Week 1- mission complete

[Ryansson]

Hello there!

First time I've ever written a blog, but after reading other people's I thought it looked a great way to chart progress and share experiences with others. Hope it goes well

This isn't the first time I have run. I started last year, think it may have been about August. A little bit of background may help; I have had asthma since the age of 3 and am now 41. At school some teachers were not so sympathetic to the plight of asthmatics and I dreaded summer when cross country running season would see me at the back of the line coughing and spluttering with barely controlled hay fever whilst others left me for dust. In short running and I were never really the best of friends and tolerated each other at a push. Growing up any exercise I did was at a gym or walking. I spent my mid to late 20's and 30's with my weight fluctuating. At my heaviest I was 14.5 stone. I went through periods of drinking allot and smoking (I know, what an idiot I was). Eventually it all had to come to a stop before something sinister happened.

About a year ago whilst walking with my partner I started feeling the urge to jog a little ahead. Now I have no idea what caused this, but it was definitely there. My partner used to jog a little and so she suggested I should try it, so after a little while I did. Now am sure I'm not alone here when I say I couldn't run 100yds to begin with, but within a few months I was running 2 mile non stop which for me was phenomenal. I did toy with the C25K back when starting, but since most of my running was on roads I was tentative to listening to a pod cast with cars whizzing by for safety. I started running 2 mins then walking 2 mins and slowly building up. It was very tiring stuff and I probably did allot more than I should have been doing to be honest.

In October I became a father again to a beautiful baby boy, alas though it saw the end to my running. Too many broken sleeps, not enough time. I tried to carry on sporadically, braving the cold and even the snow, but came to a grinding halt. ..... Until now that is. I weighed myself last week and I was a pound off 14 stone. Too much chocolate for energy ( yeah yeah I know lol), too many unhealthy options and too little exercise had me back on the road to trouble.

My daughter started to have back problems around the age of 14 to the extent where it prevented her doing sports she enjoyed, affected the way she walked and left her in constant discomfort and pain. It turned out she had a herniated disk and at the age of 16 she had surgery. Her weight had become troublesome as she hadn't been able to do too much exercise, even walking was slow and laborious for her. We both decided to start the C25K together to break her gently into running and me back into it. We live apart, but have been supporting each other over text and phone this week and will run together when she visits.

There is my story so far. I found week 1 a nice gentle re-introduction and am enjoying the program so far. Summer is here and I am running 3 times per week breaking it up with dog walking every other day for 3 miles. looks like I may be back on track and even though I've had a wee cold this week it hasn't stopped me. Daughter is enjoying too, what better way to de-stress from her A level course?

More to come soon. Until then keep running, walking and enjoying your efforts everyone

[jillie100]

Hello, I enjoyed reading your blog. Nice that you are doing this together with your daughter. I do the same with mine - she's actually further on than I am, but we both post up our runs on Runkeeper and encourage each other. I can imagine your life must be busy with your baby son, but he'll expect you to play football with him in a few years time, so better to get fit now!

Good luck with the programme!

[Ryansson Graduate]

Thank you Jillie. Yeah things are very busy, but nicely so. little fella is already tiring me out and he isn't even crawling yet lol

[Fentaz42 Graduate]

Good grief! I could have been reading my own life story! I was diagnosed with asthma at 15 months old and had the same experience as you did at school. My fitness regime during my adult life has been gym related as I always felt my lungs would let me down. I have two grown up children aged 23 and 18 and a young baby that's 1 1/2 so I can completely understand the situation of being knackered after looking after a baby and experiencing the dreaded sleepless nights!

I'm starting the first week over again (tomorrow morning) as I had only just finished run 2 of week 1 when I got a chest infection and had to stop.

I find the motivation on here is fantastic and after reading your blog this has incouraged even more! Good running!

[Ryansson Graduate]

Hi Fentaz.

yeah the PE teachers at my school were clueless as to how asthma and hayfever can leave you pretty well floored. I remember being made to feel like I was lazy. Even when I had a note they would be more condesending than understanding.

Atm I have a cold, although this time of year it blends in with hayfever, so I am keeping an eye that it doesn't turn into a chest infection. Totally understand your frustration with starting the program and falling ill, this is the obstacles we have to deal with.

I don't know if you have looked this up but I found a list of atheletes who suffer from asthma which really inspired me when I came to the question of running. Here's just one: news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy...

There are many more. I would hope that today's PE teachers would use these roll models to inspire young asthma sufferers.

Enjoy revisiting week 1. You might know all the words of the songs by the end of it lol. Will be blogging more as am starting week 2 today .... wish me luck

[Hidden]

Yes, I remember my school-days with horror. I didn't have any medical conditions but was far from being a sporty person. Nonetheless, we had to go out in all weathers in just t-shirts and short skirts and our plimsolls whilst the PE teacher was well wrapped up in track suit and raincoat. Our legs and arms used to turn blue with cold. Now I'm doing the C25K I can wear what suits me according to the weather and I'm actually enjoying it, along with Pilates for the 'rest' days. Good luck with your runs.

[Ryansson Graduate]

Fitmo,

Oh the dreaded blue legs syndrome lol. My daughter is starting pilates too. Thanks for reading and commenting