I'm a finisher.

[helianth]

An unhelpful bit of self-talk for me is that I'm good at starting things, but no good at finishing them. Tonight I finished the program, and proudly proved myself wrong. Life, and death, threw spanners in the works along the way, meaning it has taken me 9 months rather than 9 weeks, but I've heard that slow is OK, so, so be it.

I'm happy to have not upset my ankles or knees in the process, and stoked to have cracked 5km on each of the last two runs 😀

Now starting is one thing, finishing is another, but I know that carrying on is going to be difficult for me. I almost like running, but that's not enough to get me out the door. I want to like running, but I get bored very quickly. It was ticking off each run and watching the stats that got me through, having the app and podcasts tell me what to do and when, and lurking on here, reading about the challenges and successes of others. What a great community.

What now? I would like to do a parkrun soon, and work towards 5km of running. If anyone has any tips on what to do next, and how to keep running interesting, I would love to hear them.

Thanks for listening 😊

[SC1472 Graduate]

Well done for finishing. It has shown determination. You ought to start parkrun straight away as it will give you a focus. There are also the c25k+ podcasts which include stepping stones to use on your next few runs if you need structure. What then? Sign up for an event? 10k?

[helianth Graduate in reply to SC1472]

Thank you for your comment on determination. I'm proud of my effort. Ah yes, I do need the structure, and will get cracking on new podcasts as suggested. Also perhaps some new music.

10k? Hmm, I'll think about it...

[Hidden]

First of all.....Congratulations on your running achievement. You did it and should be proud!

Looking forwards, I would suggest taking a few weeks to enjoy the runs, be playful and try different lengths and speeds of run. Mix up the routes you take too. The stepping stones podcasts are good and parkruns might provide you with the structure and interest that you need.

For longer runs that can be abut boring, I like to listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

But most of all, remember you are a runner now runner 🏃🏅🏃‍♀️

[helianth Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I'm looking forward to running in some new locations, and I would like to try running on some forest trails also.

Ah yes, I have been using podcasts to distract me lately too. I've found it a great tactic. I have downloaded stepping stone and will give it a go.

🏃‍♀️👌

[GoogleMe Graduate]

First, ask for your hard-earned Graduate badge.

To add to the great replies you've already had, you could think about joining the six weekly Quests that are organised here. You set your own fitness goals... but you declare them and report in.

Congratulations! You are so right about the satisfactions of completing the challenge.

[helianth Graduate in reply to GoogleMe]

Oo, quests! That sounds right up my alley 😊

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to helianth]

Excellent - not too late to join in with the current "I want to Run..." (see pinned posts) eg you could decide on a number of consolidation runs.

If you've struggled in the past with setting achievable goals and succeeding with them, it is a lovely way to keep practicing doing it without excessive pressure.

[helianth Graduate in reply to GoogleMe]

This is exactly what I struggle with! Thank you. I will check it out and get involved.

[damienair Graduate]

Very well done and congrats. Keep it up, don't let all your hard work go to waste. It takes a couple of weeks to find your way after Graduation. For me I have a little quest, and that is to run 5k consistently in under 30 mins. I love Parkrun, so far I have ran 7 Parkruns and volunteered at my local Parkrun twice. Now I have made new friends whom I meet every Saturday morning, I have also joined my local Athletics Club, I was nervous when I turned up 2 weeks ago for the first time, but I recognised some of the members from Parkrun and the people in the Athletics club are very friendly and welcoming. So now I run 5k on my own on Tuesday evenings, run 5k with Athletics club on Thursdays and I live for Parkrun on Saturday mornings.

Congratulations again.

[helianth Graduate in reply to damienair]

Thanks! Wow, that's a lot of social running. I love sleeping on Saturday mornings 😆 though I know a couple of people who do my local parkrun occasionally, so maybe we can encourage each other in that.

[SueKen Graduate]

Very well done! As you say, now to keep it up 😊

[Millsie-J Graduate]

Congratulations on your graduation!

lots of good ideas above, enjoy!

[helianth Graduate]

Wow, thank you all for your kind words and great constructive suggestions. I've claimed my badge and am looking forward to tomorrow's run, just to see what happens. Routes are pretty limited around home, so I might have to investigate options for new and different near work.