I started the 5K on the 1st day of lockdown as a way to make sure I was doing 1 hour of exercise a day. I finished that and then signed up for the GNR Solo 40 and completed that, then in 8 months and 1 week I had managed to run 186 miles which is the distance from my home in Newcastle to my family in Scotland , I then signed up for the Walking with the Wounded charity 10 day fundraiser raising awareness of the issues facing Veterans with mental health challenges. I also signed up for a fitness challenge with the NHS trust I work with and won a Fitbit!!! First Ever Fitness award at 57!!! I am still super slow by most standards , I have not yet progressed beyond 5K and have started, started and started again the Ju Ju 10k plan - not there yet ! Even writing this it feels as though I am writing this about someone else, I hardly recognise myself as the puffing and panting redfaced overweight 56 year old wheezing my way around the local park in March . So now at 57 I am slightly less overweight, still redfaced but with less wheezing and now can't wait to get out and run and everywhere I go I am looking for possible running routes and get slightly concerned if I can't run a little every other day.
If you are reading this and are at the start of your running journey please please be encouraged , it is totally possible and can be lots of fun and the sense of achievement at the end of a run is second to none , you CAN do this, measure every step as a mega goal , rejoice in running in the rain, pat yourself on the back when you can run past more lampposts than ever before and you can end a run not having to collapse on a park bench and lie there forever in recovery. Here's to a wonderful 2021 with the dark challenges of this year behind us but when we look back we can see where there have been bright twinkly lights along our paths. Mega thank you to all of you for your encouragement in getting this far x
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Eveb1
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Well done Eveb1, sounds like you’ve done a lot of positive things since lockdown. Keep going, take your time with everything and just keep enjoying what you’re doing! 👏👏👏
Wow what a lovely post! I'm welling up! And look at you, such a big smile. I started a couple of weeks after you and absolutely agree with everything you've said. I love the idea of the twinkly lights along our path. Sitting here with a cuppa before my planned week 1 run 1 of JuJu's distance version of the magic plan. Excitement and anticipation all over again! I'm 66 and so proud. Go us! 💕
Well done Evie. You should br so proud. Your story echos mine(minus the gnr). I started 23rd June whilst on 2weeks redeployment leave i guess from the dame trust! Never looked back!Still slow,still overweight but working on it but most of all still loving running 😀
You ate so right to anyone out there Believe in yourself-baby steps .So many people on this forum are proof that you can x
This is fantastic, you’re fantastic, what a great post for me to read this morning. I have a list as long as my arm as to why I shouldn’t restart the programme but your beautiful smiling face and inspiring story may just have torn that list up.
Wonderful, what a lovely thing to read this morning too! Well done!
Wow, you don’t know how much joy this brings me to read this first thing this morning! Such an amazing positive post and reminds me of everything I love about running! I am about to get back out there, having had an enforced break due to a foot problem (metatarsalgia I think!) but decided to take it slowly and start back at the beginning - you have just given me that boost I needed to lace up my running shoes and say “hello 2021 - here I come!” x
Congratulations! Lovely post, we could all do with some of your positivity. 👏👏👏You sound like me when I started couch to 5k. That was 18 months ago and now, aged 60, I've run my first half marathon.
A great post! I think you’ve summed up the changes that have taken place in a few of us since lockdown. I don’t recognise myself either! It’s been a great journey so far though 😊 Happy running in 2021 🏃♀️ Great pic too!
Week 8 brilliant !!! You will look back a few months from now and that will seem like a distant memory , I found the big goals and little goals all really helped 😊
This person looks very happy!!! 😀 completely sums up what running has done for you, and probably most of us on here, a very inspiring, and possitive post! 👏👏👏
What a fantastic post, well done you, you look super healthy on your photo and not red faced at all! I started couch to 5k when I was you age, I’m now 65 and have stopped and started it 3 times as life has a way of getting in the way sometimes. I now try to do 30 minutes a day, slow and steady. Keep up the good work!
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First ever park run and personal best 5k !!
No, don't stop me now...
I'm a Man of Course I Don't Read Instructions 
Running 10k and upwards - what don't I know? 
Don’t recognise myself - shorts in Feb!
