I am sure there have been posts on this before, but having promised our lovely Irish Princess that I would pop a few things out there whilst she is away, I came across this.
On this site, it was the become a run leader link that interested me...
This got me thinking about motivation and how others get involved in exercise. I have read posts on here about spouses, partners, friends etc, having seen the great benefits of running, and then wanting to have a go themselves..( or run a mile in the other direction)!
My husband, for example, has always been active; he cycles, walks, was a volunteer in Snowdonia Mountain Rescue, Adventure training officer in the RAF Reserve, black belt in Judo, the list goes on... and on! All of which he really enjoyed and some of those activities,he still does. He has encouraged and supported me, wholeheartedly to do C25K... ( go on get out there, it's only a drop of rain) ...and to carry on with my running.
He has no personal desire to run... ever, has shown no desire to participate in training, go to a gym, yoga etc, but..when he found out about a new Pilates class that I was intending starting yesterday, he asked if I would mind if he came along...After I had picked myself up from the floor.. that was fine. I was surprised, but he felt the type of class it was, offered what he feels he need at this moment in time.
So...I wondered.. how many of us have spouses, partners, family, friends, or work colleagues, who have caught the exercise bug... but not just running, any sort of exercise, which has followed on from our running examples, and whether many of us actually caught the running bug from someone else?
Just food for thought really...
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Oldfloss
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Hi Floss. My hubby Paul and I started c25k together, I picked him up from work and we went to a local park and started our journey with Laura...
We soon found that park a bit hilly 😯..
but found another one where we carried on with the plan right up to Week 9.
Hubby got fed up with the music on the podcasts at around week 6 though and started doing his own thing.. I think he ran a bit too quickly though and used to get quite breathless and needed walking breaks whereas Laura and I where fine!😀
We both went to the gym and ran on treadmills after graduating as it was dark in the evenings. I also found a route near home I could do at weekends though.
Just recently Paul has started running with me (ok ahead of me) on my local route. I do stepping stones and he just runs for 30 mins ( he is managing to pace himself a lot slower now and his breathing has settled and he is managing the run ok.
So we are a couple 56 and 60 who now run together.... all thanks to c25k.
That is lovely..the couple that run together.etc..
I am so pleased that we have started the Pilates together..He will never run..but..he could cycle while I run..hmmm you have given me ideas...thanks youx
Good link floss, thanks, my wife at 61is currently doing c25k and just completed w3 today in the sunshine, after I inspired her, as I was inspired by a guy I knew at work after I took early retirement and needed to find a fitness activity, instead of a boring gymnasium. It's great your husband has kept up a lot of his activities, is he still doing the judo? Early last year I was thinking about doing taking up kungfu at a local martial arts school, with a special 30 day freel trial, which is still being offered, but thought being a contact sport would I have a problem with that at my age 60, and lack of fitness, but now I've got fitter through running am rethinking it, and may look into it again, and see if I can take that step..😊
Not all schools fight, according to my daughter who used to do kung fu. However those which don't aren't seen as 100% kosher by those which do. I've been thinking of taking it up with my daughter. A friend of hers, also 15 has been doing it for years and is now a trainer. She's of the fight school, well I suppose it is a martial art, anyway she has had a broken leg, a broken arm and various other injuries so if I did it, it would definitely not be the version with real fights. I'd just want to learn the moves. Also thinking about tai chi because I might be able to get the hubster to join in that one.
He does not do judo any more.. he is looking for a similar but gentler something...other than that .. he is as active as ever...I think the fitness is still there, but there is an awareness of a touch of vulnerability in certain things. he is 70 this week!
Great that Mrs Dave is on the journey, and just shows how we pass things on.. like smiles really
My wife, and kids, were initially, by turns, surprised, amused, scornful and then indifferent to my running and later other fitness activities. Then there came a point, i forget exactly when, when they admitted to grudging approval and eventually actual pride in my achievements, but were still all quick to qualify this with "but I'd never do something like that myself"
Then my elder son joined in at an Obstacle Race in the kids race one day, and then they all did. and then one day my wife took up C25k. I had been careful not to try and push any of it on them, but when they actively started wanting to do stuff, was happy to impose meticulously detailed rigorous 6 month training plans on them... haha no, not quite. Although I did, after my wife had been running for a while and making hem-haw noises about going to a gym but never committing, secretly book her into a series of ladies circuit training classes a friend of mind runs, and we drove her to the first lesson with a blidfold as part of a 'surprise' and led her into the gym and handed her a gym bag and then scarpered leaving her to it... lol. Fortunately she enjoyed it and did not Bobbit me afterwards. Now she does circuits, spin, bootcamp, occasional Crossfit and running. The kids have got into rock-climbing, running, kids Crossfit, mountain biking and BMX, and are dabbling with stuff like Parkour and Ju-Jitsu and want to go on activity holidays in the summer, kayaking and so on.
All of which represents pretty much a 180 from where we were all at with regard to physical activity a couple of years ago.
I also have perhaps half a dozen friends who have taken up C25k and/or calisthenics etc after seeing my journey and thinking "if that degenerate slob can do it, so can I". The flipside of that is that I have probably lost a dozen or so friends who for some reason took offence at my healthire lifestyle. Cutting out alcohol pisses some people right off, it transpires. But y'know that doesn't seem too terrible a loss to me, especially weighed against all the new friends I have made.
Some people do see a personal reproach where there isn't one. Not really friends if they couldn't accept you taking steps to look after yourself after what happened to you!
A brilliant post..thank you.. what a journey for all of you. Gosh.. what a 'surprise' for your wife, I am really glad she enjoyed it! Do you give her many surprises like that? As you say, a massive lifestyle change for you all.
i wonder why people feel the need to be so negative and have no sense of understanding of other life choices. we have lost friends similarly, but, their loss.
I have a friend who has tried to start C25K but gave up quite quickly...
Our children were brought up on outdoor stuff. canoeing. walking, rock scrambles etc..because that was how I was brought up.. I ran as a child and a young adult, but that was speed stuff...Youngest still runs and is very active when not working all the hours.. Son in law, still runs and is trying to kill me by taking me with him.. I think he wants an early inheritance!!
I think for me, I was sort of inspired by a neighbour who runs. She is a Fire Officer, Ruth Watchorn-Rice, and has raced in loads of things...she won some International Fire-fighters Marathon . But whenever I see her run, it is unbelievably effortless and graceful.. so maybe an urge to emulate that... (unlikely) and the need way back to lose the excesses of French holidays..
When my husband and I met we had a common interest in swimming then we found we love going for long walks together. One of the hardest things with him being not so well is being fit on my own. It's something we always have had in common and he misses it so much. We still try to go for gentle 5-7 km walks together when he is well enough and they are the best times. I go for my long runs while he plays bowls as he can still keep up with that, so we still feel like we are fit together.
My husband inspired me to start lifting weights which I didn't think was very me at first but now I love it! And I got him into running though he struggled to pace himself and gave up after W4. I told him he could do W5R3 after having seen what he could do and he grudgingly decided to try keeping to my slow pace and made it! From there I got really into looking at my garmin data and we're both learning about Pose method running and incorporating pilates, weights and more walking into our routines as well as finally beginning to tackle our bad eating habits.
It's that last one that we both struggle with at the moment, but we're trying to change things at a slower but more consistent pace- much like the running!
Running members of my family were not an example I wished to emulate. It was finding the NHS C25K programme which showed me *my* way.
As for my husband who sorely needs to address his health and wellbeing, he used to say there's one thing worse than cross country running and that's cross country runners. I didn't tell him I was running, but obviously eventually I had to explain the beetroot face. If I mentioned my running he would get up and leave the room! Now (a long way down the line) he tells people I run and I may detect a teeny weeny hint of pride.
In theory he swims and cycles but it is an uphill struggle and not just 'cos we live in the hilly bit of Derbyshire! He does take himself off out for walks (he says they are design walks, so they count as work time)
A few friends and relatives have looked at C25K but none really seems to have stuck with it or even talked to me in any kind of detail about it. Bought a couple of presents of a month's online yoga subscription, with guidance about which classes and teachers I liked (given that I have to be very gentle) One not used at all, another hurt her back the first time (I can only think she did some other class as there's no scope for doing so with the ones I suggested!)
I am sure he is proud of you.. it is a tricky business.
I have a friend who wanted to do the C25K after I finished it, but was not prepared to go with the programme and lost patience with it and me, because I insisted if she did it, she did it properly. She does some other class now, Commando training I think.
I am afraid that I ramble on about the running and the forum, like I do in my posts, and luckily husband is supportive.. I am glad we are now doing a class together too!
Derbyshire hills... oh yes.. we are heading to Carsington Water for a week in May! I shall enjoy that!!! Ha ha!
Yes, I always say there are lots of different ways into running - clearly people ran before podcasts, before gait analysis, before fancy shoes. But I struggle to have patience with people who claim to do the NHS C25K but mess and second guess with it. I've been around this forum long enough to know that the gung-ho don't last!
My husband has taken up cycling- he's never been interested in running but is loving the bike! We have regular disagreements about which is harder- long distances on a bike or a half hour run. Don't suppose it matters really...but I think I'm right!
My niece was the original person who got me thinking about signing up for the charity 5km run. There's 4 of us signed up now- me, her, her sister and her mum (my s-in-law). I live an hour away from them so we have a private 'virtual' facebook running group but I'm the only one following c25k. Hubby has been VERY supportive by leaving me to it! He knows I don't like being disturbed, pressured or embarrassed when embarking on something new so he's waited til I talk about it then listens! He's also picked up house-reins when needed, enabling me to go out when it suits me best. He was a bit of a cyclist but lapsed and has picked it up again as I'm getting fitter and down closer to his weight!
Brilliant.. and brilliant husband letting you get on with it... they have their ways don't they!
Great that it is 'in the family' with your niece etc.. I think that is lovely. I started way back with daughter and son in law, but daughter, now works long hours and has tendon issues.. son in law as you may know, is trying to kill me when we run together!!!
Well, when I started C25K this time round, I got ready and announced to Mr Niggit that I was going for a run - and he informed me that if I'd given him more notice he'd have come with me! And he's shared the program with me since, even though my "gentle jog" is really only his fast walk. Bless him.
He does have a problem with one of his feet where his big toe has a titanium screw holding it rigid instead of a joint (when he was nobbut a lad he tried to kick start a moped but kick started the pavement instead), but Laura seems to be progressing slowly enough for him not to end up in agony
Just after Christmas, some colleagues at work signed up to do the Bournemouth Bay Run (10K or Half Marathon) at the beginning of April. My first response was to sponsor them, wish them luck and think how impressive they were because I could never do that.
After a little while though, I started thinking "Why can't I do that?" so I started a half-hearted effort to get fitter - a bit of walking, cycling and swimming. However, everytime I started running I had to stop after about 30 seconds.
Undeterred, I signed myself up for the local parkrun in March and managed to finish it, although it almost entirely consisted of walking and I was 3rd from last.
As I had finished the parkrun, I decided to go for the 5K at the Bournemouth Bay Run. Still mostly walking I managed this half a minute quicker than the parkrun a fortnight earlier.
After this, someone at work asked me whether I had done the Couch to 5K programme to get myself ready for the 5K. I hadn't and didn't really know anything about it, but decided to give it a go anyway.
I've now just finished Week 3 and about to start Week 4. I'm a little daunted by the lengths of the runs I'll be doing tonight, but everything else has been doable, so I expect this one will be too.
That first Week 4 run was so much easier than I expected it to be! The 3 minute runs were no problem, and it was only the last minute of the 5 minute runs that were a struggle
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