AmandaZ

Thank you! I just finished W8D2 and it was actually a good run - good as in I didn't feel like there was an actual chance of death or quitting during the 28 minute run! It's a great feeling to know I only have one left. Part of the reason I was determined to finish this is because my husband said he would only do it at all if I finished the whole 8 weeks without getting hurt. Well, it will be exactly 9 weeks due to a trip and a nasty cough halfway through, but today we will go shopping for his running shoes!!! I will start over with him next week to see if I can get faster because I am SO very slow. But I have still been lapping him on the couch for the last 9 weeks, I lost 10 lbs, I feel great, and I can pull my jean shorts up without even unbuttoning or unzipping them!

I finished week 7! Only one week left, and I did NOT think I would ever be able to run for 25 straight minutes. I will start over when I am done and see if I can get faster. Maybe eventually it'll be fun, but it sure does feel rewarding to see actual progress and improvement. My heart rate and recovery time is so noticeably better it amazes me. At a downtown Chicago field trip with my twins today, I couldn't help but happily notice that I was one of a very few adults who didn't even get winded going up and down a bunch of flights of stairs and walking around for a few miles. So I guess knowing how far I've come is a good and very motivating thing to consider when it feels really hard. I know that running for 28 minutes is going to feel very hard tomorrow, but 8 weeks ago, running for 1 straight minute was very hard. Yesterday I noticed that I was 10 minutes in before I even felt a little bit tired or bored of it. I am doing something I thought I couldn't and in the process, I have realized I can probably do a lot of things if I don't quit trying.

I guess running has never been normal or fun to me. I just want to do this and keep pushing through it. The idea of it is fun.

I just finished W6D1. I thought I would die the first week. I have never been a runner. I look like I am a coucher. But now I am a C25K Week 6er. I have finished each week without repeats and without any creating, but it has not been easy. I have only run on the treadmill because it's all my 6 kids and crazy schedule allow for. These longer runs are HARD. I actually cried a little on W5D3's 20 minutes - because I wanted to quit so bad. I had my music and kept plugging along, but my internal dialog is saying - "You are fat, 40, and have 5 kids. People walk faster than this. No one expects you to finish. It would be ok to quit." It's like the mental battle is so much harder than the physical on these longer ones. I dig and dig deep for that tiny little voice that says - "Just keep going. You can do this. You are NOT going to quit. You are 40. You have 5 kids. And now you are a runner." Does anyone else ever even feel this way? How do you get over those mental hurdles? I don't want to quit. I want to finish and then start it again and do better. But now I have some real anxiety over the long run day of Week 6 because a few days ago, I was on the very edge of hitting stop and giving in to that louder voice.

Thank you both! Tonight's workout felt so hard, but the feeling of accomplishment when I finished was great!

Hi. I do W3D2 tomorrow. I have tried to get myself to run for 11 years since getting my treadmill and each time I make progress, I end up breaking a toe or getting injured doing something else. After the last few years of having a baby, 2 broken toes, a collapsed arch, and an emergency appendectomy, here I am at 40 with 5 kids and I AM GONNA DO IT. I want to lose weight and I run super slow so I know I won't hit the actual 5k distance in 8 weeks, but I am going to pace myself, listen to my body, and pray for this little win. My 13 year old daughter is doing it, too. My husband needs to improve his health and he said he will start it if I finish it. So I am hoping to show my daughter (and myself) that I CAN so that my husband WILL. I thought it was hard yesterday and I have a little anxiety in anticipation of tomorrow. So...that's me.