I've been a lurker on here since January and have appreciated reading all the posts and amazing responses and support from the community. I wanted to write a brief post on my own success here with the program.
I was 49 when i started C25K around March this year. I saw an old neighbour running and when she told me she was doing this program I knew I had no excuse. I live in the countryside and have an almost 5k road that circles the farmlands, back to my door. I work from home. I have no excuse apart from laziness to not try it. I made a goal to run 5k by June, my 50th birthday.
I had never been a runner, to be honest i disliked running. Treadmills felt like clock watching and running outside always had me breathing too hard and legs aching for days which led to me not having any consistency or enjoyment at all.
C25K though, I've loved it.
When I looked at week 1 I thought this is easy, my wife said I should start at week 2 or 3 as it looked too easy but I took the slower approach and started at week 1 anyway. This was a good idea for me. Even though I didn't struggle too much, years of sitting at my desk meant that i needed the small start to not ache and give up over the coming days. I wanted to progress but sticking to the program seemed a good idea.
Weeks went past and I stuck to it, rain or shine. There were some weeks I repeated, I cant remember which but I never went backwards in progress.
Each week's upgrade in running times seemed daunting, but each week I completed it, surprising myself. I think this is key with the program as the challenges are within reach physically if you stick to the schedule.
I completed week 9 in May and was running 5k in about 31 mins. Since then I now run 2 - 3 times a week and have consistently run 5k just over 29 mins.
As much as this is an about me post, I wanted this to be a post about the belief in yourself even when you think achieving 30 mins of running is impossible.
I wanted this post to also be a thankyou from all the lurkers on this forum to the people that encourage daily and help the likes of us get our butts in gear and push through to the finish line.
Thank you all.
What a journey...from a running sceptic to a convert
Don't be a fool like me.
Finished C25K & on to B210K
With a good tail wind.....
Recycled c25k
