, 31, M, Houston, TX

4:08:03 - Jose Herrera, 19, M, Houston, TX

4:14:52 - Chrissy Coffin, 36, F, Spring, TX

4:17:49 - Wendy Valdez, 39, F, Spring, TX

4:20:33 - Julie Stevenson, 57, F, The Woodlands, TX

4:28:27 - Tom Cooper, 56, M, The Woodlands, TX

4:33:17 - Jeffrey Custer, 50, M, Conroe, TX

4:46:17 - Kim White, 60, M, Spring, TX

4:53:10 - Aidan Rangel, 21, M, Richmond, TX

4:57:33 - James Wight, 39, M, Conroe, TX

4:57:50 - Dawn Spoljaric, 39, F, The Woodlands, TX

5:01:24 - Paul Minder, 56, M, Cypress, TX

5:08:06 - Phillip Parcon, 52, M, Beaumont, TX

5:09:05 - Meagan Vernuccio, 29, F, Magnolia, TX

5:10:24 - James Healy, 26, M, Conroe, TX

5:15:19 - Taylor Lopez, 21, F, Phoenix, AZ

5:15:47 - Chelsea Newgord, 30, F, Spring, TX

5:18:39 - Aby Goff, 41, F, Lufkin, TX

5:32:17 - Amanda Kelly, 48, F, Magnolia, TX

5:40:27 - Danielle Skelton Reeves, 63, F, The Woodlands, TX

5:45:04 - Megan Suggs, 35, F, Houston, TX

5:57:28 - Brad Kuykendall, 45, M, Spring, TX

5:59:22 - Stephanie Weiss, 59, F, Tomball, TX

Source:  mychiptime.com and RunFarUSA

2021 The Woodlands Marathon Event Report

Me announcing Saturday’s The Woodlands Marathon started out kind of innocently.

After a good friend of mine, Chuck Engle, and his wife Sommer ran the Texas Marathon in Kingwood on New Year’s Day after visiting her family in Texas, he and I had a conversation about him possibly coming to run The Woodlands Marathon after the Little Rock Marathon had pushed to the fall.

I told Chuck that I would put in a call to the race director.  Of course, that’s Willie Fowlkes.

We had a good, solid conversation about where all the moving pieces of the event were and as things worked out, I had agreed to become the race’s announcer in its 10th year.

As I have shared before, Terry Bisogno from Long Island announced year one and Adam Reiser and Logan Delaware – both in the Austin area - had done the last eight.

Willie desired me to announce earlier in the history of the event, but while I was on the committee the first five years, he needed me more in other areas.  

Another ask came in 2018, but I had turned down any interest without getting into any details.

In the meantime, two years before, I was fortunate enough to announce for parts of a couple of hours at the finish line of the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth.

This certainly gave me the confidence that I could hold my own with the best in the announcing world – at one of the five largest marathons in Texas.

The Woodlands Marathon is basically number six in Texas behind what I would call the “Big Five”.

So, to now be the voice of that race, I was honored at having the opportunity; however, there was a little bit of pressure that came with.

Some external, the rest internal.

The external came from some of my peers thinking that I could not do all eight hours – from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. – all by myself.

In addition, some of my peers wanted to be here and play.

Neither one of those was really pressure, but more motivation.

The internal pressure came from the fact that I am generally well-loved in the community.  I have – and have had – my detractors, but when people think so highly of you there is a tendency to not want to let them down.

The original offer Willie made did not include the Saturday before with the 5K and 2K, but my belief is that you should have consistency between the two weekends – and given what he was trying to accomplish with the event’s “Return to Run” protocols he did not need to be trying to announce.

I agreed to do both.

Things last Saturday went very, very well and because of Randy Bradley and Bill Dwyer’s guiding all the participants across the 5K start line, we went with a rolling start approach for Saturday’s marathon and half marathon – as well as the 10K.

My preparation for this race was no different than any other, with the exception that I scripted a lot of my pre-race material and read it instead of just adlibbing it.

I was around the Expo all day Friday.  Just helping the rest of the team and gathering any last-minute information that I needed for Saturday.

The team is lean, but very good.  No egos.  And while small things tend to happen in the run-up to race day, I saw people working things out and apologizing where and when necessary.

My biggest fear was not waking up in time for Saturday morning.  

I did not sleep well Thursday night into Friday morning, so I could not afford it a second day.

Waverly helped me by printing and lamenting my material.  Five cards.  Lots to cover.  Two were more geared towards the finish line.

I always feel like I am one of the most prepared in the business.

Saturday morning came early.  I was in the drive through at the Whataburger across the road at 3:40 a.m. and was parked and walking towards the race site by 4:00 a.m.

I had parked in the Blue Lot just south of the park by the Riva Row Boathouse and as I was walking through the Green Lot I could see the gait of Bill Dwyer.

We walked to the finish line area, where he was going to be stationed most of the day and then I went on to race headquarters behind the Town Center Green parking garage to get another Race Staff badge because I gave my original one to Waverly for her to get to where I was without hassle and into her corral late if need be after singing.

Willie was going over the corrals with some of the other staff right around 4 a.m. and then I walked the Market Street parking garage to see how they were going to be laid out so I could articulate it clearly.

Steve Curry was handling the sound once again.  I’ve worked with both him and Roxanne Davis’ son Andy on numerous occasions and they are both great.

He was still setting a few things up and he asked me what time I wanted to wake the neighbors.  I said 5:30 a.m.  

I walked a good bit during the day – 5.8 miles – and before I started talking, I burned off some nervous energy in some of that mileage by covering more of the grounds.

Before I entered the area between the streets on Lake Robbins near the start in front of Town Green Park, I could see Jordan Hasay sitting on the curb with another athlete.

As I approached from the side, I said that I was glad to see her back in The Woodlands.

She recognized my voice and then me from the 2018 NXN South Regional at Bear Branch Sports Park.  We had a good, short conversation.  I really feel for her and the amount of trash that gets talked about her on places like the letsrun.com message board and elsewhere.  She just seems like a nice person.

As I got started announcing, I could tell that folks were not moving as quickly out of Town Green Park and towards the corrals as I was hoping.  

I started thinking about all the work that went into setting up safe protocols that not only had been signed off by the appropriate governmental bodies to grant a permit, but to also keep runners safe if somebody was out there that had COVID-19.

And then to have that possibly set aside because some runners did not want to plan – like pre-pandemic – and then try to crash the corrals, taking out the distance spacing that had been designed by race management.

We kept rolling towards 6:32 a.m. when State Representative Steve Toth was to address the audience.

He was short.  Like 15-20 seconds.  I joked that he might be able to buy some votes with a short speech as a politician.

Then things went off script.

Willie was set to lead the invocation at 6:34 a.m., but I had no sight of him nor knowledge where he was.

When I had gone through the timeline with Steve Curry, he informed me that Toth was also a pastor.  At that time, it was a “good to know” item.

Turned out I needed it and I asked him to pray.

We still had a little time in the bank with not a long prayer, so it was time for Waverly to sing the National Anthem at 6:36 a.m.

She did a tremendous job that received a lot of comments and I would not have started, but suddenly Willie comes running towards me saying that we were going to have a delay for some course issues.

It is something that every race producer hates to have happen – and I do not enjoy being in front of a large group of waiting runners, but I think we handled it as best we could at the start line.

We agreed that we would condense the two-minute gap between the Athletes With Disabilities and the rest of the race and make it a one minute gap.

I think we were finally able to get the AWDs underway at 6:59 a.m. and the rest at 7:00 a.m.  (Or maybe 7:00 a.m. and 7:01 a.m.)

It took a little bit of time to get all the half marathoners out on to Grogan’s Mill and after a shifting of the cones, we got the 10K started – and then I was off to the finish line.

The hardest thing for me as an announcer is what I would call the “hype” or “rah rah”.  I don’t do it well and is something that I have to work on.

Where does this happen at?  In between the start of the race until everybody leaves the corrals.

I just try to focus on clubs, groups, and people that I know – and it usually works out OK.

When Willie first gave me the opportunity to let me do the finish line at the CB&I Triathlon in The Woodlands, I still laugh at what he said to me, “I really like Michael Garfield’s energy.”

Garfield is a great guy and is naturally high energy – and brings it across a microphone naturally, but it was like issuing a challenge to me.

Today, Michael still does the start and then I handle the finish line and awards.  The event gets the best of the both of us.

On the way to the finish line, I saw Conroe Courier sportswriter Justin Maskulinski and his wife.  Good guy.  He ran the half marathon last year and pointed out that had it been a week later it likely would not have gone off.  I agreed with him.

As I got to the stage or booth where RunFar Timing’s Raul Najera was and Steve Curry’s sound guy was getting things ready, I saw Cowtown race director Heidi Swartz and asked her how she has been.

And she complimented me on my announcing.

For me, who does not do this for a living, nor do I let it define me, I took those words as a great compliment.

As far as the race went from there, I had a great day.

I pulled from a place that I had never gone to before, so to speak, because I had not led an event start to finish before of this magnitude and felt that I had the latitude to really “let loose”.

I have announced the Houston Striders’ Houston Half Marathon finish line a couple of times and they have had 4,000 – 6,000 finishers, but this was a little different – and especially since it was my hometown crowd.

Every year I get asked, “Are you announcing The Woodlands?”  I have said “No!” up until this year.  I felt it was appropriate to really put on a show, without being hokey, which I will never do.

So many highlights from the day.  Really.

And so many kind words.  Almost embarrassing.

I get paid to do what I do.  It is a different skill set than most possess – and there’s a need for it.

So when you get paid, you’re expected to deliver.  And I did.  😊

I am afraid I’ll leave something or somebody out, but here are some of the highs of the highlights:

+ My daughter finishing.  She had the race of her life really.  Sure, the two marathons count for something, including the 4:51:23 marathon debut at Houston in 2018.  And as I mentioned in a couple of posts, she was excited as she has ever been, and rightfully so.  (She told me later at dinner that she used that as motivation that she knew she would hear a great finish line call from me.)

+ Every runner who engaged me when they came in.  Whether it was a fist bump, a point to me and back or raised arms, I get the most enjoyment out of that.  I joke I get paid by the smile, but it really feeds my energy.

+ Two teams that get a lot of credit to my success:  RunFar (Raul and Meghan Najera) and SkyGod (Steve Curry).  If the reader isn’t working right or well and the sound isn’t great, then I can’t have a great day.  (We had one stretch where the music wasn’t playing, and it was just me announcing – and I just didn’t feel like on my own that I was able to keep the energy up.  Even though many runners feed off the music and energy, and I have to kind of announce through it, all of that pushing tears up your voice.  But it’s worth it.)

+ A very good friend of mine, Erika Park, was pacing a friend of hers, Pam Greene, in the half marathon and I knew ahead of time that Pam was coming back from an injury.  I don’t remember if I saw their names on the reader first or if I looked up and saw Erica on the left-hand side of the left lane, but I think I got a little exuberant over that – for them.

+ Of course, I got some love from the crowd for The Woodlands’ Jim Braden, who at 85, did the 10K, as well as Huntsville’s Ken Johnson, who did so at 79.  Both ran the 5K last Saturday.

+ Called out 10-year finishers in the marathon, to include Gabriel Belforti, Henrita Van Wyngaarden, Keri Scott and Karen Berglund.  (I missed a few half marathoners to do so, including Rip Reynolds and Rich Fredrich.)

+ In hindsight, I really do not remember having the time, but I had somebody who I admire yet have had some challenges with here recently – they have said much longer than just recently (open for discussion when they are ready to talk about it!) – take the time to come up, wait for an opening and tell me that it was great to hear my voice out there.  I really appreciated the genuine effort, especially given the contrast to the previous Saturday.

+ I tried to take care of my fellow Pennsylvanians – and Penn Staters (John and Debi Rudisill, Vincent Attanucci and Steven Sfeir) – in the field.

+ It seemed like there were a ton of runners from the Miami, Florida area, west Texas seemed to stand out (Odessa and Midland) as well as Pleasanton, which is south of San Antonio and the hometown of a good friend of mine, country singer Rodney Hayden.

+ How could I forget Waco’s Nancy Goodnight, who I mentioned about finishing every single Ironman Texas, but I just had to chuckle when I saw the time on the clock.  She was telling me at packet pickup about how much she had not run and that it was not going to be pretty.  She cranks out a 3:38:45 and takes the women’s grandmasters title.

+ It was great to see Stacy Holden and Ben Harvie.  I did not know either was running.

+ I have some runners who seem to enjoy my announcing more than others.  One of those was running and I got May Shek a good solid call.  The other one, who was not racing this weekend, is Jetola Anderson-Blair.  I appreciate the love and respect of my announcing.

+ I did my best to add in mentions of every club that I could, even though it might have sounded out that I was overboard with my friend Bill Dwyer’s Volte Endurance Training group.

As far as announcing goes, it was probably my most memorable and professionally satisfying race.

Thank you to everybody who supports me and what I do.  Your love and respect is greatly appreciated – and it motivates me to do a great job each time out.

And I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible job that The Woodlands Marathon race committee has done.  It was really great to be back a part of it this year.

Appreciate the support of the other directors, Don Wisenbaker and Danny Golden.

Tiffany Renken and Katie Bienek, who get a lot of detail stuff done for Willie.  Shared a lot of laughs with both of them and they got to hear me whine about some of my personal challenges on Friday.

Laura Faria did a helluva of a job putting together an elite field.

Angie Parker, Ron Stitt, Norm Lapell, Ray and Dianna Sarno, T Eamma, Amaris Zabiegala, Shaun Hebert, Trina Jones, Lou Fiscella, Nathan and Kelly Dietrich.  These are the ones that I know and/or engage with the most.

Cheri Turney had a great volunteer crew and got me names of them to recognize and give them a shout out.

And, of course, Bill Dwyer had a rockstar crew at the finish line:  Roxanne Davis, Barry Blanton and Jimmie Baker.

There were others on the committee that I don't know personally, but if they also weren't doing what they did the event wouldn't have been the success it is and has been.

The Woodlands Marathon 5K Four Or More Finishes (2012-2021)

Over the ten years of The Woodlands Marathon 5K, exactly 980 runners and walkers have finished the 5K distance two or more times.  (Eighty new runners were added after the 2021 race.)

Ninety-seven (97) have finished the 5K four or more times as detailed below, up 10 from last year.

Another 163 have run three (3), 718 have run two (2) and 5,566 have run just one.

There have been 7,939 official timed finishes in the nine-year history of the 5K distance of The Woodlands Marathon.

Those underlined below finished the 5K yesterday (in 2021).

Eight finishes (2)

Bartenderx Oropeza

Mark Posey

Seven finishes (5)

Bill Gause

Jack Baker

Karen Kelley

Michelle Wells

Suzy Garcia

Six finishes (6)

Amber Joseph

Debbi Childress

Diana Nichols

Linda McCall

Lupe Garcia

Tina Padilla

Five finishes (17)

Arabella Lorenzetti

Brenda Currie-Sims

Brian McCloskey

Cynthia Jimenez

Eve Kappmeyer

Gary Boerner

Huy Nguyen

Juanita Valadez

Judith Blevins

Kathy Campbell

Kimberly Long

Kirstin Lorenzetti

Mitsutaka Nakao

Natalia Lorenzetti

Quenby Gartner

Russell Hill

Stacey Frey

Four finishes (69)

Abdon Astudillo
Amanda Lopez

Ameer Bacchus

Amol Mulunjkar

Ana Velazquez

Andrew Galik

Ann McLain
Aryanna Lorenzetti

Ashley Raymond

Audrey Labbe
Betty Cobb
Blake Lopez

Camila Martinez

Cheryl Carter

Christine Hoang

Cindy Wilson
Danielle Cureton

Debbie Hunter

Deborah Morris

Donita Woodward

Donna Thomas

Ed Campbell

Elizabeth Long

Erika Moureau

Eustacia Velazquez

Eve Higgins

Gerard Reed
George Childress

Hannah Gault

Holly Rice
James Spencer

Janice Pietrzak

Jeffrey Shine

Jennifer Brotherhood

Jennifer Hessels

Jeremy Hall

Jim Pike

Jimy Prajapati

Jonathan Robbins

Joseph Pietrzak

Joshua Wells

Judy Cigich
Julie Bonner

Kathryn Labbe

Kristin Snyder

Lacin Coetzee

Leah Blevins

Lingye Lynne Labbe

Lisha Kriener

Lurdes Sifuentes

Lynn Smith

Marta Mixa

Marty Cochran

Mary Gonzalez

Melissa Wieder

Mercedes Canas

Michael Robbins
Olfeo Lorenzetti

Pam Jannergren

Raquel Eldridge-Gradnigo

Ruby Behnke

Sandy Denz
Scott Olsen

Sean Labbe
Seth Rogers

Shannon Ramsey

Spencer Leach

Stephanie Weiss

Tanner Western

The Woodlands Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K Overall Winners (2012-2021)

The Woodlands Marathon

Men

2012 - 2:15:41, Jeffrey Eggleston, 27

2013 - 2:26:29, Tirop Rich Kessio, 38

2014 - 2:19:30, Lamech Mosoti, 33

2015 - 2:19:19, Phillip Lagat, 31

2016 - 2:18:44, Hillary Too, 30

2017 - 2:21:36, Sphamandla Nyembe, 26*

2018 - 2:30:15, Calum Neff, 33

2019 - 2:29:08, Ryan Parrish, 40

2020 - 2:26:24, Benjamin Zywicki, 31
2021 -

Women

2012 - 2:37:18, Camille Herron, 30

2013 - 2:42:44, Jenna Boren, 36

2014 - 2:44:57, Dehininet Jara, 30

2015 - 2:43:52, Frehiwot Goshu, 24

2016 - 2:35:21, Ayantu Dakebo, 19

2017 - 2:51:36, Melissa Hopper, 39*

2018 - 2:52:38, Camille Herron, 36

2019 - 2:58:35, Nicole Bitter, 36

2020 - 2:44:34, Emily Parker, 35
2021 - 

The Woodlands Half Marathon

Men 

2012 - 1:07:02, Sammy Hidalgo, 38

2013 - 1:04:03, Kiyai Shadrack, 29

2014 - 1:08:50, Phillip Kandie, 33

2015 - 1:06:13, Julius Lagat, 34

2016 - 1:09:07, Drew Bean, 26

2017 - 1:05:59, Wilkerson Given, 26

2018 - 1:08:24, Geoffrey Speelman, 25

2019 - 1:07:42, Drew Bean, 29

2020 - 1:04:35, Kiya Dandena, 30
2021 -

Women

2012 - 1:18:37, Mattie Suver, 24

2013 - 1:13:17, Ehaferahu Wodaj Temesgen, 23

2014 - 1:15:37, Cynthia Jerop, 18

2015 - 1:17:00, Samantha Draney, 26

2016 - 1:25:06, Lauren Hill, 25

2017 - 1:16:04, Hillary Montgomery, 25

2018 - 1:10:08, Rachel Cliff, 29

2019 - 1:15:29, Kinsey Middleton, 26

2020 - 1:11:58, Allie Kieffer, 32
2021 -

The Woodlands Marathon 5K

Men

2012 - 21:21, Stephen Webb, 14, Pinehurst

2013 - 17:02, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Katy

2014 - 16:15, Brock Simmons, 25, Denton

2015 - 16:16, Geoff Speelman, 22, Magnolia

2016 - 16:30, Caleb Pickett, 17, Tomball

2017 - 16:36, Leo Momoh, 25, The Woodlands

2018 - 16:07, James Gilreath, 28, The Woodlands

2019 - 16:02, Oscar Garcia, 23, Houston

2020 - 16:15, Jack Boyd, 15, Spring
2021 - 15:36, Dylan Sequeira, 18, Magnolia

Women

2012 - 18:48, Allison Urvan, 35, Spring

2013 - 19:08, Kelly Swanson, 31, Houston

2014 - 21:58, Kristen Smith, 23, Houston

2015 - 19:48, Kate Looney, 34, Spring

2016 - 19:24, Hannah Gault, 13, Conroe

2017 - 17:53, Allison Mendez, 28

2018 - 22:29, Freya McKinley, 15

2019 - 20:11, Chloe Hunt, 15, Spring

2020 - 19:53, Abby Stewart, 12, Spring
2021 - 19:40, Marcela Jaramillo, 47, Spring

117 in for the 2021 The Woodlands Marathon Double

More than 100 runners and walkers will take part in races on both weekends of The Woodlands Marathon.

The 5K will commence on Saturday, February 27, 2021 with the marathon, half marathon and the 10K happening the following Saturday, March 6.

Here is the complete list of runners in each category:

5K and 10K (21)

Puneet Ahuja, M, The Woodlands, TX

Kevin Baker, M, The Woodlands, TX

George Barratt, M, The Woodlands, TX

John Brown, M, Spring, TX

Megan Bruegger, F, Spring, TX

Rossana Cervantes, F, Spring, TX

Judy Cigich, F, Magnolia, TX

Scott Cigich, M, Magnolia, TX

Bryant Cormier, M, Spring, TX

Hugo Dimas, M, Houston, TX

Ken Johnson, M, Huntsville, TX

Andrew Littlefield, M, Houston, TX

Jennifer Lofland, F, Spring, TX

Maria McCorvy, F, Spring, TX

Thomas Samples, M, Clifton, TX

Maria Sanchez, F, Spring, TX

LaTiffany Sauls, F, Missouri City, TX

Heather Stanley, F, Spring, TX

Ryan Stanley, M, Spring, TX

Dean Tomov, M, The Woodlands, TX

Christa Townes, F, Conroe, TX

5K and Half Marathon (67)

Ola Adejuwon, F, Cypress, TX

Britney Alban, F, Montgomery, TX

Sandy Anderson, F, Cypress, TX

Alfredo Balli, M, Montgomery, TX

Kim Bowden, F, Hockley, TX

Matthew Bruegger, M, Spring, TX

Cayla Byrd, F, Spring, TX

Lila Carrera, F, Spring, TX

Thomas Cooper, M, The Woodlands, TX

Tammy Crozier, F, Cypress, TX

Danielle Cureton, F, Spring, TX +

Ann Delve, F, Spring, TX

Ronnie Delzer, M, Spring, TX

Joshua Derksen, M, Conroe, TX

Roger Derksen, M, Conroe, TX

Molly Dopico, F, Spring, TX

Pablo Dopico, M, Spring, TX

Courtney Dunham, F, Spring, TX

Angie Ferguson, F, Spring, TX

Michael Gartner, M, Cedar Park, TX

Greg Gibbons, M, Spring, TX

Sammy Gomez, M, Conroe, TX

Sandra Gonzalez, F, Baytown, TX

Vanessa Goodman, F, Conroe, TX

Sahar Halim, F, Sugar Land, TX

Michelle Hanes, F, Conroe, TX

Donnie Hay, M, Spring, TX

Avery Hunter, M, Richmond, TX

Keith Ingram, M, Spring, TX

Kristen Ingram, F, Cypress, TX

Camellia Jacks, F, The Woodlands, TX

Nelsida Jones, F, Houston, TX

Teresa Kennedy, F, The Woodlands, TX

Jennifer Klein, F, Manvel, TX

Austin LeBlanc, M, Cypress, TX

Pablo Lesarri, M, Spring, TX

Marcus Lewis, M, Rosharon, TX

Konstantin Loguinov, M, Houston, TX

Amanda Lopez, F, The Woodlands, TX +

Brian McCloskey, M, Spring, TX

John McGowan, M, The Woodlands, TX +

Kathy McWilliams, F, The Woodlands, TX +

Libby Mehrens, F, The Woodlands, TX

Joseph Mensching, M, Magnolia, TX

David Morrison, M, The Woodlands, TX

Frank Natale, M, Spring, TX

Wendy Peters, F, Splendora, TX

Bobbie Petersen, F, Conroe, TX +

Cecylee Pierre, F, Conroe, TX

Sam Presley, M, The woodlands, TX

Kristine Rice, F, Houston, TX

Angel Rivera, M, Spring, TX

Diana Sanchez, F, Magnolia, TX

Cecilia Sarabia, F, Houston, TX

Katerina Savelieva, F, Spring, TX

Stephanie Schlueter, F, Spring, TX

Jimmy Shrake, M, Houston, TX

Sean Sipko, M, Spring, TX

James Spencer, M, The Woodlands, TX

Brian Teed, M, Aubrey, TX

Nancy Tran, F, Cypress, TX

Melissa Valencia-Perez, F, Spring, TX

Maria P. Whitworth, F, Houston, TX

Patrick Wills, M, Spring, TX

Nicholle Winger, F, The Woodlands, TX

Kelly Wrobel, F, Houston, TX

Zachariah Wrobel, M, Houston, TX

5K and Marathon (29)

Bryan Alsdorf, M, Spring, TX

Gabriel Belforti, M, The Woodlands, TX +

Mark Bonney, M, The Woodlands, TX

Micheal Butts, M, Pearland, TX

Nikki Cannon, F, Houston, TX

Chrissy Coffin, F, Spring, TX

Pedro Colunga, M, Houston, TX

Benjamin Conti, M, Tomball, TX

Candy Conti, F, Tomball, TX

Tom Cooper, M, The Woodlands, TX

Jeffrey Custer, M, Conroe, TX

Aby Goff, F, Lufkin, TX

Jose Herrera, M, Houston, TX

Amanda Kelly, F, Magnolia, TX +

Robert King, M, Conroe, TX

Roger King, M, Conroe, TX

Brad Kuykendall, M, Spring, TX

Regina Massingill, F, Houston, TX

Paul Minder, M, Cypress, TX

Michelle Mouton, F, Spring, TX +

Josephine Novak, F, Spring, TX

Preston Quintela, M, Houston, TX

Danielle Skelton Reeves, F, The Woodlands, TX

Dawn Spoljaric, F, The Woodlands, TX

Robert Stepp, M, Spring, TX

Wendy Valdez, F, Spring, TX

Meagan Vernuccio, F, Magnolia, TX

Stephanie Weiss, F, Tomball, TX +

James Wight, M, Conroe, TX

+ indicates that those runners completed The Woodlands Marathon Double in both 2019 and 2020.

The Woodlands Marathon Race Day Temperatures (2012-2020)

The first number on each date is the time at 6:53 a.m., just before the start of the race, whereas the two other temperatures is at 12:53 and 1:53 p.m., which bookend the 1:30 p.m. race finish time.

March 3, 2012 - 57 / 63-65

March 2, 2013 - 40 / 54-55

March 1, 2014 - 66 / 82-81

February 27, 2015 - 38 / 42-43

March 5, 2016 - 48 / 74-74

March 4, 2017 - 56 / 64-64

March 3, 2018 - 51 / 73-76

March 2, 2019 - 55 / 69-70

March 7, 2020 - 44 / 61-60

Source:  Weather Underground (wunderground.com)

The Woodlands Marathon Five Or More Finishes (2012-2020)

Over the past nine years of The Woodlands Marathon, 1,226 runners and walkers have finished two or more marathons.

One hundred twenty (120) have finished five or more as detailed below.  Another 92 have run four (4), 238 have run three (3) and 776 have done two.

Nine finishes (10)

Brent Scott

Charles Frymire

David Coats

Gabriel Belforti

Henrita Van Wyngaarden

Jonathan Zwickel

Karen Berglund

Kori Scott

Ron Berglund

Stephen Kallus

Eight finishes (10)

Carlos Reyes

Hung Hoang

Jay Everett

Mary Berta

Natalie Camps

Quoc Duong

Richard Carroll

Rolando Reyes

Vincent Attanucci

Yen Nguyen

Seven finishes (10)

Daniel Kallus

Danielle Skelton Reeves

David Gamez

Doan Pham

Kerry Lee

Khuong Tran

Michael Smith

Stephen Baumgartner

Steven Holehan

William Moeller

Six finishes (20)

Albenis Hernandez

Andrew Strong

Anthony Serrano

Bill Pilkington

Brian Pack

Chris Robbins

Christine Gentil

Criss Neumann

Dung Quach

Edward Mickelson

Greg Park

Hamilton Hadebe

Jim Harrington

Jose Moreno

Kevin Butler

Lonnie Brauner

Malinda Hernandez

Melissa Hopper

Rachel Williams

Yong Collins

Five finishes (70)

Adnan Afzal

Alberto Agostini

Alejandro Marquez Jimenez

Alejandro Torres Guerra

Angela Tortorice

Anne Rice

Armando Bocanegra

Art Rascon

Arturo Torres

Barbara Santi

Bijou Chacko

Binh Le

Christian Lambert

Christian Rauch

Craig Dodds

Dan Greenberg

Daron Peschel

David Davison

David Raines

Davis Castillo

Diana Van Brandwijk

Doug Earle

Drew George

Eduardo Luna

Ellen Cummings

Enrique Cervantes

Eric Danziger

Evelina Stenroos

Francisco Garza

Frank Morales

German Collazos

Glenn Heumann

Jim Surratt

John Maloney

Jose Reyes

Joseph Gray

Julie Stevenson

Justin Styles

Ken Fattmann

Kimberly Pilcher

Lisa Kelly

Marc Gyselen

Mark Livingston

Michael Caldwell

Michelle Demoss

Mike Blayney

Mutlu Smith

Myrick Thibodeaux

Parvaneh Moayedi

Peter Bennett

Peter Cymbala

Peter Huntsman Jr

Peter Huntsman Sr

Peter Steelman

Reggie Bruhn

Richard Zainfeld

Rudolph L Rendon

Sarah Getty-Phelps

Sergio Leonardi

Sheila Bundscho Lewis

Stuart Kessler

Todd Woodcock

Tolu Osoba

Tom Nguyen

Tory Western

Travis Shirley

Vinay Wagh

William Featherston

William Fermo

Yvette Dunn

The Woodlands Half Marathon Seven Or More Finishes (2012-2020)

Over the past nine years of The Woodlands Half Marathon, 958 runners and walkers have finished four or more half marathons.

One hundred and five have finished seven or more as detailed below.  Another 131 have run six (6), 242 have run five (5) and 480 have done four.

Nine finishes (13)

Barry Beacher

Camellia Jacks

Carlos Sepulveda

Catriona Edmond

Deborah Sanborn

Denise Andrew

Edward Campos

Erica Welter

Kathy McWilliams

Lyndon Yates

Margot Campos

Rich Fredrich

Rip Reynolds

Eight finishes (29)

Alejandro Flores Trespalacios

Andrew Dublin

Chris Allen

Cristina Fernandez

Danielle Foder

Dawn Renken

Debra Sukin

Denise Smith

Elsa Govea

Erika Espinosa

Galbraith Weaver

John McGowan

Josh Strickland

Justo Marin

Kim Easton

Kimber Juenke

Lisa Deville

Llana Bingham

Mark Hatfield

Maybelline Martinez

Pam Anderson

Pamela Paling

Rennie Van Wyk

Rob Oberg

Robin Holcomb

Sara Hudgens

Tulio Sanchez

Valerie Byers

Yuji Iwanaka

Seven finishes (63)

Alan Davis

April Bangerter

Bill Carruth

Brandon Shaughnessy

Bret Strong

Chris Gause

Crystale Bonjour

Dana Dilbeck

Deanna Govea

Deborah Stuart

Emily Frazier

Erin Gowton

Faridy Gonzalez

Gloria Aspe

Jason Stewart

Jennifer Fox

Jeremy Stiborik

Jill Tresaugue

Jimmie Gowton

Jodi Beckendorf

Karen Goodwin

Karen Overman

Karyn Ashton

Ken Seifert

Kenneth Page

Kevin Lang

Koray Ozturk

Kristin Collins

Leslie Hajdo

Marcela Jaramillo

Maricela Conejo

Mark Chilton

Matthew Giardina

Melissa Stanosheck

Michael Galiunas

Minni Malhotra

Nataliya Novak

Noelle On

Oscar Hernandez

Pam Stanosheck

Patricia Moreno

Patricio Hidalgo

Patti Rascon

Paul Phelps

Penny Rettenmaier

Peter Schipperijn

Poonam Samudrala

Rajendher Reddy

Rakesh Malhotra

Rama Palwai

Rebecca Schany

Robert Snider

Russell Meyer

Ruth Henderson

Sandra Torsey

Silvia Jackson

Srinivas Panja

Stephanie Peloquin

Stephen Kimmel

Susan Rouse

Susan Wolf

Syndi Carlson

Tina Saims

Texas Marathon and Half Marathon All-Time Top 20 Times (2000-2021)

Marathon - Men
2:35:06 - Josh Heimbach, 35, Fort Worth, TX, 2021
2:42:31 - Kurt Klewin, 39, Oklahoma City, OK, 2009
2:42:59 - John Hill, 47, Kingwood, TX, 2015
2:44:39 - Daniel Lawton, 34, Cypress, TX, 2011
2:45:44 - Daniel Lawton, 40, Cypress, TX, 2021
2:46:20 - Jose Acosta, 33, Houston, TX, 2011
2:46:50 - Daniel Lawton, 31, Cypress, TX, 2008
2:47:47 - Gerry Hogg, 45, Taunton, Somerset, England, 2010
2:50:34 - Kurt Klewin, 41, Oklahoma City, OK, 2011
2:51:07 - Manfred Roenz, 41, Humble, TX, 2011
2:52:28 - Christopher Rodriguez, 23, Houston, TX, 2019
2:52:39 - Ramon Rosales, Jr., 38, Tomball, TX, 2019
2:52:44 - Chuck Engle, 34, Jackson, MS, 2006
2:53:35 - Chuck Engle, 37, Dublin, OH, 2009
2:55:28 - Daniel Bucci, 33, Houston, TX, 2016
2:55:59 - Manfred Roenz, 39, Humble, TX, 2009
2:56:01 - Richard Powell, 22, Sugar Land, TX, 2011
2:56:05 - Matthew Kadowaki, 38, Irvine, CA, 2016
2:56:13 - Collin Wills, 19, Austin, TX 2020
2:56:17 - Terry Garrett, 43, Houston, TX, 2007
2:57:01 - Patrick Flores, 45, Katy, TX, 2010

Marathon - Women
2:54:47 - Selena Pasadyn, 25, Hinckley, OH, 2021
3:06:12 - Christine Agnew, 36, Houston, TX, 2007
3:13:23 - Vicky Cook, 34, Kingwood, TX, 2012
3:16:49 - Jessica Jackson, 25, Salt Lake City, UT, 2009
3:18:44 - Shelah Miner, 33, Pearland, TX, 2009
3:19:57 - Haley Watson, 42, Kingwood, TX, 2021
3:20:15 - Erin Dawson, 35, Indianapolis, IN, 2017
3:21:40 - Shannon Shoelen, 33, Kingwood, TX, 2008
3:23:13 - Ana Trevino, 29, Golden, CO, 2018
3:24:40 - Melissa Keith, 25, Conroe, TX, 2010
3:25:02 - Jacqueline O'Brien-Nolen, 48, Kingwood, TX, 2014
3:25:15 - Jacqueline O'Brien-Nolen, 49, Kingwood, TX, 2015
3:25:40 - Jacqueline O'Brien-Nolen, 41, Kingwood, TX, 2007
3:26:16 - Colleen Place, 24, Brooklyn, NY, 2010
3:27:03 - Traci Falbo, 38, Charlestown, IN, 2010
3:27:03 - Becky Stanford, 34, Austin, TX, 2019
3:27:52 - Taylor Votek, 25, Lebanon, NJ, 2018
3:29:10 - Erika Park, 45, Houston, TX, 2021
3:29:14 - Jacqueline O'Brien Nolen, 42, Kingwood, TX, 2008
3:29:27 - Kimberly Simmons, 44, Houston, TX, 2006
3:29:43 - Stefanie Bernosky, 33, Houston, TX, 2016

Half Marathon - Men
1:14:53 - Logan Terry, 21, 2014
1:16:49 - Jason Garcia, 18, Conroe, TX, 2009
1:18:38 - Kerry Lee, 37, League City, TX, 2012
1:18:47 - Kevin McGuire, 32, 2020
1:19:31 - Benjamin Parva, 20, Kingwood, TX, 2014
1:19:37 - Jacob Lefler, 19, 2013
1:19:37 - Kerry Lee, 38, League City, TX 2013
1:20:13 - Matthew Vance, 30, 2014
1:20:25 - Seth Kaplan, 18, Tomball, TX, 2021
1:20:35 - Owen Cole, 14, Kingwood, TX, 2020
1:21:07 - Trent Nolen, 16, Kingwood, TX, 2018
1:21:55 - Benjamin Parva, 22, Kingwood, TX, 2016
1:22:07 - Trent Nolen, 15, Kingwood, TX, 2017
1:22:07 - Jacob Cooper, 33, Reno, NV, 2018
1:23:27 - David Abbott, 36, Sacramento, CA, 2018
1:24:04 - Zach Morrow, 17, 2014
1:24:17 - Zach Morrow, 16, 2013
1:24:44 - Kerry Lee, 36, League City, TX, 2011
1:24:57 - Rick Gardner, 50, 2014
1:25:04 - Trent Nolen, 18, Kingwood, TX, 2020
1:25:11 - Trent Nolen, 17, Kingwood, TX, 2019
1:26:31 - Gordon Christie, 41, Katy, TX, 2012
1:26:45 - Zach Stone, 21, 2014

Half Marathon - Women
1:30:26 - Julie Mosier-Crosno, 37, Kingwood, TX, 2009
1:31:01 - Caroline Frenzel, 19, The Woodlands, TX, 2019
1:31:03 - Susan Sullivan, 32, Houston, TX, 2011
1:31:35 - Jennica Barrow, 18, 2013
1:32:22 - Adrian Harkey, 49, Marshall, MI, 2010
1:33:26 - Alexis Llewellyn, 38, 2013
1:34:30 - Morgan Vadheim, 34, 2013
1:34:40 - Katheryn Nolen, 16, Kingwood, TX, 2012
1:34:43 - Julie Mosier Crosno, 38, Kingwood, TX, 2010
1:34:50 - Mandy Jellerichs, 34, Houston, TX, 2009
1:35:21 - Lisa Yarrow, 43, Houston, TX, 2010
1:35:45 - Callie Yarbrough, 31, Liberty, TX, 2016
1:36:06 - Emily Potts, 17, 2014
1:36:14 - Erika Berry-Park, 38, Houston, TX, 2014
1:36:20 - Jennica Barrow, 16, Missouri City, TX, 2011
1:36:28 - Kelli Tomlinson, 28, Houston, TX, 2021
1:36:34 - Jennifer Laughlin, 38, Houston, TX, 2016
1:36:35 - Erika Park, 43, Houston, TX, 2019
1:36:53 - Gabrielle Hoekstra, 23, Spring, TX, 2017
1:37:16 - Tracy Fridye, 21, Missouri City, TX, 2011
1:37:16 - Virginia Leonardi, 29, Beaumont, TX, 2016

This Date In Running History - February 12, 1909

CLARK FIRST IN MARATHON GRIND

Spectators Numbering 400,000 Watched Brooklyn-Seagate Race

New York, Feb. 13 - James E. Clark, of the Xavier Athletic Association won the Brooklyn-Seagate Marathon, promoted by the 13th Regiment in honor of Lincoln's Birthday yesterday and as far as the entry list, and the crowd who saw the race, were concerned, they were a long way the best on record for America. The fine string of 164 men started and the crowd extended over 12 miles of roadway, from Sumner and Jefferson Avenue to Seagate. Not a foot of vacant space was seen on the sidewalks anywhere, and a conservative estimate put the throng at 400,000 persons.

Clark was with the front brigade all through the journey, but at the eighteenth mile he took the lead, and showed the way clean through Irish-A. A. C. Clark has taken part in several marathon, but the one yesterday was his first win. He jogged along nicely and comfortably in the last couple of miles on the armory floor, all the time keeping his eye on the second man. He was given a great reception during the last lap.

After crossing the line he walked across the floor unassisted to his dressing room. Third place fell to Harry Jensen, of the Pasttime A.C., and he completed the journey about a half mile behind Crowley. Clark's time, 2:46.52 4-5.

Source: The Buffalo Commercial, Buffalo, New York, Saturday, February 13, 1909

Note: Clark set the world record which held for less than three months when it was broken at the Bronx Marathon on May 8, 1909.

Fred Ward, Jr., Wins Houston Marathon; Veteran Is Second (3/3/30)

HOUSTON, Texas, March 3 -- Fred Ward, Jr., of Dover, N.J., today was the titleholder of the first annual National A.A.U. 20-mile marathon, which he ran here yesterday for the Millrose A.C. of New York, setting a time of 2 hours 12 seconds.

Ward was given a great battle by the veteran Clarence Demar, of the Millrose A. A., of Boston, but the younger man had the reserve strength to spurt up in the closing yards of the run to breast the tape by bare seven yards ahead of the 42-year-old star of many marathons.

An Indian, August Barbosa, of Dallas, came in third, 20 minutes behind Ward, and five minutes later, William Neville, of Houston, trotted over the finish line for fourth place.  James Savage, of New Orleans, was a distant fifth.

Source:  The Shreveport Journal, Shreveport, Louisiana, Monday, March, 3, 1930

This Date In Running History - February 11, 1899

HEGLEMAN WINS THE FOOT RACE

The German Makes Seventy Miles In Twelve Hours

The international twelve-hour go-as-you-please foot race for the world's championship, which opened at the Grand Palace at noon yesterday, closed at midnight with the following winners:  Peter Hegleman, Germany, 70 miles; Olaf Steen, Norway, 68 miles; James Dean, Boston, 67 miles 12 laps; Albert Carlson, Sweden, 66 miles 11 laps and Walter Pierce, Boston, 66 miles 3 laps.

There were thirty-five contestants, and each one paid an entrance fee of $5.  The prizes, consisting of 50 per cent. of the gate receipts, will be distributed among the first five men as follows:  First prize, 40 per cent.; second prize, 25 per cent.; third prize, 15 per cent.; fourth prize, 12 per cent.; fifth prize, 8 per cent.

The race was well attended during the day and evening, and the men started off in lively spirits.  A tanbark and sawdust track had been placed arond the hall, which measured fifteen laps to the mile.  The men resorted to anything from a run to an easy-going walk, and as the hour of midnight drew near presented a most dejected appearance.  About 11o'clock several of them gave out and had to be carried to the dressing rooms.  An enthusiastic crowd witnessed the finish, and the victors were heartily cheered as they crossed the line.

Pierce, who got the fifth prize, fell on the track at 11:30 o'clock.  His condition was found to be serious, and an ambulance was summoned from Flower Hospital.  The surgeon said he was suffering from exhaustion, and that he might die.  He was removed to the hospital.  He is nineteen years old, and said to be the champion five-mile runner of New England.

Source:  The New York Times, Sunday, February 12, 1899

Who's Going for No. 10 at The Woodlands Marathon or Half Marathon?

Who's signed up for their 10th The Woodlands Marathon or 10th The Woodlands Half Marathon?

Six of the ten marathoners (bolded below) and all but one of the half marathoners have declared their intentions to run in just over three weeks.

MARATHON (10)

Brent Scott

Charles Frymire

David Coats

Gabriel Belforti - (Signed up for The Woodlands Double)

Henrita Van Wyngaarden

Jonathan Zwickel

Karen Berglund

Kori Scott

Ron Berglund

Stephen Kallus

HALF MARATHON (12)

Barry Beacher

Camellia Jacks - (Signed up for The Woodlands Double)

Carlos Sepulveda

Catriona Edmond

Deborah Sanborn

Denise Andrew

Edward Campos

Erica Welter

Kathy McWilliams - (Signed up for The Woodlands Double)

Lyndon Yates

Rich Fredrich

Rip Reynolds

Sources:  nolimitstiming.com (2012-2016), mychiptime.com (2017-2020), thewoodlandsmarathon.com

This Date In Running History - February 10, 1974

Judy Ikenberry, 31-year-old mother of three from Southern California, won the first AAU women's national marathon championship yesterday at San Mateo and a 10-year-old San Francisco girl finished a strong fourth.

Mrs. Ikenberry, from Crestline, was timed in 2:55:17 for the 26-miles, 385-yard run.  She took the lead at the 12-mile mark and held it to the end.

Marilyn Paul of Portland, Ore. was second, in 2:58:44, Peggy Lyman of Palo Alto, third in 2:58:55, San Francisco schoolgirl Mary Etta Boitano next in 3:01:15 and Nina Kuscsik of Melville, N.Y., fifth in 3:04:56.

Miss Boitano holds five unofficial girls' age group records for the marathon and is a veteran of the San Francisco Examiner's annual 7.8-mile Bay to Breakers race.

6. Lucy Bunz, UC San Francisco, 3:05:07.

7. Marjorie Kaput, Phoenix, Ariz.,3:07:46

8. Jan Arenz, Twin Cities TC, 3:08:20

9. Irene Rudolf, San Francisco, 3:12:20

10. Jennie Taylor, Cambridge, Mass., 3:12:27

11. Joan Uliyot, San Francisco, 3:13:13.

Source:  The San Francisco Examiner, February 11, 1974

Wikipedia links:  Judy Ikenberry | Mary Etta Boitano | Nina Kuscsik

2020-2021 Texas 10 Series - First Three Races

These 65 athletes have run the first two races in the 2020-2021 Texas 10 Series, including the races at Conroe, College Station and Bridgeland.

10-Mile (36)

Britney Alban, Montgomery

Steve Allen, Huntsville

Jose Avellaneda, Missouri City

Kevin Baker, The Woodlands

Joel Barr, Spring

Steve Bickford, Huntsville

Jessica Carpio, Missouri City

Mario Carrera, Houston

Eugenia Carter, Pasadena

Leigh Foreman, Houston

Daniel Gassett, Spring

Nancy Goodnight, Waco

James Griffis, The Woodlands

Tommie Hunter, Porter

Van Joslin, Spring

Samuel Keen, Houston

Konstantin Loguinov, Houston

Audrey Maness, Spring

Geoff May, Magnolia

Mary Moellmer, Tomball

Sharon Morin, Houston

Kirk Myers, Houston

Bobbie Petersen, Conroe

Michael Prejean, Cypress

Rip Reynolds, The Woodlands

Erika Sampson, Houston

Jeff Short, Pearland

Steve Sievert, Tomball

Gary Tashima, Houston

Tricia Terry, Spring

Angela Wakefield, Houston

Katrina Wakefield, Houston

Courtney West, Spring

Rich Wickboldt, Houston

Candy Willis, Deer Park

Tabitha Willis, Conroe

5-Mile (16)

Melinda Ardoin, Spring

Cathy Bickford, Huntsville

Glenn Frable, Cypress

Bethany Gardner, Houston

Erin Gowton, Montgomery

Jimmie Gowton, Montgomery

Bradley Huggins, Franklin

Sara Huggins, Franklin

Ken Johnson, Huntsville

Quintin Kneen, Spring

Patrick Lewis, Huntsville

Chris MacGregor, Houston

Mary Meaux, Conroe

Cindy Ough, Spring

Holly Steirman, Willis

Kara Stockton, Montgomery

5K (9)

Gloria Ballin, Conroe

Marissa Bonnett, Conroe

Stacy Fellers, Magnolia

Tammy Guidry, Spring

Vivian Guidry, Spring

Anita Munoz, Houston

Alvaro Trejo, Houston

Lusi Trejo, Houston

Isabel Trejo-Fuentes, Houston

Multiple Distances (4)

Sallie Campbell, Conroe

Ben Guidry, Spring

Heather Nusz, Conroe

Yanna Williams, Kingwood

Don't Overlook A Sign From God To Your Next 5K

I have a pretty good life and I’m thankful for it.  

All of it, even the not so fun stuff.

I also like to laugh at the good things in life and I enjoy sharing them with all of you.

But here’s a lesson:  When you dream about a flat on your back left tire and you go out to your car that morning (where it’s 42 degrees) and the low pressure light is on – and a Discount Tire is within walking distance from your hotel, you get it checked out.

Before that, though, I did try to put a little air in three of the four tires and start to head out to Cayuga in northwest Anderson County for a 5K that the baseball program was putting on.

However, I thought that out beyond Tennessee Colony on Highway 287 that cell coverage might not be the greatest if I got a flat so I turned it back around to the Discount Tire here on the loop in Palestine.

The front two tires were wearing and really needed replaced, but the back left tire had a screw in it.

So that’s being done now (and actually they just called that they're done) – and maybe I’ll still get a run in before going up to Athens to catch a basketball game in a new Texas college, university or JUCO gymnasium at 2 p.m.

I can attest that my walk with Christ isn’t completely where it needs to be right now, but I’m thankful that He’s still looking out for me – and that I’m wise enough to see the signs especially when it hit me square in the face.

2020-2021 Texas 10 Series - First Two Races

These 100 athletes have run the first two races in the 2020-2021 Texas 10 Series, including the races at Conroe and College Station.

10-Mile (63)

Britney Alban, Montgomery

Steve Allen, Huntsville

Jose Avellaneda, Missouri City

Damian Avila, Houston

Kevin Baker, The Woodlands

Joel Barr, Spring

Steve Bickford, Huntsville

Lisa Bourett, Montgomery

Scott Bowen, Webster

Mayra Caamano, Conroe

Jessica Carpio, Missouri City

Mario Carrera, Houston

Eugenia Carter, Pasadena

Leigh Foreman, Houston

Jason Garcia, Conroe

Daniel Gassett, Spring

Nancy Goodnight, Waco

James Griffis, The Woodlands

Hiroshi Hamada, Houston

Matthew Hanes, Conroe

Michelle Hanes, Conroe

Taylor Hunt, Willis

Tommie Hunter, Porter

Amanda Jenkins, Houston

Henry Joslin, Magnolia

Samuel Keen, Houston

Wendy Kirby, Houston

Konstantin Loguinov, Houston

Audrey Maness, Spring

Eduardo Martinez, Pasadena

Eleazar Martinez, Pasadena

Carlos Martinez, Pasadena

Geoff May, Magnolia

Alejandro Medina, Humble

Cesar Medina, Humble

Mary Moellmer, Tomball

Sharon Morin, Houston

Kirk Myers, Houston

Bobbie Petersen, Conroe

Michael Prejean, Cypress

Jessica Rabon, Houston

Rip Reynolds, The Woodlands

Michelle Richardson, Helotes

Haley Roth, Beaumont

Jayden Roth, Beaumont

Jeff Roth, Beaumont

Juana Roth, Beaumont

Erika Sampson, Houston

Cliff Saunders, Houston

Jeff Short, Pearland

Steve Sievert, Tomball

Kim Smith, Montgomery

Mark Speets, Houston

Gary Tashima, Houston

Tricia Terry, Spring

Angela Wakefield, Houston

Katrina Wakefield, Houston

Sarah Waters, Montgomery

Courtney West, Spring

Rich Wickboldt, Houston

Yanna Williams, Kingwood

Candy Willis, Deer Park

Tabitha Willis, Conroe

5-Mile (26)

Melinda Ardoin, Spring

Cathleen Bickford, Huntsville

Sallie Campbell, Conroe

Ben Castillo, Katy

Guadalupe De Paz, Houston

Kristen Edwards, Conroe

Glenn Frable, Cypress

Bethany Gardner, Houston

Erin Gowton, Montgomery

Jimmie Gowton, Montgomery

Ben Guidry, Spring

Bradley Huggins, Franklin

Sara Huggins, Franklin

Ken Johnson, Huntsville

Quintin Kneen, Spring

Patrick Lewis, Huntsville

Chris MacGregor, Houston

Mary Meaux, Conroe

Heather Nusz, Conroe

Cindy Ough, Spring

Kirsten Ough, Spring

Angie Philips, Tomball

Russell Philips, Tomball

Gustavo Roque, Houston

Holly Steirman, Willis

Kara Stockton, Montgomery

5K (11)

Gloria Ballin, Conroe

Marissa Bonnet, Conroe

Brooke Farren, College Station

Stacy Fellers, Magnolia

Tammy Guidry, Spring

Vivian Guidry, Spring

Anita Munoz, Houston

Marcela Ortega, Houston

Alvaro Trejo, Houston

Lusi Trejo, Houston

Isabel Trejo-Fuentes, Houston

Marathon To Feature Houston A.A.U. Meet (4/26/1927)

HOUSTON, April 25 -- The second annual Houston marathon will be the feature event of the Southern A.A.U. track and field championships at Rice Field, May 21 and 22, according to Jack Rafferty, A.A.U. commissioner of the Houston district.  The marathon, a 10-mile race, will be run on Saturday, May 22.

King Ransom, Houston, winner of the marathon last year, and Bert Halla, Sam Houston High School star, will compete.  From New Orleans will come the Southern A.A.U. champion, Wade, winner of the title last season.

Source:  Fort Worth Star Telegram, Tuesday, April 26, 1927, Page 14

The Woodlands Double Legacy Finishers (2019-2020) - 26

Amanda Kelly, Magnolia (Marathon, both years)

Amanda Lopez, The Woodlands (Half Marathon, both years)

Bartenderx Oropeza, Houston (Half, 2019; Marathon, 2020)

Bobbie Petersen, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Brandy Sambirsky, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Chris MacGregor, Houston (Marathon Relay, 2019; Half, 2020)

Christopher Kelly, Spring (Marathon, both years)

Cynthia Biehle, Spring (Half, 2019; Marathon, 2020)

Danielle Cureton, Spring (Marathon, 2019; Half, 2020)

Elias Rodriguez, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Gabriel Belforti, The Woodlands (Marathon, both years)

James Spencer, The Woodlands (Marathon Relay, 2019; Half, 2020)

Jason Davis, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Jeffrey Custer, Conroe (Half Marathon, 2019; Marathon, 2020)

John McGowan, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Katelyn Hunt, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Kathy McWilliams, The Woodlands (Half Marathon, both years)

Malia Payne, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Marcela Jaramillo, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Marta Mixa, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Marty Cochran, The Woodlands (Half Marathon, both years)

Michelle Mouton, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Nilay Dinc, Spring (Half Marathon, both years)

Shannon Hill, Conroe (Half Marathon, both years)

Stephanie Weiss, Tomball (Marathon, both years)

Valerie Ferdin, Corpus Chrisi (Half Marathon, both years)

USA Fit Marathon Finishers Numbers (2009-2020)

Marathon
2009 - 89 (57 women / 32 men)
2010 - 190 (88 women / 102 men)
2011 - 276 (133 women / 143 men)
2012 - 160 (74 women / 96 men)
2013 - 195 (83 women / 112 men)
2014 - 186 (95 women / 91 men)
2015 - 225 (121 women / 104 men)
2016 - 259 (143 women / 116 men)
2017 - 245 (121 women / 124 men)
2018 - 149 (56 women / 93 men)
2019 - 154 (71 women / 83 men)
2020 - 150 (56 women / 94 men)

Half Marathon
2009 - 254 (187 women / 67 men)
2010 - 848 (582 women / 263 men / 1 not captured)
2011 - 1,236 (830 women / 416 men)
2012 - 971 (600 women / 371 men)
2013 - 1,000 (612 women / 388 men)
2014 - 751 (439 women / 312 men)
2015 - 943 (604 women / 339 men)
2016 - 928 (575 women / 353 men)
2017 - 764 (442 women / 322 men)
2018 - 591 (326 women / 265 men)
2019 - 463 (259 women / 204 men)
2020 - 488 (263 women / 225 men)

5K
2011 - 238 (137 women / 101 men)
2012 - 255 (160 women / 95 men)
2013 - 287 (165 women / 122 men)
2014 - 253 (168 women / 85 men)
2015 - 384 (223 women / 161 men)
2016 - 271 (141 women / 130 men)
2017 - 422 (235 women / 187 men)
2018 - 532 (306 women / 226 men)
2019 - 536 (279 women / 257 men)
2020 - 564 (310 women / 254 men)

Sources:  athlinks.com (2009), runhoustontiming.net (2010-2019)

2021 Texas Marathon Event Report

Last Friday’s Texas Marathon:  Where do I start?

Have to say that it was a really, really good day out there.

I have announced this race every year since 2010, including the two years that I ran the half marathon in 2015 and 2020.

I ran the marathon in 2006, 2008 and 2009.  

After the 2009 race, which was my 22nd marathon, I said that I was retiring to the timing division, which then was manual.  The next year, they started to chip time the race.

All of this means I have been at the race on New Year’s Day for at least 15 of its 22 races and there’s a good chance that I was in attendance in 2007 (but can’t confirm it from my old blog).

I did, however, confirm it from Bill Dwyer’s old blog, coach-bill.blogspot.com.

I think that Waverly has sang the National Anthem at the race 11 of the last 13 years.  Her first time was as an eighth grader in 2009.

I appreciate Steve and Paula Boone for annually giving of themselves so people of all abilities can call themselves a marathoner.

I started asking Steve on October 1 if this year’s race was going to be a go, given the dearth of live races.  Consistent to the end, he said that it would be held and am happy to report, obviously, that it was.

I will not repeat what he said to me that he was prepared to do to ensure that it was so for Friday morning.

You just never know what you will get for weather on New Year’s Day in the greater Houston area.

Two of the three times that I ran the race, it was warm.

However, Friday’s race had great weather to run in, but it was a little chilly for volunteers.  Although a year or two, it was worse.

It is always a long day out there, but one that typically leaves me feeling charged up for the rest of the year.

This year, especially so.

I really wish that it is something that everybody did once.

I have explained in the past that it is like a family picnic with a large race held during it.

Steve and Paula always comment that Waverly and I are part of their running family and while theirs is a large one, we feel very special to part of it.

I was unloading my car by 6 a.m. – to set up my sound equipment to be able to start announcing by 7 a.m. (which I did) -- and ended up leaving at around 5:30 p.m.

And, at the end of the day, except for staggering the starts of both the marathon and the half marathon, there was not too much different other than making sure that specific individuals – with masks and gloves on – gave runners their food post-race (to comply with County health department requirements).

I know that there were some runners very concerned about passing other runners on the out-and-back, four-loop course (two loops for the half marathoners), but pretty much everybody was in great spirits.

Some runners, not unlike many other years, decided to drop down from the marathon to the half after doing two loops, but that had nothing to do with COVID-19.

Another part of the equation out there is getting to work with Cypress Woods boys and girls’ cross country coach Greg Zarate, who timed the race for Run Houston Timing.  

I consider Greg a very good friend who I work great with and you must when we are out there until the last runners have finished after eight hours or so.

If I miss or fail to mention somebody, it is completely by error.

I really appreciate the love that I receive from so many in the community and I am sure that there are probably a few that I am not able to give as much time to as they may like.  

However, they also know that I am working hard to give everybody some announcing love during their two or four loops through the start/finish area.

Of course, my best friend Bill Dwyer is there early.  Any event that Bill and I are at together is a treat.  We’ve been doing this stuff together for probably 16 years now.

Just after I started announcing, another very good friend, Erika Park, shows up and I get a picture of her and Bill together.

Then I see Chuck Engle and his wife Sommer show up.

They had recently moved to Tennessee from Ohio and were vacationing in the Corpus Christi area while visiting her family here in the Lone Star State.

They decided to stop and run the race.  Chuck – known to many as the “Marathon Junkie” – was in for the marathon, while Sommer signed up for half.

As we were all talking with Steve, Angela Tortorice from Dallas and Hank Donegan from California, who was running his 300th marathon on Friday, came up.  

I quickly went into action and got a great picture – that is on my Facebook page – of the five of them together.  

Among them, there is at least 2,220 marathons, maybe 2,300.

Hank was running his 300th.  Chuck is closing in on 500.  Steve is approaching 800 and only God knows how many Angela has done.

All fun.

The big thing each year is the medal reveal as Paula does her pre-race announcements.

In most years, everybody is all packed in, but I thought people did a good job spreading out, given the COVID-19 concerns – as well as following the social distancing guidelines we have come to know

I had brought my second speaker out so everybody could spread out and hear.

I livestreamed the ceremony, including Waverly singing the National Anthem and me starting all the runners out, on my Facebook page if you want to watch it.

The two years that Waverly was out we did a group sing, but she once again did a stellar job.

As we got runners off the starting line, I really believe that staggering them at 10-15 at a pop really made for a better run for everyone.

And the fact that there is no prize money, no elite comped entries and no age group awards, it really does not matter when you start.

Sure, I get it, even though I am not ever racing for place, that it is part of the charge that runners feed off, but while it is a race out there it is something bigger than just that.

Back to the start, most people did great with 10-15 every 30 seconds, but we had a couple of packs where folks did not listen, and the groups ended up pushing 20 while others jumped in earlier than they should have.

I guess even in a pandemic some people cannot listen and behave.

I think we had everybody on the course by 8:15, which is normally the start time of the half marathon.

All in all, 181 finished the marathon and 202 the half marathon, including 19 who had dropped down from the full marathon distance.

Surprisingly, there were only 22 less marathoners than last year, which was the lowest number of finishers since 2007 – two years before the first running of the half marathon.

The half marathon took the biggest hit.  

After bouncing back from a second lowest finishing number of 203 in 2018 to have 314 last year, just 202 covered the 13.1 miles on Friday.

On to the racing – or not.

Perhaps the most amazing thing of the day is that Steve Boone did not run for the first time ever.

He had run the first 21 times.

Jacqueline O’Brien-Nolen, who had run it 20 times before Friday, finished her 21st four-loop trip through Kingwood with a time of 4:04:58, good for 17th place overall among all females.

It is also the first time in a long time – actually 2008 -- that more than one Nolen wasn’t racing.

2020 – Jacqueline, Trent, Derek

2019 – Jacqueline, Trent, Katheryn, Derek

2018 – Jacqueline, Trent, Derek

2017 – Jacqueline, Trent, Brianna, Derek, Katheryn

2016 – Jacqueline, Trent, Derek, Brianna

2015 – Jacqueline, Brianna, Katheryn, Trent, Derek

2014 – Jacqueline, Katheryn, Brianna, Derek, Trent

2013 – Jacqueline, Derek, Katheryn, Trent, Brianna

2012 – Jacqueline, Katheryn, Derek, Brianna, Trent

2011 – Jacqueline, Derek, Katheryn, Brianna

2010 – Jacqueline, Derek, Katheryn

2009 – Jacqueline, Katheryn

2000, 2002-2008 – Jacqueline

Katheryn is the only other Nolen that finished a marathon since 2008.  

Derek had 11 straight half marathon finishes, while his son Trent had nine.  Katheryn had eight half marathon finishes while Brianna had seven in a row.

Steve and Paula gave out milestone awards to Ken Fattman, who finished his 500th marathon on Friday, while California’s Hank Donegan wrapped up his 300th.

Every year they recognize athletes who finished their 5th, 10th, 15th or 20th.

Five-year awards went to Sheau Yun Choo, Jason Kaplan, Amy Lewing, Andrea Sulak, Nancy Timpani and Ginger Trimble Knox.

Richard Carroll and Maggie Mount finished their 10th Texas Marathon while William Moeller, Yen Nguyen and Angela Tortorice did their 15th race there.

And Gerry Simpson finished his 20th Texas Marathon.

Both winners – Fort Worth’s Josh Heimbach, 35, and Hinckley, Ohio’s Selena Pasadyn, 25 – smashed the event records that had stood for 12 and 14 years, respectively.

Heimbach eclipsed the mark set in 2009 by Oklahoma City, Oklahoma’s Kurt Klewin with a 2:35:06 showing.  Klewin had the previous best time of 2:42:31.

In doing so, he easily bested Cypress’ Daniel Lawton, who won in 2008 and 2011 with the third and fifth best times in the race’s history, by more than nine minutes.  Lawton’s 2:45:44 was in between his winning times of 2:44:39 and 2:46:50.

Spring’s Maverick Smalley, 33, rounded out the top three with a 3:00:12 showing.

In the ladies' race, oh my.

Pasadyn, a 2016 Harvard graduate who ran collegiately for the Crimson, was making her marathon debut and dropped a time – on a course that’s not known for fast times – of 2:54:47 that was just nine minutes off a Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier.

It broke Christine Agnew’s previous mark of 3:06:12 from 2007.

Kingwood’s Haley Watson, 42, navigated her way into second with a 3:19:57 after Houston’s Erika Park, 45, who briefly led Pasadyn after the first loop, slowed to help debut marathoner Scott Sienkowski, 16, who was having severe cramping issues.  

Park was third overall for the women in 3:29:10.

Despite the pandemic, there were still marathon finishers from 18 states outside of Texas in addition to Pablo Zamorano’s 3:14:12, 11th overall finish out of Santiago, Chile.

Three members of the Limbaugh family from La Grange finished the marathon.

Husband Duane and his wife Jennifer posted times of 3:59:27 and 4:52:52, respectively, but 18-year-old daughter Taylor topped them both with a sparkling time of 3:46:03.

There were some other couples who finished the marathon together.  They included:

Irving’s Breanna Waldrup and Andrew Olsen

Katy’s Scott and Andrea Witte

Kingwood’s Ron and Karen Berglund

Houston’s Peter Bennett and Yen Nguyen

Glencoe, Illinois’ Bob and Lesley Strauss

Houston’s Edward and Margot Campos

Houston’s Tim and Nancy Timpani

Brothers Daniel and Mark Lawton of Cypress were second and 12th overall.  Both had won the race before.

And maybe sisters Madeline and Mary Beth Meier of Kingwood and Cleveland, respectively, also finished, both in a time of 6:12:16.

However, the greatest family accomplishment came from the Foltz family.

Four brothers and sisters ran the 26.2 miles on New Year’s Day.

Sixteen-year-old Corey led the way with a tenth-place overall time of 3:13:45.

Thirteen-year-old sister Lucy was next in 3:56:12.

Southwestern University senior Mario, who swam for the Pirates and Kingwood Park, 21, helped youngest brother C.J., 12, to a finishing time of 6:24:56.

The winners of the half marathon were Tomball’s Seth Kaplan, 18, and Houston’s Kelli Tomlinson, 28, in times of 1:20:25 and 1:36:28, respectively.

Manfred Roenz of Humble and his son, Tyler, 16, ran close to each other in times of 1:33:19 and 1:34:09, respectively.

Husband-and-wife Jason and Carrie Labani, of Humble, finished in 1:45:40 and 1:43:47.

It was great to see the original race director of the Surfside Beach Marathon Daryl Beatty, 67, out there and posting a 1:58:03 half marathon time.

One of Bill’s runners, Trudy Regnier, finished in 2:25:03.  A friend of Volte, as he likes to call many runners, Sonia Dhodapkar, 43, of Houston turned in a 1:55:05 showing.  (And I’m sure I butchered her name as I had in the past; just not a lot of practice lately.)

And looking at the chip and gun time differences, it appears that we were able to get everybody on the half marathon course within about six minutes – and do so in groups of 10 to 15 the entire time.

There are lots of people I likely left off in this report as I know so many and can comment positively on, which would make this report 10 pages long (as I just started the sixth page in the Microsoft Word document).

I will say this, however:  “This race isn’t for everybody.”

Why?

There are just some people who could not humble themselves to a family environment like this race and event is and enjoy and appreciate it.

They would likely look down the noses of those who took longer than seven hours to finish a marathon.

I admit that some years it is challenging to wait some of those athletes out; however, I think that it is what makes Steve and Paula incredibly special is that they give these people a place to do this as most places cannot keep a road shut down as long for them to accomplish the feat.

If you’re reading, I hope to see you out here in 2022.