If you graduated in September, post here

[JR21]

Connect with your fellow September graduates by posting a bit about you & your Couch to 5k journey.

[BettyJane Graduate]

I still remember week1 run1, oh how I huffed and puffed and the bright red face when I got home. What a long way from running for 30 mins. My graduation run was on the 29th September at Norman Park, Bromley parkrun with a time of 29:42. Since then I've had knee problems, I saw a physio, he said it was pes anserine bursitis, so I rested and iced and stretched and gradually got back to running for 30mins, then after last Saturday's parkrun it flaired up again, so annoying.

When I'm recovered (again) i'd like to increase the distance to 10k.

[swanscot Graduate]

Graduated 14 September 2012

When I started this programme in July I was surprised how difficult I found it. I thought I was pretty fit. I regularly went hillwalking and thought if I could climb a 4000ft mountain or walk 20 miles in a day, surely I could run for a minute! How wrong I was. It wasn't helped by the fact that prior to hearing about C25K I had tried beginning running without any idea was I was doing. I'd been out running in the woods twice in the previous week and think I strained my hip abductor muscles. I was in pain for the first few days of C25K. But I persevered and soon started to enjoy the running sessions.

As I progressed through the programme I found the longer runs easier and I think my fitness from hillwalking and mountain biking did help after all. I sometimes continued running longer than 30 minutes and I ran 6 km in 38 minutes on my graduation run.

Two weeks after finishing C25K I participated in the Baxters' Festival of Running in Inverness - running the 5K Fun Run along the River Ness. It was a bit of a family occasion as my son ran the Loch Ness Marathon and another son's girlfriend ran the 10K Race.

After completing the programme I immediately started a 10K training plan, using the 5K+ Speed and Stamina podcasts for intervals and tempo sessions. At the end of October I participated in the Culloden 10K run and I look forward to running more organised 10K events. I particularly enjoy trail running and have run 16 km run along the Speyside Way, and have several more off-road routes planned and ready to run as I increase my distance.

[carolinew Graduate]

I graduated on the 30th September.

Having been overweight since a child, earlier this year I decided that my fat life had to end and a new slimmer me go forward into old age :-). So, once I'd lost three stone I vowed to start a fitness program. One of my friends recommended C25K and the rest as they say is history! I'm a Dogwalker by day, regularly walking 8/9 miles a day but had no idea how fit I was. Anyway, despite my low expectations I managed to get through each week of the program. Possibly my most disappointing run was my graduation. I was away on holiday and there was torrential rain all week which resulted in all the grassy paths being waterlogged. The site where we were saying was in the middle of nowhere with only a busy narrow road which you couldn't safely run on and a single lane track that was about 1km long, so I ended up just running up and down this track five times. Boring!! But at least I did the 30 minutes, though not the whole 5k.

Since graduating I lost my running mojo.. I've still been out 2/3 times a week but haven't really pushed forward. However in the last fortnight I have managed 5k twice, run my local ParkRun for the first time and managed to complete the Speed podcast (which I have found really difficult). Also, since starting C25K in July I have lost a further 1 & 1/2 stone, started Pilates, joined a gym and purchased a number of slinky running outfits lol.

I have come to love running, but I think I have a cant manage attitude about my capabilities which makes me give up instead of pushing through when the going gets tough. This is contrary to my normal thought processes and as I move into the B210K I hope to slay these gremlins (and become more like Swanscot above!!).

[Nellydaisy]

Graduated today and ran W9R3 of C25K and graduated