The "6 Degrees of Jon" Houston M-Day Results

After Barbara Boone's lunch time encounter with Tom Pinney, a regular at Run The Woodlands 5K, and finding out that they both knew me, I'm using her blog post title to describe those people who I know and how they did today at either the Chevron Houston Marathon, the Aramco Houston Half Marathon or the Houston Press/Smart Financial 5K.

Of course, you'll find the Houston Running Bloggers' results here.

Here's a thought for you: "If the Marathon Committe considers the Half Marathon and 5K as important events, why aren't all of the winners listed in the race program?" Likewise, what about the marathon wheelchair winners?

Former Marathon Winners
(Of course, I don't "know" them; however, I thought you might find the list interesting nonetheless.)
2:12:02 (1st) - David Cheruiyot, 2005
2:19:56 (2nd) - Marek Jaroszewski, 2004
2:32:44 (13th) - Drew Prisner, 2002
2:38:00 (4th, womens) - Albina Gallyamova, 2003
2:42:53 (32nd) - Christopher Ciamarra, 2001
2:58:02 (72nd) - Clent Mericle, 1975, 1977
3:05:17 (116th) - Benji Durden, 1982
(He was bib #2778. Shouldn't former winners get an elite number regardless?)

1:27:41 (19th in half) - Becky Sondag, 2002

Houston Striders
It was the club's largest single day racing contingent in club history -- 66 half marathoners,
85 marathoners (including 20 Boston Qualifiers), and nine (9) 5kers! Caroline Chamness (3:07:19) set the Striders' all-time women's marathon record while Mike Tognarelli (2:57:06) cracked three (3) hours and Jennie Minken qualified for Boston (3:37:54).

Helen Grant was 2nd overall in the 5K in 19:41 while Rachel Guenther was 8th overall in 21:20. In the half marathon, Karen Bowler was first in her 55-59 age group (1:38:02) while Ruben Coryat (1:55:12) and Marcella Paull (1:45:55) were 3rd in their 65-69 and 55-59 age groups, respectively. Coryat has only been running for 6 months and this was only his 3rd career race.

Brett Riley (24th), John Yoder (42nd), Fred Miller (55th), Tommy King (72nd), Mike Tognarelli (82nd) and Ted Traynor (95th) all were in the race's Top 100.

While I can't list the results of 160 Striders, I will list some of those that I've personally gotten to know over the last year and a half:

Aramco Half Marathon
Barbara Shepard - 2:35:37
Barry Chambers - 1:49:01
Charlie Rodriguez - 1:50:35
Debbie Rodriguez - 2:50:58
Juan Arrieta - 2:01:31
Judith Neufeld - 3:45:18
Kerry Kilgore - 2:38:20 PR!
Lee Baughman - 2:22:28
Lynn Stengel - 2:21:04
Marjorie Marks - 2:15:11
Mike Rydin - 2:00:35
Noah Matthews - 2:06:18
Patti Sears - 1:48:48
Paulette Salanon - 2:50:13
Rich Sears - 1:52:48
Ryan Dimarco - 1:49:41
Sophie Rydin - 2:14:35
Stephanie Salyer Fultz - 2:22:32
Steve Salanon - 2:05:27

Houston Marathon
Aimee Solway - 4:24:22 First Timer!
Andrea Chan - 5:27:37
Carole Flad - 4:39:00
Chris Boylan - 3:00:41 PR!
Chris Murphy - 5:16:09
Cindy Laidlaw - 4:32:28
Doug Spence - 5:57:32 PR!
Dusty Cook - 5:56:43
Yong Collins - 3:52:08
HoJin Lim - 3:33:35 PR!
Hope Sellers - 5:47:36
Jackie Connelly - 3:24:17
Jeff Sharp - 4:20:26
Joan O'Connor - 4:53:36
John Dimarco - 4:35:25 PR!
Joe Sellers - 5:28:28
Lee Greb - 3:50:28 PR!
Lisa Ruthven - 5:13:59
Lynlee Linke - 4:27:24 HUGE PR!
Mark Gonzales - 4:39:15 HUGE PR!
Pam Paling - 4:27:25 First Timer!
Santos Hernandez - 3:58:42
Stacy Stepler - 4:55:33 PR!
Steve Shepard - 3:28:49
Tim Wesneski - 5:37:22
Whitney La Rocca - 5:32:53
Yoichi Morishima - 3:53:29 PR!

Houston Press 5k
Christina Rodriguez - 37:04
David Kennedy - 23:36
Dylan Reynolds - 24:01
Sandy Wollangk - 32:16

Seven Hills Running Club
The complete club list can be found here: http://www.7hills.us/latestnews.htm
Hans Jaegar - 2:11:39 (Half Marathon)
J.C. Guzman - 1:44:08 (Half Marathon)
Jan Parks - 4:44:21 (Marathon)
John Cook - 2:23:19 (Half Marathon)
Ken Johnson - 5:46:21 (12th Houston Marathon)
Melissa Broussard - 5:39:12 (Marathon)

Run The Woodlands 5K 10- and 20-Race Club Members
+Ann Leoni - 3:57:11 (2nd Boston Qualifier in a row; Memphis St. Jude, 12/05, 1st)
+Bill Schroeder - 3:09:56 (Marathon; BQ; Led 3:10 Pace Team)
+Debbie Tripp - 2:30:34 (Half Marathon)
+Denise Van Kuiken - 2:05:15 (Half Marathon)
^Gary Van Kuiken - 4:08:40 (Marathon)
+Jarold Buell - 3:50:16 (Marathon)
+Jim Braden - 3:39:36 (Marathon; BQ; 70 years old)
+Jim Harrington - 3:23:58 (Marathon)
+John Soul - 3:29:30 (Marathon; BQ)
^Karen Bowler - 1:38:02 (Half Marathon; 1st in 55-59 age group)
^Lee Topham - 2:07:48 (Half Marathon)
^Lou Wilson - 5:48:50 (Marathon)
^Mike Belew - 1:46:52 (Half Marathon)
+Russell Meyer - 1:28:25 (Half Marathon)
^Tim Bowler - 1:56:33 (Half Marathon)
^Tom Hippe - 3:55:18 (Marathon)
^Vince Gayman - 3:29:51 (Marathon; BQ)
+Vincent Attanucci - 3:32:40 (2nd Boston Qualifier in a row; White Rock, 12/05, 1st)
^Wayne Rutledge - 3:27:02 (Marathon; BQ)

Luke's Locker - The Woodlands Staff
Cathy Steele - 1:50:52 (Half Marathon)
Matt Lucas - 1:31:36 (Half Marathon)
Mike Lucas - 1:49:46 (Half Marathon)
Susan Schreiber - 3:38:08 (2nd Boston Qualifier in a row; Las Vegas, 12/05, 1st)

Non-Striders from Fall '04 Power In Motion
Becky Spaulding - 2:44:25 (Half Marathon; BCRR)

Other Notables
Amanda Brooks - 26:02 (5K; 33-year-old from my hometown of Tyrone, Pa.)
Jessica (Armenteros) Word - 19:02 (5K; 1st overall female)
Harold Gillespie - 2:54:29 (Half Marathon; oldest male finisher at 83, from Houston)
Jesse Real - 4:25:14 (Marathon; oldest male finisher at 74, from Corpus Christi)
Louis Ciaccio - 53:23 (5K; oldest male finisher at 84, from Galveston)
Marcie McCaskill - 3:22:31 (Half Marathon; oldest female finisher at 81, from Webster)
Mary Jane Franey - 1:03:33 (5K; oldest female finisher at 76, from Kingwood)
Nichole Jones - 1:21:50 (Half Marathon; Westfield HS XC/Track Star, Jr., 9th overall female)
Shirley Bayless - 4:32:47 (Marathon; oldest female finisher at 71, from Houston)
Tom Stilwell - 3:26:47 (Marathon; HARRA President)
Vera Balic - 21:33 (5K; PR!, 10th overall female; Bay Area Running Club)