The Couch to 5K Works!

I headed out the door 10 weeks ago with great trepidation. I had stopped running in 1993 following a 15K race with a sore knee. Last fall I had tried getting started again, but the same knee became sore very quickly. Once I had lost 20 pounds with Medifast, I thought, “Okay, I’ll try it again.” The Marvelous Mayflowers talked about the C25K being such a great program and the accompanying podcasts being very helpful. I decided I didn’t have anything to loose. I worked my way through each of the 9 weeks with my confidence and enthusiasm growing. I had to hold myself back so I wouldn’t do too much too fast.

Now I am a runner again. This morning I did my favorite race that I haven’t run since 1992. The Wildwood Trail Trial is a point to point run on a wooded path. Runners start every 2 minutes over the course of 3 hours. I only saw a few runners the whole time. It is a peaceful challenge more with myself than others. My goal was to run half and walk half and finish in less than 90 minutes. I finished in 1:15:25. I only walked about .75 miles of it, most of that on the last hill to the finish and in several rocky areas. I am so proud of myself for sticking to my plan of running easy and not forcing any speed. I am a RUNNER. I am an ATHLETE.