Might seem odd that my first post is after completing week 9, but ought to say a huge thanks to you all, as your posts here have helped immensely while I’ve been lurking.
Like many here, I’d never run before and was really unfit - late 50s and quit smoking last year after 40 years of ciggies).
W1 - almost killed me, but the buzz after completing W1R1 was amazing.
W2 - Hmm, this isn’t as tough as I thought it’d be.
W3 - yes it bloody is! Picked up a slight calf-strain and had to delay R3 for a couple of days.
W4-6 - confidence and stamina increasing; actually beginning to enjoy the runs
W7 - surprised myself at maintaining the run for a full 25 minutes, but then started paying attention to my pace and this was disappointing. W7R1 I was averaging just under 8m / km. it hit me that a W9 run at that pace would be well shy of 5K. R2 I overcooked the 1st k and averaged even slower. Same with R3.
W8 - tried to worry less about pace and was chuffed at completing all 3 and found 8’30” was a pace I could maintain for the whole run. I had assumed I’d be running 5K at W9 but following people’s stories here, brought my expectations to a more realistic level.
W9 - finally learned to manage my pace! I decided to aim for 8’30” for every k and by R3 I was within 3 seconds of that for every k.
I’ve now treated myself to a week off (too blimmin’ ‘ot) and plan to do a few weeks of consolidation runs of 30mins, then start building up to regular 5Ks to get my times more respectable.
So thanks again everyone for the inspiration. I’ll have my badge now please!
W9R3 complete and DONE ✅ 
W9R3 completed yipppppeeeeeeeee!!!!
W9R3 completed - sooooo chuffed!!
Graduation! W9R3 complete
I done it! W9R3 Completed. 
