What have you got from running?

I think I have become far more resilient and confident in myself as a result of taking up the C25K programme.

If you feel happy to, please share what running has given you. 😊⭐️

[nowster Graduate10]

It's given me back fitness I'd gradually lost.

It's given me confidence to be seen outside in fluorescent Lycra.

It's given me back the waist size I had 25 years ago.

[Hidden in reply to nowster]

Great Nowster 😊 I used to only run in the dark but now I don’t mind people seeing me in Lycra!

[SassyF 60minGraduate]

I’m still pretty new to running, but for me I’ve realised that running has given me:A better fitness level which has given my confidence a boost, I’m happier and far less moody than I was before, I feel calm and not worried about silly things, a sense of freedom because I can run anywhere I like.

A new found respect for my body and now i have a healthier diet. I’m slowly loosing weight but my shape is changing faster than I anticipated. So that’s always a positive.

A self assurance that even though I’m stockier than most runners - I can run too! 😊

[Hidden in reply to SassyF]

That sounds great SassyF ! I always thought runners had to be tall, pencil thin and young but I realised they come in all shapes and sizes. 🤗

[David_G]

Thanks Hidden I hadn’t really though about this until now. Aside from the physical health benefits, running has given me more confidence and self-belief than I ever thought possible. It’s also shown me how determined I can be (although some would call it pig-headed stubbornness!)

[Hidden in reply to David_G]

Sometimes you need that determination (I shan’t call it stubbornness!) to drag yourself out in the rain/snow/after drinking several glasses of wine!

[Hidden]

Blisters 😂

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Get some better socks. 😜

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Can we add chafing too 😬😂

[sparky66 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

😂😭

[Birdlady64 Graduate10]

Aside from improved physical fitness and a body shape I haven't been anywhere close too since I was at Uni -Confidence and self-belief. Freedom.

[Hidden in reply to Birdlady64]

I hadn’t considered freedom but you are right, and the sense of peace that can come with it

[Birdlady64 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Yes - totally. And I love just "being in the moment" on my runs. A fantastic way to de-stress

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

Good health - I no longer have high blood pressure and have been taken off medication.

I have made real friends through parkrun, and Healthunlocked.

A lot of running shoes, clothes and medals!

[Hidden in reply to Dexy5]

So good to hear about your BP! I’m yet to do a parkrun but perhaps should brave one!

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

Fingers crossed to return on 5th June. ⚠️ Very addictive. Do you have one close by?

[Hidden in reply to Dexy5]

I have a very hilly one about forty minutes away (shan’t be doing that one!) and a flat one about twenty minutes away but it gets very busy

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

You can start near the back and see how you like it. Or just pop down and watch how it works first.

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

I scouted out my local one's route this afternoon.

It starts downhill, then a sharp right turn, follow the river upstream for a bit, turn right, a short but steep uphill curve, in and around the square ornamental garden, out, through an arch, and then a long straight, then repeat another four times.

Attendance seems to vary from 60 to 200.

[Tasha99 Graduate10]

Running means I can cope with life. I have made lots of friends too at parkrun and at my club. I’m no longer on anxiety meds. I’ve lost over 6 stone too.

[Hidden in reply to Tasha99]

It is very meditative - I’m anxious about being too slow for park run but hear lots of supporters of it on here

[Tasha99 Graduate10 in reply to Hidden]

No. People walk it! I love parkrun! So fantastic!

[Gwenllian1 Graduate10]

Like dexy I have reduced my blood pressure and generally feel fitter, younger, sharper. If I don’t run I start to feel very stuck, sedentary and fed up!

[Katnap Graduate10]

A new circle of friends on the HU forums!

🐱 Katnap 🐱

[roseabi]

A new way of life, and a great volunteer job!

Great question, thanks for posting xxx

[Hidden in reply to roseabi]

Thank you for your volunteering, the admin on this site are truly wonderful and so welcoming 😊

[Archerygoddess 60minGraduate]

I'd had some terrible years before I started C25K and they'd really undermined my physical confidence. I kept feeling that my body would let me down and so I was afraid of falling, on hills, off my bike etc. After running for the last 18 months I have found my confidence has pretty much returned, although I can still fall off a bike!

[Hidden in reply to Archerygoddess]

It’s good to hear your confidence is back! 💪

[sofaspud]

I’ve just started reading “Outrunning the Demons” - different people’s stories of how running has contributed to or transformed their lives.

For me, it has given me strong legs, lots of calm, time alone with podcasts, an entry into a world I knew nothing about and pain in parts I’d never paid attention to

[Hidden in reply to sofaspud]

I second the pain in unknown places! I’m trying to associate pain with growth 😂

[sparky66 Graduate10]

It's given me focus , a healthier body and mindset that gives me hope that the Cancer I had 3 and a half years ago stays gone 🙏

[Hidden in reply to sparky66]

So wonderful to hear that you are feeling healthier, and so inspiring ☀️

[la_fouinard Graduate10]

I have the joys of depression so running gives me a great way of purging myself of all the negative emotions while replacing them with something more positive and keeping fit at the same time. Honestly I consider it a positive form of self-harm in my case as it gives me the same feeling of release and purging those more destructive acts used to.

My only complaint on running remains the injuries otherwise it scratches all the itches nicely.

[tmbtrain Graduate10 in reply to la_fouinard]

It's so great to have the healthy focus. It seems the mind benefits as much as the brain.

[GoogleMe Graduate10]

My chief one is a big fat middle finger up to those unduly influential people who believe people like me are only still unwell because we are a) deconditioned and b) have wrong and fearful thoughts about exercise. I believe them to be unethical and wrong... but equally I knew that none of this would give me a free pass to avoid the consequences of inactivity, however unavoidable that inactivity might be and did not much like that thought, even though I kept it at the back of my mind.

Totally unexpectedly I experienced a measure of improvement post-menopause so I started with Random Acts of Fitness - started parking at the far end of the supermarket car park (where it was easier to get a space so less cognitively wearing too!), found that brisk walking was too painful and caused too great an increase in symptoms afterwards to be a sustainable form of exercise.

I was not terribly well-disposed towards running because (growing up with a running and fitness obsessed parent) I thought you had to do poncy stretches and let it dominate your family life and attitudes. And then I came across C25K which insisted you must *not* do it every day and did not ask me to stretch (early in my illness I did myself great harm through stretching) and the initial sustained running motion asked was 60 seconds. It was a risky endeavour - I know what it is like to be more or less bed bound, unable to communicate and in appalling pain and if I judged this wrong, that might happen... plus at the time I was vulnerable to the DWP taking any attempt at activity as a sign of fitness.

My first attempt I was thrilled to manage the first 4 run segments - that was 3 and a half minutes more than I had expected! And the after effects were... manageable.

Nine years on now, still running (sadly no longer with the Google of my screen name after a devastating syndrome rendered my previously constant canine running companion totally blind and mostly deaf and rarely up for a walk) I still run along a tightrope - a running motion is looser and can relieve pain, but push harder at the wrong moment and I will have to deal with being ill later. I still don't stretch associated with my running sessions. I have to do less of some other important things in order to accommodate running because it has not deal with the the underlying condition and I can't, it seems, make my box of energy any bigger But... never yet sustained a running injury other than the odd scratch from arsy vegetation!

And oddly, I do it in tribute to the parent (who died 2 years ago) who put me off with his over-enthusiasm!