jvincent78

Thanks for sharing your story...the running does get addicting. I find it hard to not run on that in between "rest day".

Awesome! Congrats on the weight loss! Working on that myself.

MapMyRun is a great app. My wife uses MyFitnessPal, and a friend uses Runkeeper.

Never too late to start... Great job!

It is easy to fall off, but don't let it discourage you. Just get back going. I've had to restart the program a few times, but I'm now on Week 5 Day 2. Just keep at it!

Half marathon... That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing the encouragement!

Awesome! Way to go. Thanks for sharing, it encourages others.

Awesome! I too am attempting to break the cycle and stick around for my kids. Keep at it, sometimes it seems hard (today was a hard run for me) but I never regret doing it.

A simple ACE compression sleeve for the knee at WalMart has worked for me. Might give that IT band a try though.

I haven't needed a compression sleeve for shins since I got proper shoes and learned how to stretch, but did get a ACE compression "sleeve" for my knee. Has made a big difference.

Good shoes and stretching. Make sure you stretch well. The way it was described to me was the shin pain is the muscles pulling away from the shin bone. Try pointing your toes up against the wall with your heel on the floor and pushing against the wall (obviously one foot at a time). You can also try a compression bandage on your shin. Will help keep the muscles nice and tight against the bone. I've not used one, though I use an ACE compression on my knee.

I have the Pro, and I think the ads are the only difference. My personal thing is if I find an app I really get a lot out of, I'll spring for the paid version to support the developer. Plus we get the free forum use here, so to me purchasing the app and supporting Zen Labs is a small way for me to give back. But that's just me and my way of doing things...

For me it was Asics. We have a store near us called Road Runner Sports (http://www.roadrunnersports.com/) and they did custom orthotics for me and got me in the right shoes. Made a huge difference...I had started running because I knew I needed to for health, but was working through the shin and knee pain. After the new shoes, it became a joy to run and I actually looked forward to it. (and yes, I hear you on $ being an issue. It's definitely an investment) If you can find the right shoe, a lot of times you can find last years model of that shoe on Amazon for way less than in the stores. Also (don't know if you already do this) but at the store they showed me some stretches for the shin. Stand by a wall and put your toes on the wall with your heel on the floor and push. You'll feel your calf and shin stretching. That's really helped me. With a combination of the right shoes and the stretching I've not had any shin pain in the last 2 weeks.

Way to go! Keep going at your pace. A mile is a mile, doesn't matter how fast you do it. You're doing more than those who sit on the couch doing nothing. I had to laugh at the speed walker comment, because yeah, I'm the same way sometimes. But one thing I've noticed out on our forest preserve trails, when I get passed by a faster runner, they're always encouraging "keep going, doing great". I too find the first "start running" segment is always hardest, but then the subsequent sections get somewhat easier.

I never look at the C25k app before I get out on the trail. Had I looked at it last saturday, I'd have never gotten up and ran. Week 4, day 1...run for 5 minutes straight, not once but twice? If you'd told me 4 weeks ago that I'd do that I'd have laughed you out of town. But I did it. 3 times this week (and actually 2 of those days were in the Florida summer humidity!)(lots of water and a couple Salt Tabs). Yesterday I marked the halfway point of the C25K program, finishing week 4. Monday starts Week 5. Can't wait to conquer the next milestone!

I think about the money I invested in my running shoes!! lol But seriously, I think of my mom's poor health and the fact that I don't want to go down that road and want to be there for my kids. I do find it hard to get out of bed sometimes, but I never regret a good run. I just tell myself, I'll feel worse in half an hour if I don't go out and do it. I'll feel better if I do.

I also use MapMyRun. I've used it from way back since they also have Bike tracking so I've got about 4.5 years of workouts saved. I tried Endomondo but my personal preference is MapMyRun. I've had friends say good things about RunKeeper but I've never tried it. Good job getting so far in the program!!

My name is John, 36 from the chicago area. When I graduated high school, I told myself I'd never run again (unless being chased by a bear!!) Had nothing but bad memories of running in gym glass and other high school activities. Have always been slightly overweight, so running just wasn't my thing. I did enjoy riding my mountain bike some, but never was consistent with it. Fast forward almost 20 years, and I'm now married to an awesome wife and have 3 awesome boys. Lately I've had the unfortunate experience of watching my mom's health decline rapidly, even though she's only in her early 60's. The scary part of that is a lot of what she is suffering from, I'm genetically "predisposed" to face myself. So over the last couple of years, as she's struggled, I've struggled to try and make sure I don't go down that same road. However, consistency has been hard to find. I'd get going for a couple weeks, then something would disrupt my routine, whether a business trip or another round of hospitalizations for my mom. Then last January, the real wake-up call came. I began experiencing some minor discomfort in my left shoulder one evening. I didn't think much of it, took some advil, went to bed. Woke up the next morning and it felt fine, but then when I went to work I began noticing it again, especially when I would get up and walk around the office. Checked my BP around lunch and it was triple digits through the roof. Called my dr and needless to say, he wanted me in right away. Because of family history and because he had done as much as he could through his office, he wanted me to go to the hospital. Long story short, I spent a night in the hospital for observation. It ended up that nothing was wrong, clean bill of health on my heart and arteries (they never really did find out what the pain was). But I came as close as I ever want to get to an angiogram. In fact I had two nurses come in during the night and ask me if I was scheduled for one the next day; I told them "stop doing that to me." I've seen my mom go through several and I know they aren't fun. My roommate was only 2 years older than me and in horrible shape. So lots of motivation out of that hospital stay. I began looking for something to help me get consistent. I had tried the Zen Labs C25k app previously and gotten about 2 weeks into it before getting off track. So I got back into the C25K program with making lifestyle changes as well. At my 3 week follow visits from the hospital stay, both my cardiologist and personal dr were thrilled with where I was at weight-wise and with everything else. Since then I've had a few bumps in the road, had to restart the C25K program a couple of times, but I'm proud to say that right now (actually on Monday) I'll be starting Week 5 Day 1! 18 years ago I told myself I'd never run again, now I can't wait to get out on the trail. I'm blessed to live right next to the forest preserve, so I love running out there. Recently my wife (who also used the C25K app and has already run a couple of 5K's) and I got fitted with good running shoes; I got custom insoles/orthotics and what a difference it made. Since June I'm down 14# and well on my way to my target weight. The C25K app has given me the consistent program that I needed. I never thought I'd be able to run 5 minutes solid, but last Saturday I did. I've also noticed increased distance and better times on my mountain bike as well. I've set a long-term goal of doing a sprint triathalon next July. Before then my short term goals are to do some 5K's and maybe work up to a 10K. Glad to be a part of this community!