I came out to my Facebook friends after W9R1. "I'm a runner", I said, "I've got 2 more runs to go until graduation, will you cheer me on to the finishing line?". All I got was a bunch of likes, a couple of "Well dones" and one suggesting at my age (53) it was a very bad idea and I should stick to fast walking. The very idea! Though, perhaps my friend was right , I have an ache in the right knee and on the top of my foot and I'm concerned I'll do more harm than good.
Ho hum ... Later today I hope to strap on the running shoes, push Laura into my ears for the penultimate time and slay this beast. But do I want to? This morning? No.
Will you cheer me on, please? I'm in need of moral support from those I've shared aches and strains with over the past 9 weeks and I'll let you know how it goes ...
Written by
simonHumph
Graduate
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Don't think about it, just get out there and bloody do it. Go now!
Go nice and steady and enjoy yourself. Imagine you're Mo just about to be first to break the tape. Music to Chariots of Fire fills the air. You've done it, you've made it ........
What lovingrunning said. Ignore the naysayers and the lukewarm responses. I think running is a very black and white thing - you're either besotted or don't understand what all the fuss is. We are your running tribe and we'll cheer you on. Now go out and slay run 2!
Yes, simonHumph. I'll cheer you on! Be careful enough of the potential injury though. Why don't you do the warm-up, start running and if it hurts, stop and call it a practice run. It's sometimes hard to know when the niggles are real injuries which require rest and when they are just niggles or gremlins or whether a real injury has healed sufficiently (my current issue). But overall, ignore your friend. There are loads of us on here in our 50s.
If I were you, I'd give it a go. You know deep down you'll feel better if you do! Let us know how you get on.
Just do it and you'll be glad you did!! I felt the same as no-one else could really understand the journey we've been on and so this forum is the place where I came to shout it from the rooftops when I graduated. Big cheer from me, you can do this!!!
Hi simonHumph , I'm with you, already at the door waiting to cheer you as you go out , and will be here to cheer you when you finish!
You have so got this! Flick those gremlins off your shoulder and RUN 😃🏃🏻😃🏃🏻.
Do your friends maybe, just a little bit, suffer from the green eyed monster perhaps? Either way you are part of the running community now and as they say on this forum, remember we never run alone! 👍🏼😉🎶
You CAN do it! Those horrible gremlins will always get you down if you let them. As for facebook 'friends' I seem to have got rid of those who gave me their negative views as I am the one getting up off my bum and doing it unlike them
I was in the same boat as you this morning. Alarm went off at 4:30am and the last thing I wanted to do was go outside in the dark and run. Just the thought made me miserable. In fact those thoughts came into play all last evening as I was anticipating my week 9 run 1. lol Oh the aches and pains. I got all my wk 8 runs done early in the week last week so it had been 4 days since I had ran. My knees are so sore, my lower back, my shoulders..should i go on? I wasn't even sure I would physically be able to do it today but I had to give it a try. I put on all my gear and headed out. Surprisingly as soon as I started moving those aches seemed to disappear. My breathing comfortable, and I actually felt pretty darn strong. I was glad I got out there. I ended up running for 38minutes (8more minutes then I had too). I was hoping to try and reach the 5k mark today but at about 35minutes my lower back started to hurt really bad so I just decided to finish up and call it a successful run. I'm with you in spirit as well. I hope you got out there and got it done.You can do it!
Thanks all - what a great community this is. Work beckons for now but once it gets dark I'll be grabbing Laura and all your wonderful encouragement and hit the road I'll report back ...
Two more runs you will be a Graduate. You will have completed, and be fully ready to keep going onwards from, something that only three out of every ten who begin actually achieve.
In the final analysis, we not only run "away" from our starting point - we run from the person we used to be.
You would not, like the rest of us, be at this point if you are not enjoying it and being all the better for it.
The hell with anyone who is not happy for you, everyone here who has followed your progress is feckin' thrilled for you Pal
Off you go with Laura I'll add my cheers to all the rest here, but do be careful not to injure yourself. And ignore those who sneer, I bet they couldn't even run for a bus.
Cheering you on as I join you for week 9 - we are the champions!! 😜
Yes come on The Humph , lets get out there and do this thing !
Take no gorm of the doom merchants on your Facebook page, this is where its at !
You can have a nice run and just run off all the stresses and strains of the day ! I am sure Mo sometimes has days where he maybe just wants to sit on the settee and watch Judge Rinder or whatever , but champions and graduates aren't made on the Couch !
Mind you saying that, sometimes I could do without all the faff of getting ready, looking for my shoes, upending my knicker drawer to find my running socks, but once Im out there , I am fine and I am always glad that I made the effort !
Good Luck , you can do it , let us know how it goes xxx
Hope you managed your run ok! Don't listen to those sat on the couch criticising, anyone can sit back and be negative, but you have achieved so much already!
Jealousy!! Perhaps they haven't done it themselves and wish they could. Or perhaps they feel so inadequate in their own lives that they can celebrate anyone else's successes. Either way, does it matter? It doesn't take any of this away from you. You have done this for you, not for anybody else. You feel great and proud and healthy because of C25k, don't you? You're only 2 runs away from graduation (maybe one by now!)! We here are ALL so proud of your achievements because we've been there and know what it's taken for you to get there. The most important thing is that you are proud too.
I have a pinterest board of quotes which I try to make myself remember if ever I feel down. Some of them pertain to things others think of us. Hope it helps to try to keep these in mind.
- Sometimes the people around you won't understand your journey. They don't need to. It's not for them.
- The value of your achievements don't decrease based on someone's inability to see their worth.
You are doing great. Enjoy your last two runs. We are all celebrating this achievement with you!!!
Go for it! You are so close to graduating and then you really WILL be a runner, and to heck with what anyone else says. What are they doing, sitting on the sofa? You can do it!
I have posted something similar before (hope I'm not repeating this to you again ?) anyway It's surprising sometimes the responses we get when "coming out" after being a "closet runner" as I did. I hid the fact that I was running partly because I didn't want to say I was running then for whatever reason stop running and have to make lame excuses for stopping.
Once I was confident I could do the continuous running I was able to "Come out" so to speak. In fact I've had doctors not just friends who have warned about doing running which is why that attitude is so widespread. Not that as others have posted, you shouldn't ignore any injuries and rest up if need be.
It's not worth losing friends over it. Same with lots of issues you have to agree to disagree and pick the issues where you need to "Man the barricades". For those who become curious you can explain without necessarily preaching to them why you run and the benefits and leave them to make up their own minds.
You might eventually even get some converts !
I'm regularly doing 5K nearly 6K and don't want to give up the benefits physically and mentally and the immense sense of achievement.
Thank you! W9R2 completed (4.3k - dang, I'm even beginning to get interested in the distance). Slow and steady at an 11.49mph (!) as the knee was a bit sore but even worse once I'd stopped and started to walk the warm down. BUT **one** more to go though I may need to leave a few more days rest in between?
BUT most importantly, as I crossed the finish line (in the rain I might add) I saw you all in my mind's eye and a reeled off as many nicknames as I could remember who had bothered to post today. So thank you! I look forward to returning the favour one day soon
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I'll add my cheers to all the rest here, but do be careful not to injure yourself. And ignore those who sneer, I bet they couldn't even run for a bus.
xxx
I reckon the knee needs more rest rather than further antagonism from my ambition.
W9r2...
W9R2!
W9R2
HM - Fail ! But looking forward to 5x50...
Am I up to W5R3...?
