Hey Geo, sorry you are having a rough time.  In the month since I've finished the program, I have been keeping up with my running and have managed to get up to 4 miles.  It is a lot more relaxing when you can just go out there and run and not worry about what day it is, or what is coming next week, or when the interval is over.  I just run as long as I want and that is that.  My advice to you would be to just go out and do what you can (when you are able healthwise) whenever you can.  There is a lot less stress that way.  Good luck and best wishes to you!

Hi Geo and Camaro, I'm still around (or I'm now back).  Managed to do 2 of the 30 minute runs in week 9, then got sick (not majorly sick, just a bad cold, but couldn't run) then went on vacation (with shortly to be ex husband, possibly not the best of ideas with hindsight) and although I had all these ideas about how good it would be to run along the beach, it's a lot less easy running on soft sand than I thought!!  Managed to run one morning, and couldn't do any further than about 15 minutes before I had to stop and "look at the view".  But then I ran back for the other 15 minutes, so still felt pretty good about myself.

So, tried to carry on with the program and do the final run when I got home, but I'd been off for a month by then, and couldn't do the final 30 minute run.  So, am back on the program, have gone back to week 2 (was going to pick a later week, probably 4 or 5, but a friend has just started the program, plus my daughter says she'll come running with me if I'm not going for the longer distances too early).

So, this morning, went off on my usual route, 90 seconds running, 2 minutes walking, repeat till exhausted - I've done my fastest time ever over the route!  I knew I was running the 90 second intervals at a faster pace than usual, but hadn't realised that overall I'd be faster.  So will stick with carrying on from week 2 again, and see if I can maintain this new, faster pace (was sort of what I was planning to do when I graduated the program, so am not beating myself up about going back to such an early stage).

And next weekend I'm in Paris, cheering on my friends in the Paris to Versailles run.  I'm so looking forward to it, but not expecting to get much running in whilst I'm away.  Next run scheduled for Monday - can't wait.

Hi all I'm glad to see other checking in.  I'm having a really hard time with this site and opening threads.  I've tried to post several days and I just can't get logged on.  So condensed.  I've jogged 2 more times since I posted and then I had to get new shoes before I could jog again.

The 1st jog went OK not perfect and I had to walk once and only covered a tad over 2 miles but I was feeling good about it.  The hill I'm jogging around and up and down has a lot of places that slow me down, but I figure I'm building up muscle.  I was really sore after that one though and I took an extra day off to let my muscles heal. 

I left my shoes on a chair and the dogs decided they were a chew toy and took them off.  I tried jogging in them (they are the barefoot shoes and they chewed a strap off one so I thought they would be OK) but that jog was an epic fail.  Not sure it was the shoes but I tripped twice and I didn't feel confident in them anymore.  The whole thing started off bad when I went to start stretching and my husband headed out to the car to "wait."  I asked him not to because it takes me about 15 minutes to be ready to go and it makes me feel rushed but he went anyway, so I rushed.  We argued about my feeling rushed and rather it mattered that he didn't mean to rush me, if I felt still felt rushed.  So I was out of sorts when I started and of course I knew I didn't hydrate or stretch as much as I should have.  Not sure why my husband suddenly can't wait in the house while I finish getting ready to go instead of sitting in a running van and insisting he's not rushing me.  Crazy the arguments we have sometimes.  When I got to the hill the place was packed.  Lots of runners passing me as I chugged along.  The hills were harder than I remembered and even though I jogged up the hill I'd missed the 1st day, the jog was sinfully slow.  Slow enough that near the top 2 people walking passed me.  At 1st I told myself "You know you're slow and you are always joking about how people walking could pass you, so why are you letting it bother you."  I know I sped up trying to keep them from pulling away so now I was jogging outside my comfort zone too and I was already tired, that's when I tripped the 2nd time.  Stumbled would be more accurate I guess.  I'd heard the phone announce the halfway point a short time before and I was way behind where I'd been the last jog, with the walkers pulling away to spite my increased speed...  frustrated tears were forming in my eyes and as I hit the spot where I'd started I decided to take a short break and decide if I wanted to turn around and head back the other direction to finish.  I slid the lock off the C25K app and hit the pause button without looking at my time or distance.  When I took my drink out to tank up before I headed back the other way I hit that stupid button that backs the app up to the last segment.  Since I had it on the 28 minute run it backed it all the way up to start over.  That was all she wrote.  I started crying in ernest.  I walked away to hide my tears from the other joggers and to calm down.  It took a few minutes to get myself together and I decided to jog another 10 minutes and call it a day.  Before I could get back to the track I saw my husband driving toward me.  I'd told him to wait at the bottom of the hill and I'd call him if I couldn't make it there, but he had to come check on me, which made me angry at him again.  I just gave up and quit. 

I was supposed to jog yesterday but my sister had a birthday party at The Melting Pot and the timing was off for a jog before.  I was just too darn stuffed for a jog after.   Today I was feeling awful so tomorrow my brand new shoes will get a workout.  They are so much prettier than the old ones that I almost hate to get them dirty. 

Hope to hear more updates.