Good morning everyone, and congratulations on your running

Softballmom How did it go? I hope you managed it and had fun along the way. The inside track sounds like a very good idea at the moment

Stephie don’t worry about going back on the programme. I think you are very brave to make the decision, I know that I was just desperate to keep going when I injured myself because I wanted to keep up with everyone else. I suppose that is one advantage to so many of us injuring ourselves… we are now all at different stages so there is no need to keep up!

Well I'm back from my sister's graduation. We had a good time, although it was very hot and I ate VERY badly My downfall was cream teas, and eating out restaurant meals, often there were no healthy options, and I just couldn't resist when everyone else was gobbling away at it all I did manage to get my runs in though, first thing in the morning on Tuesday and at about 9.30 last night. We only got back at 9pm and I was torn between putting off my run because I was tired and grumpy, and doing the run on schedule because I knew I’d feel better about myself and feel less guilty. I wandered around the house wondering what I should do, when my sister got fed up with my whining and chucked me out of the house with my running shoes.

However I did not managed to get the motivation to change my clothes as I didn’t want to add to the incredibly large washing pile so I ran in a skirt. Argghhhhhh, forgot about the thighs rubbing together problem! Anyway, after my staggering absence of willpower in going for a run in the first place, I decided to change the last 5minute run to an 8minute run in preparation for next week and to see if I could do it. I was doing laps of the cricket pitch and I got to 7mins 40secs and was at the wrong end of the field so I decided to keep running until I reached the other end. By the time I got there it was 8mins 55secs and I thought “why don’t I try to get to 10 mins so I’ve done half what I’ll do next week” so I ran along the dirt track back towards my house, and by the end of the track I had run for 10mins and 26 seconds and felt like I could carry on! I am becoming a runner!

BTW when I was at the graduation ceremony I met my sisters BF’s parents and they do triathlons. His mother ran a 33 mile race across the moors of Dartmoor a couple of weeks ago and came something like 7th (at 55 yrs old and in a mixed gender race!) A lot of the BF’s male friends also spent a lot of time discussing and admiring his mother’s *** as well! This has given me a lot of motivation to keep going!

Good morning all! Today I completed week 2 day 3 of the c25k program. Looking ahead at week three - three minutes seems so much longer than 90 seconds, but I will do it! I decided I am going to act confident about it.

I see we were posting around the same time Pachyderm. Way to go, running beyond the required amount! Sounds like a real runner to me.

Welcome back ShrinkingMama. Glad to hear you are getting back on track.

Pachy, congrats on outrunning the program! Didn't you just feel great? I love the story about your sister's BF's mom. She gives me inspiration too. I want a nice rear view, too!

Webweevil, You will do it! The first day, IMHO, it seemed long to finish, but by the end of the week you will be surprised at how far you've come. Keep it up! I now look back and wonder at myself what the 90 sec complaining was all about

Well, I DID IT!! Wk 5 Day 3 was accomplished! I went in both excited and nervous telling my dh that if my body started balking I would give in and throw some walks in. Up to the 6 minute mark I was giving myself an out by allowing myself to repeat Tuesday's run, by the 8 minute mark I was telling myself to hold off for the 10 min / half way mark, by the 12th minute I was reenergized and my muscles started flowing (it was very strange), then at the 17th minute I was pushing myself like many times before in this program, then on the 19th minute I think I ran on pure adrenalin. At 20:01 I did a little skip and jump, slinging my arm in the air. People probably thought I was slipping on them, but I didn't care I even called my dd during my cool down walk to relay the good news. My dh was totally surprised, he confessed and told me he really didn't think I would be able to do it!!! It's not just about running for me, it's about proving to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.

Keep it up girls, it feels so good!

Way to go Softballmom!! You are an inspiration

Webweevil, congratulations on finishing week 2. I remember the first day of week 3 being pretty hard, but it gets better during the week so keep going. Soon we'll all be facing those 20 minutes and we'll feel great when we can do it.

Softballmom - I just had to check in to see how you did. Awesome!! I'm so glad it went well for you. I know what you mean about proving to yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to. It seems so much bigger than running, dosen't it? I think we'll continue to find this gratification as we set bigger and more challenging goals for ourselves. Way to go!!

Pachy - Good for you for getting out there and running at 9pm after a trip and all. I bet it felt great to just keep going and pushing yourself. Impressive!

Webweevil - Sometimes acting confident is all we need to push us through. You'll do it one step at a time and feel great afterwards! Congrats on finishing week 2!

Such progress .... it's exciting!!

Hi All~

Hope everyone is keeping cool. Still quite humid here although the temperature has dropped a fraction & that has helped. I've done quite a bit of hill work (walking) late in the evening as opposed to running. The heat has sapped much of my enthusiasm this week.

I drop in & read everyone's news nightly. It helps me stay motivated & cheered up that someone out there is 'keeping up the good fight' so to speak. Congratulations on all the hard work!

Hello everyone,

Genregirl - Good for you for getting out late in the evening and walking! I'm always dragging by then. Glad you have the energy to go for it!!

I did day 2/week 6 today. It went well and felt really good. I ran 10 minutes, walked 3 minutes, ran 13 minutes. I extended the last ten minutes because I really wanted to hit the one mile (they were supposed to be 10 min miles). I wonder how long it will take to get up to the pace that the program outlined. I have fourteen weeks until my race. I am feeling like that is a comfortable amount of time.

Enjoy the weekend!

Just got in from a rained out ball tournament, got to go back tomorrow afternoon to finish it up .

Good thing I ran first thing this morning: dryer and somewhat cooler. I did a modified Wk5D1, which was 8 minute run, 5 min run, 8 min run with 3 minute walks in between. I'm doing week 5 over with more challenging runs and try to do 20 minutes again by Wednesday, if schedule goes accordingly. I want to make sure that I can do it better before moving on to week 6. (Thursday's 20 minutes felt like I finished with a wing and a prayer , even though it was good) After week 6 it's all run from 25-30 minutes. I don't want to hit a wall, so I'm modifying the next couple of weeks and stretching them out somewhat. Will let you know how it goes for me. Hope everyone has a nice weekend and we'll see ya later.

I completed my week 3 day 1 run this morning. It was harder than I expected, maybe in part due to the fact that I using a different watch to time my intervals. I would speed up the treadmill to start running and when I tried to start timing it, the watch would switch to some other format, laps or something. Anyway, I'd have to slow the treadmill dowm again while I reset the watch. This happened twice in the four runs. Oh well, at least they are done. Hopefully it will get easier during day 2 & 3.

Morning everyone. I did d1w5 last night and found it surprisingly hard. After running for 10 minutes on Thursday and feeling like I could keep going, I'm surprised that running for 5 minutes at a time can be so difficult! It could be my interupted run. I went out at about 6.30 for my run, but took the dogs with me. I ran a total of about 2mins 30 secs before I had to give it up because the dogs were behaving so badly One of them disappeared off to the horizon and the other went in a really smelly drainage ditch for the fields that has black ooze in them and lots of pesticides and fertilizers - and he wouldn't come out again. After trying to call them in a sweet tone of voice, a firm tone of voice and on to full on fishwife screaming at them to no avail, I just sat down on the path and put my head in my hands. This proved interesting enough to get the puppy to come back so I grabbed him, put him on the lead and walked off leaving the older one to sort himself out. This worked and he eventually followed, but he needed 3 applications of shampoo before the black stuff came out of his coat. I don't know what came over them, they have never behaved as badly as that before. Anyway, by the time I had bathed the dogs, dinner was ready so I had to wait until 9pm for my second attempt at running. Hopefully Tuesday's run will be easier - I certainly won't be taking the dogs!

It was cool enough to do intervals this morning. Hooray! I'm on week three of the program I'm following; 6 mins. run/3 mins. walk X 4 repeats. I managed only three of the four repeats, but I figure that's pretty good after walking all last week because of the heat.

Pachyderm- the dogs sound adorable, although I imagine the one in the ditch must've smelt to high heaven. Good for you for getting out there.

Webweevil- The watch/timing problem sounds frustrating especially the slowing down & speeding up issue. Let us know if it gets easier.

Softballmom- I think you're making great progress- 20 minutes all in a row is still a ways away for me.

Shrinking Mama- I'm often reluctant to leave the house in the late evening, but I know I'll feel better so I go anyway.

Hello,

Webweevil - The watch does sound quite frustrating. I hope the next run is better for you. Good job sticking it out!

Pachyderm - I would have been so annoyed with those dogs! Way to go for going out again after dinner and getting that run in!

Softballmom & Genregirl - I find myself starting to think about giving outside running a try. If you guys think it's cool enough and can do it in GA and DC I guess I don't have any excuses in MI. I'm a whimp when it comes to heat. Good for you!

I did day 3, week 6 today. I got into a groove around 5 minutes and from there to the 25 minute mark was really good. I ran 2 miles in the 25 minutes. I felt so great afterwards!

Well day 2 of week 5 is under my belt, but I am still finding it much harder than I expected after running last week. My mum suggested it was because of the heat, and it is hot and very humid this morning so maybe that is it

Anyway, I have signed up for a 5k race on the 3rd of September. It is the same one that Lou1978 has signed up for. I hope by then that I'll be able to run for 5K without dying!

GenreGirl good on you for getting out there again

Shrinking Mama you are doing so well. I can't believe that you are running for 25 minutes with ease...I'm supposed to be doing that next week as well, but that sounds impossible right now! Keep it up

webweevil - I agree about little things like watches possibly messing us up. I went to the ballpark Saturday in dh's truck, leaving my watch and radio in mine. Luckily, my niece was playing with us and my BIL had a watch with a timer and I figured it out without too much hassle. Just no music to run to

genregirl - the temps here have been cool as well. I ran in AC last week due to the heat, but last night it was so cool I decided to run outside. Just as I pulled into the parking lot it began to lightly rain. It held back until my running was done, but my cool down walk was done in moderate rain. But I enjoyed being back outside.

shrinkingmama - 25 minutes! Way to go! I pushed through my wk 5 20 minutes last week and decided to do a modified week 5 again before I go on to week 6. After week 6 there is no more interval running/walking.

pachy - Looking good. So you do 20 minutes Thursday? You can do it! I did it, but looking at the next weeks' advancement, I decided to slow my progress down a bit. I just don't want to hit a wall. I'm going to do another 20 minutes tomorrow night and see if it's any easier. My dh says 20 minute runs should never be "easy"

So, I ran my made-up modified Wk 5, Day 2: 10min/8m/10m runs with 3m walks in between. Even in the rain, it was all good. I was left on the track by myself during my cool down due to it getting heavier. A little wet never hurt anyone, right? I just like my outside runs so much more. There's more room on the outside track for one thing. I feel a little crowded on the 1/16m track inside. And I enjoyed the breezes the rain front brought in.

Week 3 day 2 completed

Glad to hear everyone is doing well and injury free. Anyone hear from Idest lately? Idest, are you out there? We want to hear from you.