Just sayin' hello and thanks very much to all of you!

[nomoresloth]

Hello to all my personal trainers (i.e. all of you!),

thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, questions and successes on this page. Although this is my first post here but I've been loitering here as a silent reader for the last two months. Your posts motivated me when I had a bad run (and realised that some of you also struggled with exactly the same runs), you made me laugh (i.e. the a question about how to wear runner shorts without getting injured ) and kept me motivated when I was too much a sloth to get out of the door. This is the first forum ever I join but it's definitely worth it!

So: THANK YOU ALL! I don't know if I had kept to the plan without this page.

Just a few words about my journey so far:

I (never been sportive, 25 years old, overweight) started W1R1 on the 3rd of April. At that time I didn't know about the NHS C25K but had found the plan somewhere in the internet. So off I went with my mobile (as stopwatch) and from W2 on with an additional post it in my hand (I found it hard to remeber when I had to do what for how long...I felt quite stupid "running" in the park, starring at a yellow post it...).

Some day in W3, I googled C25K and found this wonderful page and the podcasts that released me of the post it). Off I went with wonderful Laura and her special choice of music. Everything went perfect, I didn't have to repeat a single run and felt almost bored with W1-4, so I graduated on the 1st of June covering around 4.6 km in 30 minutes. Since then, I've been running to my own music as well as to the Week 9 podcast. I also tried Stepping Stones but somehow I'm too stupid to do this podcast... I'll give it another try in a few weeks time.

So again: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Happy running to everyone!

[Hidden]

Well done on completion of C25K. I'm going to get a bit cross with you here - NEVER, EVER, think that you are stupid. That comment got to me a bit. Of course you can do the podcast, just take your time, exactly as you did with the C25K podcasts. Anyone who gets out there and does something is NOT stupid. Enjoy your next runs and say more positive things about yourself - it's good for self esteem, especially as you have already achieved so much already. With very best wishes.

[nomoresloth Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your encouraging message! Don't worry, I usually don't think I'm stupid or anything and I'm proud of me for completing the programm and running out there instead of sitting on the couch. I also don't care about people watching me and my bright beetroot face that lasts for at least one hour...

I just think I did something wrong with Stepping Stones or I didn't get the point Usually, I run about 4.3 to 4.8K in 30 minutes and feel comfortable with my pace. I tried Stepping Stones to improve my speed and ended up covering 2.8K... Well, not exactly what I was aiming for I kept to the beat but apparently my steps were tiny...

I gave it another go a few days later with larger steps and couldn't cope with it because it was far so fast for me. I stopped after 7.5 minutes (the first time ever I didn't finish a run).

Well, I'll try again later. In the meantime I enjoy running to my own music and speeding up with the W9 podcast

[poweron Graduate in reply to Hidden]

OK nomoresloth and thank you for your very nice blog - Fitmo is right! Shuffle the negatives into the ditch and build on the positive and go, go, go! Well done on your graduation. I am up with you and achieving 4.6km in 30 minutes and so I'm pushing to get that 5km and it's hard. My music helps me and adds drive to my legs.

[suzybenj Graduate]

Look up the stepping stone tag-not everyone gets on with it. I quite enjoyed it -did run yesterday-but I did run slower. It does not seem to suit those with longer legs. I am going to give it another go. But I quite like the idea of intervals (speed podcast)tacked into the middle of a longer run.

Really well done on your achievements and you are running a perfectly respectable time. I am doing about 5k in 35 mins -trying to bring it down.

Keep going-it is people like you, me and everyone on this site that keep us all going

[suzybenj Graduate]

Ps -where is your badge you should be proudly wearing???

[nomoresloth Graduate in reply to suzybenj]

I'll give the post-graduate podcasts another go in a few weeks time as I think they are a good way to improve the running. They and me just aren't compatible for the moment

I joined this forum only yesterday and have already sent an email to the admins. I hope to get it after the weekend This green badge was also something that kept me going. I wanted to get it so I had to complete the programme.