Motive Half Marathon and Turkey Trot

Last Sunday I ran the Motive Bison Half Marathon in 2:14:35 which is a 10:16 pace and a Personal Record. I could have shaved another 4 minutes off my time if I didn't half to wait in line at the Port-O-Let at about mile 8. Despite the fact that the course has a steep hill around mile 5 that lasts about a mile, I ran the whole distance without any walking (except for the bathroom break) and shattered my February Freescale half marathon time of 2:37 . As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I ran the Motive course about 3 weeks earlier and it did give me some much needed confidence. Unfortunately, I think it gave me too much, and I didn't train the last three weeks as much as I should have. It was a great race, and I met up with some friends afterwards to celebrate at Jardin Corona, a pretty decent Mexican restaurant in north Austin.

On Thanksgiving, I ran the 5 mile Turkey Trot around the UT campus. After running 13.1 miles on Sunday, I thought 5 miles would be a piece of cake. For me it was much harder than running the Motive half marathon. I think it was because my body wasn't fully recovered even though I felt great, the temperature was a warm 73 degrees vs a chilly 53 degrees on Sunday, the course was quite hilly, and I ran slightly faster at a 9:57 mile pace. I finished in just under 50 minutes. It always feels great to get up and run before gorging yourself on turkey and all the trimmings. I think I gained 5 lbs this Thanksgiving week, so I need to hit it hard on Monday.