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.
Written by
Darren6
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Thanks for posting your story! We can have no idea how many people are inspired by hearing about the success of others doing this programme and becoming runners.
People like you and me who had absolutely no interest in running, who complete C25K and plan to carry on running.
I haven’t forgotten the time when I thought that running for 3 minutes seemed impossible. I looked at people on this forum with ‘Graduate’ after their names and didn’t think I would ever be able to join them. 5K was an impossible dream! Until it happened. 😊
Hi Darren, well done that’s amazing. It’s HMS, here, and just wanted to say that this is one of my goals is to get back to running when I can. I’ve done London and Edinburgh marathon in the past so once I can run again(as I am determined I will) I’ll try another.
Oh, well done you! And well done for following the programme from week 1 and taking it slowly. It really works like that. Lovely that you are enjoying it after you have ‘never been a runner’. I always thought I wasn’t able to run but here I am having finished the programme too. Keep on enjoying it 😊
Congratulations! Hopefully this journey you're on will lead you to many more enjoyable and happy runs. My three year runniversary is in a couple of weeks time and have never looked back. I got the running in event bugs and so 5 quite a few a year.
Well done Darren6 such an inspirational post! Always worth reminding people that we weren't all born runners; there are so many of us on this forum who never thought they would get through week 1 of C25K, but here we are 😊.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Every c25k journey should begin with FAQ Posts
C25K changed my life!
C25K Complete - My Story
C25K and my progression
My Journey 
