First day out, first week, first run/walk. Never knew I could gasp for air like a fish.

I found a small park 10 minutes walk from the office, good warm up distance. The park is almost perfect for the 60/90 seconds breaks when I run the sides and walk the ends.

But....best of all...I completed the WO#1..

then up 300 steps and walk back to work.

I'll admit, I'm feeling the fatique as I type this, but I know it's a good feeling and there is even more determination to see this to a 5K in 9 weeks.

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Great job fighting!

Hello all!  I am back and this time I am going to finish this thing!  I have never got past week 6 so Game on!

Good luck all!

Hello!! New guy on the block here....

My story:

I was at 292 lbs as of November 2011. I was taking blood pressure medication for years, found out late last year that I was staring diabetes in the face, high triglycerides, fatty liver, severe sleep apnea, etc...  On January 4th of this year, I got serious about losing weight and getting myself healthy. I was having way too many health problems and was very seriously concerned about making it to my 50th birthday without some sort of MAJOR health issue(s). I'm married with 3 small children at home, 2 away from home and 2 grandkids.

I live on a .45 mile loop and started out by walking about a mile a day. I decided to try and jog one day, so I started at one corner and made it about 50-60 yards or so....and I was done. Then I found an iPhone app called 5k Runner. It was an absolute LIFE CHANGER! I followed the training plan exactly as laid out. I also made the same mistake that I know many of you did....looking ahead at weeks 4-5-6-7-8. I thought to myself 'there is NO WAY IN HE** I can do that!!! Well, to make a long story longer, I did the entire 8 weeks in a matter of about 5-6 weeks. I made up my mind to simply run every other day and take 2 days off if I needed to. I also repeated any day that I wasn't able to finish on my next scheduled run. I ended up having to repeat 2 of the runs.I cannot believe how quickly my stamina improved! I ran my very first 5k race on April 29th, 2012. I had to walk part of it but I finished! I ran my second 5k on May 19th, 2012 and was able to run the entire distance in a time of :31.24. I am now registered to run the Joplin Mother Road Half Marathon on October 14th (I'm using the Runmeter iPhone app to train for this)....and I am nervous beyond belief! I have no idea why because every single time I've told myself that I 'can't do' something, I've done it!! I am also about 90% sure that I am going to register for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 28th, 2013...if I can get through the HM ok, it's a done deal!!

Needless to say, I also changed what I was eating. I used MyFitnessPal.com and walked through the profile setup. I didn't worry about any of the macro percentages....just took the number of calories it allowed me and stuck to it. In a matter of 5.5 months and as of this morning, I have lost 79 lbs since Nov 2011. I have done nothing else besides running. No weights, no yoga, no aerobics, no cycling.....purely running (walk/jog/run). I am totally, 100% hooked on running now - even though I have a right knee that needs to be replaced. I am 45 years old and I've had 3 surgeries on it....the last one being 15 years ago. At that time I was told I would need a replacement. Funny thing is, my knee hasn't felt this good in a LONG, LONG time since I've started running. I now have muscles in my legs that I don't EVER remember having before (and I wrestled for over 15 years!!).

Today, I'm a brand new man! No more BP meds, no more threat of diabetes, no fatty liver....hell, I don't even SNORE anymore, much less have sleep apnea!

I'm currently at 213 lbs and still losing. I look forward to reading about some of your stories and successes!! If you're already using MyFitnessPal, shoot me a friend request! My ID is jcarnes66.

@rebrk this is YOUR time!  :-)  Go ahead and sign up for a race thats in about three months!  Nothing more motivating than that!

@snackerChris

I love your progress, I myself am losing, but at a rate of about 50 pounds per year. I would love to jump that amount up a bit. I think my diet is probably my weak spot. I have tried following plans but when I put in my bmr it is 2454. When I attempt to cut out about 3-500 calories daily from that I simply don't lose. When I go at it more agressively 1500 or so calories a day I do lose, but I feel a bit ill. I was wondering if you could share some tips or advice, or perhaps explain your success. I did go to your blog, but I didn't quite understand your methods. Thanks!

nerudathedog wrote:

 

Folks, I've been lurking on this thread for a while, reading more of it than I should probably admit to (this sucker is LONG!), and I just wanted to pop in and tell you all how inspiring you've been. I just finished W6D1 this morning and feel great. Last Friday, I knew I'd be able to take out the 20 minute monster because I'd read so many of your experiences.

 

I live in MA, just north of the RI border, and I've lived in the area my whole life (I grew up in Foxboro, where the Patriots play--go Pats!). I'm coming up on my 43rd birthday. I had already started a walking program when I decided to give C25K a try. Before this, I thought I hated to run. Now I realize that I hated to be pushed to run faster than I was capable of running. Over the past 5 weeks (and the months of walking before that), I've learned to manage my heart rate and my breathing so that it's what I think of as a comfortable effort--I'm working, but I'm not going to die.

 

Mostly, though, I started C25K because I'm trying to gain some control. My father-in-law, whom I loved dearly, passed away suddenly last May, and less than 2 weeks after the 1st anniversary of his death, I lost my closest cousin (and one of my best friends) to liver cancer at age 45. In other words, it's been a really, really tough year. Having someone else set a goal for me, having a plan, being able to accomplish that plan just by virtue of telling myself that I could...all of that seemed really, really appealing. And it has given me a positve outlet for my stress.

 

So this is getting long and risks getting tedious, but I did want to thank you all, especially the regulars. Wideguy, I hope you're out there, because it's gonna get hot in this neck of the woods in the next couple of days. Get going, and try not to burn your feet.

Go pats! I am around here too, just moving to Marshfield, gonna try some running on the beach =) What heart rate do you keep? I just did the 5 miler in easton and I had a strap on and I was 170+ the whole time. You are near the end, have you considered your 5k? Welcome and congrats on your progress!

@Zeroez, I don't use a heart monitor, so I'm not 100% sure. I just try to make sure I have control of my breath and I don't get that sort of achey chest I can get if I'm not moving enough oxygen.

As for a race, I'm doing a lot of traveling this summer (I'm a professor at Wheaton, so I have the summers "off," but I go to a lot of conferences and things like that), and I want my 1st 5K to be relatively local. My husband works with a guy who lost his brother on 9/11 (he was on one of the planes), and the family set up a charitable foundation which also happens to hold a road race in September: http://www.jeffcoombsfund.org/fundraising-events/the-jeff-coombs-memorial-road-race-and-family-walk/ . The timing is good for that to be my first race, and I like the cause. Also, there are walkers, so I'll be able to use that to take the pressure off myself, speed-wise.

I'm strong, but I am always aware of how easy it is to injure myself, moving this much weight at any speed. So I took everyone's advice and went slow (I walk at 3.5/jog at 4.5) and haven't had so much as a muscle pull. I think once week 9 is under my belt and I feel like I've got a strong base, I'll redo C25K using my jog for the walk intervals and a faster pace for the running intervals. Trying not to overthink it OR over-plan, since it has derailed me in the past...

Marshfield is really nice! I'm in Attleboro, but we're definitely working on moving to the water. I'd settle for freshwater, but we're both kind of hoping for salt. We'll have to see what the housing market does over the next few years.

Thanks for the welcome!

Great to hear Kangoo! I to am running the Marine Corps Marathon in October.  It will be my first!

I am running a half in Fairfield, Ct this Sunday!

Keep on running and I will see you in October!

Mike