Team Woodlands Rebels

The Team Woodlands Fall link will become inactive in a week or so as our season has finished with the Chicago & Nike San Francisco marathons. Our winter group led by Dana-Sue Crews and Carol Steele are training for the Arizona, Disney & Houston Marathons and can be followed on the Team Woodlands Winter link. With Dana-Sue & Carol fully in charge of their group I have a lot more time to train for a few months and hope to be in somewhat good shape for the Houston Half Marathon. Since I am training for the half and I can’t seem to say no to anyone we will have a mini 10 week half marathon program through Luke’s Locker starting this Saturday Nov. 4. Our group will be small and whoever joins will have a great opportunity to have a lot of attention from myself Kim Hager, Debbie Tripp and Cathy Steele.

So what is a Woodlands Rebel? The term was originally Renegade but over time has been shortened to Rebel. The core group of Rebels are The Woodlands Team In Training alumni who have become great friends and want to keep running together. There are also many non TNT alumni in the group. The group started up about 6 years ago and run from the same location as the TNT group does starting earlier. It’s usually fast runners at 5am, social runners at 6am, current TNT runners at 7am.

Rebels are all about – consistent training, Friday happy hour ( two drink max ) , Starbucks or breakfast, fast marathons, fun marathons, ( a couple are in the 50 States Club ), friendships, holiday parties…..and more. It’s a great bunch of very positive people who I’m thankful to be a part of.


Rebel & TNT Race Results ( last two weeks )

Oct 21 - Huntsville Half Marathon & 5K – Huntsville, TX
5K Results
Debbie Tripp – 33:46 – 3rd in age group, Tammy Conatser – 36:53 – 1st in age group

Half Marathon
Les Ellsworth – 1:45:57, Jim Braden – 1:51:44 – 1st in age group, Ann Leoni – 1:51:44 – 2nd in age group, Mary Kershbaum – 2:08:39, Geri Henry – 2:11:08


Oct 21 - Harbor Half Marathon – Corpus Christi, TX
Carol Steele – 2:04:52 - 2nd in age group, Lisa Loving – 2:53:45


Oct 22 - Chicago Marathon - Chicago, Il
Team Woodlands – TNT
Mark Solomon – 3:08:18, Mike Csikos – 3:36:49, Sue Van Natta – 3:39:08 ( 21st Boston Qualifier in a row )

Team Woodlands – Rebels
Buck Snyder – 2:57:01, Jon Minor – 3:08:52, Mike Dauth – 3:42:15, Charles Ash – 4:17:57, Scott Farrand – 4:17:57, Robin Bennett – 4:47:46, Donna McDermott – 4:59:48

The Texas Gulf Coast Chapter raised $84,000.00. The total raised by all chapters was 2.5 million dollars.


Oct 22 - Nike Womans Marathon - San Francisco, CA
Team Woodlands TNT
Full Marathon
Jessica Neal - 4:29:45, Christopher White - 4:42:30, Alexis Neal - 5:05:44, Jim Fredricks - 5:19:24, Delia Akers - 5:20:50, Wendi Wilson - 5:38:50, Leah Tullos - 5:59:29, Kaymi Thompson - 5:59:30, Barbara Shedden - 6:17:34, Christy Shell - 6:44:34, Debi Koch - 6:55:41, Melissa Attebery - 6:55:41

Half Marathon
Kristin Frazier - 2:44:34, Kim Boesen - 2:48:24, John Ford- 3:03:18, Kimberly Gray - 3:12:24, Margaret Booth - 3:12:17, Bridget Brewster - 3:14:43, Yvette Falcon - 3:40:49, Lauren West - 4:02:09, Julie West - 4:02:10

The Texas Gulf Coast Chapter raised $238,290.00. The total raised by all chapters was 16 million dollars.


Oct 28 – Great Pumpkin 5K – Houston, TX
Ann Leoni – 23:19 – 1st in age group, Greg Salomon – 28:44, Theresa Breslin – 29:46, Jovita Lopez-Smith ( TNT alumni Sugarland ) – 27:36, Debbie Tripp – 32:12


Oct 29 - Ironstar Half Ironman Triathlon – Conroe, TX 1.2 mi swim, 59 mi bike, 13.1 mi run
Tracy MacEwan – 7:03:25, Dana-Sue Crews – 7:10:29, Bill Crews – 7:20:29 ( after 4 flat tires )

Dana-Sue’s race report
I said the only thing that mattered to me was finishing the race yesterday and well, I FINISHED!
Thanks for the prayers, y’all. When I crossed the finish line I hugged Tracy Mac who finished before me and the first words out of my mouth were “that was harder than a marathon”. Then I couldn’t breathe for a minute. A volunteer heard me say that and called for the medics. I was so embarrassed. My blood pressure was very low so they made me sit for a while. That was cool because it gave me a chance to talk to my incredible fans. Carol Steele, Angie Rizzo and Nancy Long were my three amazing fans through the race. Nancy actually got in her car and drove along the bike course stopping at several points to cheer and take photos of Bill and me. And Carol and Angie cheered me as I finished the bike and even ran a little with me as I began the run. They were all amazing and I’m truly blessed to have them as friends.

I had a very slow swim and never warmed up even though I was in a wetsuit. As a matter of fact, I got colder and colder as I swam until I could no longer feel my fingers and toes and my face felt like ice. I’ve never experienced that before. But even though it was cold and slow, I enjoyed it somehow. I was shaking so badly as they peeled the wetsuit off me and then I couldn’t get my shoes on. The girl next to me advised me to wear my sweatshirt for the bike which I did and I was cold and stiff for the first 30 miles. But I found the ride quite lovely out in the national forest and very peaceful. I stopped to go potty four times and I stopped and took my time at the two aid stations refilling my bottles with Gatorade and water. At about mile 30 I saw Bill who should have been way ahead of me. He was fixing his fourth flat of the day and had no more tubes. I felt so bad for him, but as always, he smiled and said, “I’m ok. I did the swim in 35 minutes and I’m having fun. That’s all that matters.”

The half marathon was pretty tough. I had to do a walk/run. Because of Bill’s flats, I was able to catch up to him and do the last three miles together. Last year he finished the entire race in 6:15 and with a great start to the race, he was on target to set a PR, but those wicked flats ruined that. But do you know what he said? His attitude was that he considered the flats a blessing because they enabled him to finish the race with me and cross the finish line holding my hand. I’m married to the most wonderful guy ever! My time was 7 hours 10 minutes 29 seconds. Swim was 43:50, bike was 4 hours 28 seconds, run was 2:19:23.


Oct 29 - Houston Half Marathon, Houston, TX
Pam Meaux – 1:34:30 – 2nd in age group, Tony Allison – 1:35:57, Mitch Hall – 1:42:04, Jim Braden – 1:45:06 – 2nd in age group, Mary Kershbaum – 2:04:59, Pam Liska – 2:31:33


Oct 29 - Light The Night Walk - Market Street, The Woodlands
We expected about 300 walkers…..we probably had over 500 or more....we filled 800 balloons and were short a few (cancer survivors carry white illuminated balloons, supporters, friends and family carry red illuminated balloons) The event was a great success. Last year we raised $ 19,000.00. This years event is now up to $ 72,000.00 with a few pledges still coming in. Many thanks to the route volunteer crew of Debbie Tripp, Kerri Snyder, Maggie Warner, Jon Walk, Deli Akers, Christy Shell, Julie & Lauren West, Kim Boesen, Tara Wright & the WoodsEdge Church youth group, and the awesome help from Montgomery County Constable George Biernesser.


Good Luck Kim Hager at the Ford Ironman Florida this weekend. ( 2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run )


Fun and Games - Lance Armstrong Prediction at the New York City Marathon
Looks like this could be fun. ( from Jon Walk's blog "Houston Running" )

Buck Snyder did Chicago pretty fast at 2:57:01. Will Lance beat his time ?

Send your guess to walksports(at)aol.com