So I slowly progressed all the way to week 5. First surprise, on the second day of week 5, I have to jump from 4-5 minutes to 8-9 minutes. No big deal. I did it.
Yesterday, I was due for week5/3. And I realized that I have to run non stop for 20 minutes? from 9 minutes? Really?!
Who's been through this, please share how you were able to do that. Because I'm lost here

I did C25K, and I think that I just extended week 5 to a couple of week so I could be more gradual. Honestly, though, the intervals get shorter and shorter, and sometimes (at least for me), the block is purely mental. To be totally honest, it took me FOREVER to get through C25K. I was very stop-and-start. However, once I decided to train for a half-marathon and had a solid date in front of me, I became much more committed to the training and was surprised at how fast it went. I budgeted seven months to build to running 13.1 miles. It took me four. It surprised me how easy some huge leaps were. I went from being able to run a 5K to a 10K in just a couple of weeks. Who knows? You might be able to do the 20 minutes, especially if you reduce your pace slightly. Maybe you'll get to 15 minutes and need to walk a few before resuming. And then you know what? You just ran 15 minutes consecutively!

I did not (and maybe could not) do week 5 at the pace the program recommends. But I did finish a half-marathon in April, and now I run regularly three or four times a week. In fact, I ran 4.2 miles (with some serious hills) yesterday in 43 minutes, so I am even getting faster. My next goal is to be able to run a 5K in under 30 minutes.

My point is -- you got this. Whether you get W5, D3 the next time you run, or if it take you a week or two to get there, you will conquer it.

Hello LD, thanks for the info! I think you did quite well!!!!! Perhaps I might follow your method. I think my biggest mistake was my own expectations. I had done other programs before and the difference was minimal most of the time. I may have to retake the week 5. I had run ahead of myself and started week 6 without focusing properly on week 5.

I agree with Laurie, the difficulty is mostly mental. I've done C25K several times in the past, mostly using it to build my speed, and even though it doesn't look it, it's doable, especially if you slow down when you need to, even if you need to slow down to the point that you're barely jogging, and just keeping your heels up. What I can say is that after you accomplish that 20-minute week 5 run, the feeling of victory and accomplishment of being a "real runner" is amazing, and after that, the later weeks seem a lot more doable.