Not posted for a while and still not completed the whole programme - but
I started running a year ago and got up to week six before life and laziness got in the way - started again at the start in October and intended completing week nine on holiday in Florida in January, ran week eight and first run of week nine (on day before flying to the States) - turned out that my motivation for a run in the evening or early morning went with discovering that I was walking about 15-20 miles a day in heat I wasn’t accustomed to.
Got back with good intentions then got hit with a couple of bereavements of close relatives and it took me a while to get back to any sort of running.
Started again and completed week one a month ago and then caught flu, which floored me for a couple of weeks - did first run of week two last week - managing OK but not breezing through it.
Then last week I got asked if I wanted to play football - I’m a sport photographer and primarily shoot the matches of a team in the SPFL Premiership and they had an end of season staff match on the pitch in the stadium.
Being very dubious about my fitness I said I’d play for quarter of an hour and then take some photos of the other guys playing.
Turned up on Sunday, home dressing room with all the kit laid out as if it was a Premiership match and one of the first team acting as our manager, we got treated like gold.
Had a look around the other people playing and I’d guess that there was only one other guy over 50, an ex-pro, I’m 58 - most were in their thirties and forties and play five a sides regularly while there were a few in their late teens and twenties and I thought I’d be easily slowest and least fit man on the park.
Game kicked off and after breathing through my backside for the first five minutes I suddenly realised that I was Ok and I wasn’t the least fit by a fair bit.
Played the first thirty five minutes of the game before getting substituted for a breather - five minutes later someone got injured so I was back on - ended up playing 75 minutes - so the other guys didn't get those photos of them playing..
And it may just have been a bounce game between guys who don’t play at any sort of level but it was magic to play on the beautiful pitch of the team I’ve supported all my life - for a brief moment when I went past a full back and fired a shot just wide I was 21 again.
Thighs were sore afterwards but calves were absolutely fine.
Although I’ve not yet completed the programme and am early in my third attempt at it, I am a fair bit fitter than I was a year ago (I would have turned down the opportunity to play a year ago because I knew i wouldn’t have managed it) and I’m off out for week 2 run 3 tomorrow evening.
If anyone has given up for a while then get back out when you are ready, even if it means starting at week one - I’m glad I’ve kept going back to running and got to do something I couldn’t imagine because of it.
Week 5 Run 3 (20 minute)
First run after injury
Week 8 Run 2 - A run of two halves
Morning run (without the colleagues!)
running after hip replacement 
