In March last year I decided enough was enough and decided to lose weight, but more importantly, get fit! I'd tried going to the gym before and just been bored and ended up dejected and out of pocket. I'd tried running before as well but not managed to get very far and again, ended up just feeling like it wasn't for me.
A friend told me about C25k so I decided to give it a whirl...the initial results weren't pretty! W1R1 ended up with me hanging over some railings, nearly being sick and being looked after by a total stranger who walked past and obviously thought I needed some assistance! I came home in floods of tear, convinced I would fail, again.
However, I stuck at it and, with Laura's help, amazed myself by graduating in just 7 weeks and achieved my goal of running a 5k race in April - I dragged myself round the Race for Life in about 50 minutes.
That was it, I had well and truly been bitten by the running bug! I loved the sense of accomplishment I felt after every run and decided to set my sights a little higher, or should that be further!
Using Laura's pearls of wisdom and gaining a huge amount of positivity from reading people's entries on here, today I ran 10k for the very first time in 1 hr and 14 minutes!! I'm taking part in the Manchester 10k in May and am aiming to enter the English Half Marathon next year!
To anyone who is just starting out and maybe feeling a little disheartened, stick with it! There was a time when I thought I'd never finish Week 1, let alone graduate.
I congratulate the NHS for putting this initiative together; it certainly does what it says on the tin!
I'm a bit of a lurker on here and don't tend to post much but I just wanted to share my story - happy running folks! x
A lovely day for a run and a 10k PB
W9 R3 I can finally call myself a runner 
One year Couch to 5k Runniversary
First 10K event - Women's Running 10K Cardiff
