Spartan 5K Challenge

I did it!!!! I ran my first 5K this morning and it wasn't horrible!! I was completely expecting to be the last person dragging myself over the finish line, but I actually did pretty well. My time was 34:18, so for 3.2 miles I was running an average of 10min 45sec per mile! I didn't even run that fast as a kid. Probably especially not as a kid... Anthony came as my cheerleader and official photographer. Here is me looking out at the track: It was seriously cold this morning! I was glad because I knew that I would get heated up once the running started, but I had to wait in the cold for at least an hour for everything to start. Ant didn't run with me, so a group of crossfitters (extreme crazy fitness people) invited me to hang out with them. I felt like an adopted stray :)

Here's me running by on my first lap (I'm in the middle of the picture in the far lane close to the grass): I was thinking to myself, "How in the world am I going to do this?"

Here's me on my second lap: See? My need for personal space kicked in and I was willing to run faster just to get away from that huge crowd of people :)

The entire course was actually pretty cool. They had you do the first few laps on the track, then the course ran through the entire University of Tampa campus with different obstacle courses. I had to jump over bales of hay twice, crawl under a net in the sandpit of a volleyball court, and jump over those huge tractor tires. I did my first mile in 10:30. Nice right? No one was more surprised than me, let me tell you! Somewhere after the the 2 mile mark, I was feeling pretty good and passing everyone and then I hit the tractor tires. I was like, "ARE you kiddding me?". After that, my heart rate skyrocketed and I had to literally talk myself out of vomiting. But, I pushed through and as the course made its way back to the starting point I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Ant got a picture of me coming up at the last 1/2 mile:

Finally I was approaching the finish line: You can tell by the look on my face what I was feeling at that moment.

The finish line!!!! Yeah, I know. I'm not one of those people that look cute after working out, but hey you can't have everything right?