I've been thinking recently about the nature of my run. I live on the top of the hill. So if I run straight out of my door, at some point in my run, there will be a pretty steep hill. I can't cope with that just yet.
I (shame, shame), drive to the nearest flat park to do my running. It takes about 15 mins in London traffic.
I'm interested to know, how many of you drive to get to your run?
Yep, I'm a driver as well, if I head out the door for a run it's 3k before I loose houses and find a park, running around housing estates is either boring or distracting (when I try and see in the houses at how they have decorated 
)
I drive too. My legs refuse to do hills so I drive to one or two places where its reasonably flat. Definitely don't like doing it but mostly no further than 5-10 minutes.
I'm in the middle of a town with a motorway nearby, and both exits from my road are uphill. In the early stages I would always do my warm up 5 mins walk to get to the top of the nearest hill, then toddle around the residential roads to achieve my 30 mins before doing my 5 min cool downhill! By the time I got to the longer, continuous runs in week 7, I made the decision to drive away from home to find different circuits. I found country paths, fields, parks and a canal path. I'm now driving out far more often, but then I'm now regularly running 30+ minutes, so the petrol costs and driving effort are balanced by running reward. At some stage in your running career you will encounter hills. If you remember the rule for slow and steady, and shorten your pace to negotiate hills, you may surprise yourself at how soon you will conquer your local hills. I now run all mine, but still ..... ever so slowly ... Good luck to you both, Linda. 
We're very lucky, common is near enough to walk to. We don't start timing the official warm up till we get there, so actually do 8 mins warm up!
I live in a small town, so tend to run from my front door, which does entail an uphill on the way home. I can run to, and part way round a park near me. (Maybe by the end of week 9 I will be running far enough to go right round). On Friday though I cycled to the park, chained my bike up, ran, then cycled home. Masochist! The cycle home though is not too bad, and is a good stretch on the legs after running.
I'm quite fortunate where I live in South London. It's a little hilly (ok, can be a lot hilly!!!) but early on in the C25k Program, I found an area about 5-6 minutes walk from my front door that was all uphill to get to, but flat once there so I'd do my warm up walking to the flat area, run around it for 30 minutes / 5k and then walk back downhill.
That seemed to work well but now the longer runs are happening, I'm encountering more hills. I plan my routes around them so I'll ensure there's no really big hills to do, or if I can, break out some up hill climbs with flat bits if possible...
but the great thing about hills is that if you run uphill, you must come back down again!!
I'm also very lucky, short 2 minute walk to the local park and almost 5k path in distance to run on round the park. There are so many runners it's like a running track some days!
I live in Essex and work in Herts, so I drive across early before the traffic builds up and then run before I go into work.
Very lucky here as it's very flat, have driven in the past just to go somewhere different to run though.
I always drive - partly the living on a steep hill thing. More that I am sticking to my resolution not to run on roads and pavements to protect my joints (my Dad is still running at almost 80 - and I already have a bony spine injury that increases the likelihood of osteoarthritis). Plus I always run with my dog and I like her to be able to have a run suitable to *her* abilities at least some of the time, rather than on lead and stuck at my pace. And I live somewhere with many beautiful options close at hand and I run at least as much for the sake of my soul as my body.
I'll often do errands first so I leave the house in 'stealth' running gear, stripping off the top layers and changing my shoes when I arrive where I am going to run.
I could have written this myself! I've only run on pavements twice since starting c25k, partly because of my dog coming with me, but also to try to avoid joint injury. Ha Ha! This back-fired when I tripped and fell and fractured my arm. But I can't wait to get back out there. Love the 'stealth' wear, I know exactly what you mean!
We're at the top of a cul de sac, so the only way out is down and the only way back home is up, and once we're out of our road it's a choice of up or down until you're out of the valley. So all through the actual c25k plan I drove to the 'flat' aerodrome, about 5 minutes away and ran round that, got bored in week 8 and in week 9 actually ran to/from the aerodrome. Now I walk to the bottom of our road and start running, tackling whichever hill I come across. I'm still trying to figure out the least steep route into and out of Happy Valley though.
Hey, from your description I know roughly where you live (sounds creepy sorry). Lots of nice places to jog, but I've not been brave enough to tackle the (many) hills yet.
Yay! I have a stalker!
We need a secret password or something for when we're out running to ask if people are doing the NHS plan. "Running with Laura?" perhaps?
I just love the convenience of running from my front door - no car keys to carry. I think that's what has helped me get to (and through) week 4. The first 3-4 mins are uphill but that's the warm up walk so it's ok. I've got two convenient loops (about 4k each) but they both start with downhill and end with uphil runs. I keep telling myself though that if I've been consistently following those routes the hills will be factored into my strength and stamina. My legs sometimes tell a differet story however!
I also don't drive as I have fields within 5 mins walk. But, the ground is getting really hard and the grass quite long so I am thinking about driving somewhere; no idea where though yet. I do like my fields though as there are so few people around and I don't feel confident enough yet to run in public.
I have tried running on by a road but the pavement was so narrow and the cars so fast, I hated it. I really need to grow up I think ;0)
I think I need to drive to somewhere where there are some hills. I run around quite a flat common (there might be slight inclines). The only bit of hill is the railway bridge - not a great challenge! So congratulations to all those who do there runs on hilly terrain but , as I think flat ground helped me to complete the programme, I think it is a very good idea to use a car to help you to find a place that will help you to complete your runs without too much discouraging uphill slog.
I guess I'm lucky because there are flat footpaths starting from the end of my garden. However, I am intending to drive to other areas for more pleasing, and a change of, scenery. I don't think it matters if you choose to drive somewhere for your run. The important thing is that you are getting out of the house and running. Good luck.
I don't drive, so don't have the option. But I was surprised how many of you do drive to your runs - I'd always assumed that everyone I see out running is a local, now I'm not so sure!
I've run while living in 2 different places now - the first I had a set route, the way out was up an incline and the way home was down. I found that turning round to come back down was a great motivator at that half-way point!
My new home is by the sea, but I live at the top of a very steep hill. Because of houses I can only see the sea if I go down the hill, which means that if I want to run by the sea (which I really do!) then I have to run up a very very steep hill on my way home. It's tough. But the seaside run is worth it
I'm lucky that I have a park 5 mins from my house and it's relatively flat. Otherwise it's residential streets etc. There's some nice places to run very near me (if I drove somewhere), but an awful lot of hills so I will be needing to psyche myself up for those!
I'm just coming back to C25k, but I am lucky that there are lots of country lanes. Mostly I can run on the pavement, though sometimes I run with one headphone in so I can listen for cars and throw myself in the hedge if I need to..
When I started C25k before I ran in the woods and football field if it was empty. I chose the grass because I thought it would be softer, and so easier on my body, but had to change because it was too uneven and I was always looking around avoiding holes!
I live at the top of a hill too. Whichever way I go is down, which means when I am most tired I must go up! I try to time my run so I can do the uphill part as my warm down walk, even if it means sometimes my walk is longer than usual.
I think if I had to drive somewhere it would just be another excuse for me. Being able to put on my trainers, and just go out the door makes it much more achievable.
I'm also really lucky because I can walk out my front door, start my 5 min warm up and I'm at the local park by the time I've finished the warm up.
I did learn my lesson early though because I tried to complete the first run on the hilly part of the park 
I now complete the run on the flat and my aim is to run on the hilly part again by week 4/5.
How do you clean your shoes ?
How often do you run?
How do you choose your running route and how do you run through the winter frost?
Do you feel sick mid-run? How to stop feeling so ill?
1 run left to do :)
