Today I returned to where I started, 6 months ago, at Rother Valley Country Park, near Sheffield. There is a marked 5k trail around the park. Convenient, huh? Like everyone else I started Wk1, run 1 and dutifully did my 1min running x8 repetitions. I'm now 62 & hadn't run since school, 45 years previously, and at points during my fifties I'd been walking with a stick due to a recurring (over 25 years) back injury. Chiropractic eventually sorted that out. Anyway, I persisted and graduated on my birthday in March.
Since then I've kept at it and gradually pushed the time back and forth a bit but generally upwards. And today, on the same circuit where 6 months ago I started running a minute at a time, I ran for 58 mins and two complete laps, ie 10K. I am VERY PLEASED!!!!!!
And the message to anyone just starting or who might be struggling is simple: trust the programme, it really works, and just keep at it. This programme is one of the great unsung success stories of the NHS. It's free, it's fun, it works and it ought be more well-known.
Written by
OldNed
Graduate
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It's really good, with marker posts every half kilometre. It's a bit of a trek for me (I live in Greenhill, a good 20 mins drive away) but started at Rother Valley precisely because it's a long way away from home, to minimise chances of meeting people I know. Now I just don't care!
What a fantastic achievement and what a brilliant time for your 10k!!!! You should be very proud of yourself. I wish we had a trail here like that.
I also endorse the programme as being something the NHS should be advertising on TV! Get that one out there David "Big Society" Cameron. I was telling one of our school's TAs about it just this morning. I have recommended it to loads of people. I think they should have cards and leaflets/info about it in all the chemists and Drs' Surgeries!
I keep posting about it on Facebook and have inspired another couple of people to do it. Hopefully they, in turn, will inspire others as I was inspired by another of my friends.
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