I haven’t posted here in a while but thought this may amuse/help some of you starting out on your own C25K journey. As background, I started in April '17 (age 56) and graduated in June '17. Since then I’ve kept running (including three half marathons). I remember reading posts like this and thinking …. yes, fine …. but I can’t do that … they’re different ... they may not have run before but they obviously like exercise, probably already go to the gym regularly ….. but they’re not like me ... I was most definitely exercise averse, cardiophobic, a committed sofa-dweller 🤦♀️.
I’d spent the last 25 years living my life through and for my lovely children (not regretting a minute of it I should add). But C25K would all be down to me. Eek! Not likely to happen. No way did I didn’t think I’d get to week 9, let alone go on to run further AND still be running two and a half years later! As for loving it? Who’d have thought that was even a thing
🙄
Anyway, this week I was out with a good friend of many years. She started C25K after I told her I was doing it and she too is still running. We’re eating a good dinner and demolishing a bottle of prosecco while talking running (as you do once you’ve somehow become addicted) … and suddenly she says, ‘well, I only did it because you were doing it. If it was someone who was fit or interested in any sort of exercise, I wouldn’t have taken any notice. But you? Well, if you could do it so could I!’
😂😂😂
🙉 Errr? Whatttt??? 😜 That’s a bit insulting … but she’s right! Not even my best of friends would ever have thought I’d be where I am today (a self-confessed addict to this running malarkey). But I am. And it has changed my life for the better in so, so many ways. And it’s very possible you could find the same thing happens to you, however unlikely that may seem right now; yes really it might 😀
I’m currently doing C25K for the second time, coming back after a long period of injury. I’ve enjoyed every single run this time – even the ones that have been hard or painful. But I certainly didn’t feel that way first-time round; there are so many things I know now that I wish I'd known then. I’ll try to gather some of those thoughts and post a series of reflections on C25K second time around, just in case they may help someone else starting out 👍
In the meantime, if there was just one thing I could tell you it would be ‘DITCH THE FEAR’. Set out to enjoy what you’re doing, safe in the knowledge that it's one of the best things you could do for yourself. I’m SO glad I stepped out of my comfort zone for W1R1.
Good luck on your running journey. Happy running and be sure to tell us all about it.
Written by
linda9389
Graduate
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I too thought that running was going to be a necessary chore and a lesser evil than going to the gym, simply to try to prevent the seemingly inevitable loss of stamina associated with ageing..........no way was I going to get addicted.
Congratulations on your achievemnets and enjoy all thos ewonderful benefits of running........keep running, keep smiling.
I have a similar story - a friend who was a lapsed sporty type who took it up again because I was doing it. She subsequently credits me with helping her pass the fitness tests to become a police special in her 50s😊 It still amazes me that I might inspire anybody towards sporty pursuits........
PS April 2017 was a good month for couch potatoes - I’m still running too, but decided I was bonkers as I ran a very soggy Parkrun this morning!
Wow, what an amazing thing to have inspired and changed life for your friend so positively I volunteered at a soggy parkrun this morning but next week I hope to run it again for the first time since first week of January!!!
Well done linda. Posts like these are so inspiring to those who have just started the programme . I’m glad to hear that your recovery is coming along nicely. 🏃♀️👏👏
What a lovely post, so encouraging, thank you! I'm on week 3 now and I still don't believe that I am doing this for real. And there is still that little voice saying ... yes, fine, linda9389 can do it, but she's not like me ... surely she has much more stamina than I have ... But I must admit that I really seem to begin to ... like running ?!? 😳
Don't listen to that voice! That's just coming from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about 🤣. If you like it now ... even just a tiny bit ... you're going to LOVE it by the time you graduate - I will watch for your graduation post
I had the same experience but in my story I was the friend looking at my friend going well geez you just ran a HM and you call yourself a non-runner so why can't I? After a few failed attempts on my own to start running, I came across this lovely program and then found the forum as I got to W5r3 and, like everyone, thought this can't be right 😰. And here I am, still running years later. This has got to be the best programme to get runners and non-runners alike into this amazing addiction we call running 😍
This a great post! It’s inspiring and humorous! And your so right about getting rid of the fear. The fear uses up so much energy. Happy running to you too! 🏃🏻♀️😀
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I volunteered at a soggy parkrun this morning but next week I hope to run it again for the first time since first week of January!!!
But I must admit that I really seem to begin to ... like running ?!? 😳
How long should I give it? 
When it went pear-shaped I should have posted here
Back pain- should I continue?
Man, I feel like a runner! 
I did it!!! I can’t quite believe it :)
