Last
week the focus of the newsletter was on race activities during Houston
Marathon Weekend and the volunteers that made everything possible This
week the focus will be on individual accomplishments of our runners!
The race results for our members are listed below (sorry if anyone inadvertently left out).
Folks who placed in the top 10 in their age group or attained some similar milestone are highlighted in bold.
We
asked you to share your training, race, or volunteer stories but you
are a modest bunch and we didn't receive many so we will point out some
that caught our attention.
Congratulations to Valentino Julien for his very fast finish in the marathon (2:29:50; 5:43 pace (10th:M30)!
Congratulations to Amy Tan
for her 3:44:23 finish placing her several minutes under the
BQ-qualifying time for her age group. Amy qualified last year, but did
not make the cutoff for the race. Congratulations to everyone who BQed
this year!
Congratulations to Steve Hasson,
who completed his 30th Houston Marathon. His first one was in 1991 when
he was a young lad of 24. His best time was a sub-4 (3:59:59) finish in
2013! Here's to many more, Steve!
Congratulations to Camille Fitzsimmons for arguably the best comeback, finishing the marathon in 5:49:55 at age 70. This follows several years where injuries kept her from running at all.
Congratulations to Gloria Mahoney!
Her 5:06:07 time is the unofficial single age record for a 73-year old
woman in the Houston Marathon (according to local stats man Jon Walk). Belated congratulations to Brenda Hilton. She set the single-age record for a 74-year old women (5:10:33) in 2022!
We know there are many achievements worth sharing that we missed, but congratulations to everyone who ran!
Observations of a volunteer: Hope Sellers (HOOPLA Station at Mecom Fountain on Half-Marathon course):
"My
favorite part of having my little hoopla station is when people
remember me from year-to-year. Quite a few of the runners say they look
forward to hitting the turnaround at the Mecom fountain so they can get
some M&M’s, mints or whatever else I have that year. They always
seem so grateful and happy. I also see runners singing or dancing to the
music we play so that makes the experience even more fun!"
