Five years on

[nowster]

It was about 5pm on the evening of Tuesday 24 March 2020 that I first started Couch to 5K. The previous evening a blond haired man in a suit had told us all to stay at home, but that we could have half an hour of exercise outside each day.

The Couch to 5K app had been glaring at me on my phone for a couple of years previous to that. I could never find the time to start. Well, I didn't have that excuse any more.

So I put on some totally inappropriate clothes for running and set out. It was hard. Really hard. I didn't realise how unfit I was.

It took me until the end of August 2020 to complete C25K. The first two attempts were abandoned due to the medicine I was taking at that time. I'd forgotten that you shouldn't do exercise in the middle of a six month course of Roaccutane.

Anyway, it's five years from that first attempt and I've done lots of running since then, with my longest run to date being a little over 26km. I've done over 120 parkruns.

So today I redid that first Week 1 Run 1, but to make it interesting I did it barefoot.

Yep, no shoes at all. I also wore a tee shirt and shorts. I do have some standards.

Now this isn't the first time I've run totally barefoot. I also normally wear "barefoot" shoes of various types (usually Vibram FiveFingers, the ones with individual toes). I even did this exact thing the last two years on this date.

It's a perfect day for running: dry and sunny but with a slight breeze. Temperature around 13°C.

I get out onto the pavement. It's concrete paving flags. This is actually a comfortable surface for bare feet.

I start the watch and also start the five minute warm up walk.

The surface changes to rough asphalt. I wait for a gap in the traffic to cross the road (not particularly nice surface-dressed tarmac) to get to the pavement on the other side. A brisk walk to the corner, past the hairdressers and the sandwich shop, and onto the main road.

I keep walking. Some wags in a car honk the horn and call out asking where my shoes were.

And then the watch beeps to remind me that the five minutes are up.

I break into a run. Across a side road junction and past a bus stop. The minute goes by quickly.

Then the ninety second walk. The next minute of running takes me over another side road junction and past a bus stop. There are people taking up the whole width of the pavement so I run in the bike lane (rolled tarmac, which is actually nicer on the feet than some of the pavement surfaces).

Another 90s walking, another car full of wisecrackers. They're only jealous, I reason to myself, because they couldn't or wouldn't do this.

The next run interval takes me past a lady who is unloading groceries from her car. And the one after that takes me past the bus stop for the local college. The students waiting for the bus have clocked my oddity but do not comment.

Then my mistake. I turn around too early. I'm remembering where I used to turn five years ago, but I'm stronger and faster than I was then, so turning here is doing it one interval too early.

I walk back past the college bus stop. Again they make no comment.

The next run takes me past the high school bus stop. I have to go into the bike lane again because of students on the pavement.

A couple of run intervals later, I cross the second side road from earlier. A car with a lady in it is turning right into the side road. I look to check she's seen me. (Even though Highway Code rules now say I have priority in this situation, many don't even look and some don't care.) As we say round here, she's gawping in disbelief.

The next run interval gets me past the first bus stop, and then I realise my mistake. I decide to take a diversion up the side road which leads to the chippy, finishing the final run interval just a little way past the chippy's entrance.

I then go back towards the main road and continue homewards.

It then occurs to me that I could take a video of me running, so when I was not too far from home, I decide to run 200m and take a video of some of it (from the waist down) so that I could frighten people with it on Strava.

Back home, I stop the tech and take a photo of the soles of my feet. Mucky!

No pain at all. Only a few small stones which I easily brushed off. I enjoyed this outing.

Here's to the next five years, and best of luck to everyone currently doing C25K.

[SueAppleRun Graduate]

Yay 😁 congratulations and very happy Runniversary........

[sheps Graduate]

I was "ouch"ing all through that read, nowster. My feet are not hard enough any more - not like in my barefoot hippy days.

I ran my second C25K during lockdown. It feels like a long time ago and only yesterday at the same time.

I'm thinking of all those who suffered and lost loved ones during those awful times.

[Jancanrunagain]

I’m really impressed with the effort and bare feet too. The wisecrackers a little less so. As they say if you can, do, if you can’t please keep quiet.

And if they were gawping it was in awe …

[Jools2020 Graduate]

Congrats on your Runniversary, Paul! I think I started couch to 5K in May on the same date as Instructor57

I remember that I barely survived that first run. I joined the forum after and learned very quickly to slow down 😊

We’ve both come a long way - you got faster and faster and I ……. well I didn’t - but I believe I might have been the first to get to HM distance 😊

[nowster Graduate in reply to Jools2020]

The successful third attempt at C25K was started on 23 June 2020. That time I started with four week 1 runs spread over two weeks.

You didn't go so fast you gave yourself an ankle sprain on your graduation run (28 Aug 2020)!

At the time I was envious of your flat routes on the fens. It's all hills round here.

I didn't reach the HM distance until August 2021.

[Jools2020 Graduate]

I think I did mine just before Christmas 2020. I didn’t follow a plan, just increased gradually. I think I’ve always been careful -maybe too careful - about risking injury, but I am a bit older than you!

You might have been envious of my flat routes but as soon as I moved away from the fens, I suffered! Had I learned to cope with hills at the start I think I’d be a better runner now.

[Yesletsgo Administrator]

Congratulations on the Runniversary! Very brave to do it barefoot but then it's not like it's the first time you've done this

Seems like you've found the way to make the car drivers take notice of a pedestrian, don't tell everyone, it might catch on 😂

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Congratulations to you nowster on your 5th anniversary on starting C25K , wow, doing run 1 of week 1 barefoot was very brave, always the danger of broken glass but you avoided any of that,

It will be 7 years in April that I began C25K, I will rerun week 1 with running shoes on, it will be part of a 5K, once the 7th 90 seconds walking break is over I'll continue to run until the 5K is completed, certainly not in bare feet, like those onlookers who saw you running today I am jealous because I certainly couldn't walk, let alone run barefoot.

[Jericho2332 Graduate]

Happy runniversary! Wish I'd stuck to it for the full 5 years and not have to learn to run again after a dodgy couple of years! 😂

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

Congratulations on five years of running nowster - barefoot running does not appeal to me personally but whatever gets us moving!🙂

[linda9389 Graduate]

Congratulations Nowster! It's lovely to reflect on what we've achieved since the first run of wek 1 of the first time through C25K. 5 years? What a great milestone. I'm amazed how observant everyone else is round your way ... I thought it was only runners who checked other runners fet (shoes!) 😍Here's to the next 5 years.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Massive congratulations on your Runniversary. Those feet have travelled some fantastic routes.

Here is to the next five, Well done to you!

[Week7 Graduate]

Congratulations on the runniversary.

There must be a lot of us lockdown runners about. I must dig back through my work chats to see what date I actually started. The only way of making sure that I would complete c25k was to broadcast to colleagues that I was doing it!... It never occurred to me to record it. I did not expect to still be plodding along just under 5 years later. Pretty sure that without this chat I wouldn't be!

Great to read one of your old style run reports again. You have shared so many miles on here. Always entertaining!

Wishing you many more happy 🏃‍♂️ in the future.

[GoogleMe Graduate]

It's been a really pleasure having you here and what a wonderful way to celebrate your Runniversary. I've only done true barefoot whilst staggering around a bog trying to retrieve a shoe.

[Madwife60 Graduate]

I think a lot of us have a certain gratitude to COVID lockdown- I never had an hour’s exercise a day prior to being told that’s all I was allowed! As a midwife I worked through it all and it says something about my psyche that I added exercise to an otherwise challenging workday. Five years on it’s a rare day I don’t have an hour’s exercise of some kind and like you I’m still running. Grateful to not only have escaped unscathed from the whole debacle but fitter and stronger than I was before

[Trailslogg Graduate]

Awesome run and report - you notice all the different surfaces so much more (obviously) when barefoot, so I enjoyed your descriptions of the different types of tarmac, concrete etc. Rough asphalt and gravel are the worst!

I have the impression that about 10 years ago or so, there was less staring and more people going barefoot - maybe that's when Born to Run came out and there was a bit of a craze?

Anyway, too cold here still to go bare (there's fresh snow on the ground) - hopefully in a month or so, but very much looking forward to it after your write-up!

[nowster Graduate in reply to Trailslogg]

Born To Run was more a US phenomenon than a UK one, along with the sudden interest in Vibram FiveFinger shoes and the subsequent lawsuit when people injured themselves doing too much too soon.

I came late to the party, first trying them in 2011, a fair bit after their peak in 2008-2009. I gradually transitioned to zero drop over about 6 months, and didn't start running in them until 2020!

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Happy runniversary for yesterday 👍👏

Are the soles on your feet particularly hard? I imagine a thick skin would build up as protection but, apart from the heels, your feet don’t look too bad. Mine look worse after a lifetime of wearing high heels 😂

[nowster Graduate in reply to Irishprincess]

Not particularly. There's a point after a while where the calluses turn into thicker skin which is less noticeable.

This is the first barefoot run I've done this year, so my soles are a little more tender than they might be.

There was a point about May 2020 (so after the first attempts but before I started C25K properly again) where I went to the chiropodist with a verruca and instead of treating that (Oh we don't do that sort of thing any more) they pared away all the hard-earned thicker skin off my feet. I'd never let them do that now.

Herself has really hard soles, bordering on horn-like, inherited from her mum, and needs to have her heels attacked with a sanding machine (at the chiropodists) every few months. Her toes are awful too! The nails are really thick and decades of wearing fashionable shoes have done their worst.

[Irishprincess Graduate in reply to nowster]

I didn’t know they don't treat verrucas any more. I had one that I treated myself but it took ages, ie a few years, to go away.

High heels did do some damage no doubt but, as I’m sure your wife might agree, we had lots of fun 👠🥳

[Reggit Graduate]

congrats on the runiversary Nowster. I remember you around when I was doing couch to 5k, I was another of Boris’ runners. I’ve got 11th May 2020 firmly ingrained in my memory as the date that my attempts at being a lifelong non-runner went horribly wrong 😝

However I can’t say I’ve tried bare foot running and am unlikely to ever go there haha