Hi Valeria, my name is Michelle.  I live in Australia and post on their cool running site too.  But between you and all the other runners I like this site better.  It seems easier to use.

I am on week 6 of the c25k and am coping quite well with it.

Same as you I have 3 children (17y10m, 14y, and 11y6m) I work in the office of a school.

Sadly I can't give you any dreaded 20minute run stories as I had been following the program incorrectly and didn't do it.  I thought that each column was for a fitness level (low, medium and high) so I chose the middle column.  Anyway I have learnt the error of my ways and in two days time I will get to try the 25minute session. Hopefully success will be mine.

I've been an on and off runner for a total of four years. After taking approximately 9 months off from running, I am back into it. I plan on keeping it up year-round this time. For races, I've mostly ran 5K's and 5 milers. My PR for the 5K a few years ago was around 19:30. I look to bring myself back to that level, hopefully by the end of the summer.

I'm looking to take my running a bit more seriously now, and increase my endurance substantially. My goal is to train and run both a half marathon and a full marathon within a year and a half.

Good call! esp with the absence of a dedicated 'introduce yourself' subforum.

ME:

A 32 yearold Software Engineer originally from Boston, but now living permanantly in the UK (and have been for all my adult life)

Why I'm here:

well a few things in parallel and the timing was right... Firstly I'm vastly out of shape. I have been to varying degrees most of my life but the last few years have been particularly bad. - currently ~200lbs at 5'6" and a pretty substantial beergut. I've never been totally inactive (til now) and slowly all the things i used to do got pushed out of my life: when at school age I did a lot of mountain biking - even a few races. I went to uni and the biking went out the window to make way for socializing and studies. though i stayed active: lots of walking round the city where the campus was, cycling to and from lectures etc. and trampolining (too meet teh ladeez    ) then i graduated and got a job which was mainly desk based but had an active component, but the commute was by car only (too far total and no real public transport available) but i still walked everywhere in the city i lived and did lots of clubbing (accompanied with ridiculous amounts of booze but plenty of dancing to burn it off).

Then I bought a house in the sticks (relatively speaking, kind of like moving to upstate NY after living in Manhattan) no social structure anymore and had to drive pretty much to do anything so all my 'hidden' activity disappeared.

my final bastion of 'hidden' activity was in my job which I lost in 2005 and have only had 100% desk based ones since  :(.

So now, at the end of the year, I'm getting married and both my fiancee and I are determined to not be the beached whales on the cruise ship of our honeymoon. this has given me (us) clear goals to aim for, and hopefully sustain afterwards (not going to be doing a "lose 30lbs in 2 weeks to fit into <insert piece of clothing> for the wedding/honeymoon" and then slipping back to old habits after that...)

Ok, you can all wake up now  I have gone on a bit here.... 

I'm Ben, a 27 yo asst. project manager, husband, and father to a 7 month old, living near Baltimore, MD.

The only running I've ever done was in high school for gym class and baseball practice, and I didn't enjoy it very much.  I started a weight loss plan about 6 weeks ago, changing my diet only, and have lost about 18 lbs so far.  I figure it's time to add some exercise and the C25K plan is exactly the kind of beginner program I'm looking for.  I imagine I'll know by week 2 or 3 if I'm going to stick with it and if I get that far, I plan to sign up for a 5K in September or October.

I'm 5'11", 260 lbs with a target weight of "anything below 200".

Hi - I'm Lynn,

I'll be 45 soon - married, no kids.  I started running last year and my first "real" race was an 8K and then I slacked off.  This year I hope to run thru the winter - (road & treadmill).  I live in Flint Michigan - so the weather can be tough.  I had a rude awakening this March (the scale) and decided to get off the couch and work off some of those lbs that I aquired over the past few years. 

I had no idea how much fun running is and that "I" could actually do it!   I always thought I'd have knee problems or that I just couldn't hack it.  Come to find out, I love to strap on my ipod, and be gone for and hour or so - just for myself.  I just love it.  I'll be running in a 5k fun run tomorrow morning and next month the Turri 10K and then August holds a 10 miler - "the Crim" - which is probably the race that most people in our area are preparing for and a HUGE Milestone for me.  I NEVER thought I could do this - but here I am.  I amaze myself!

I look to this forum for some guidance, info and encouragement.  I love the training calendar and use that also. 

Alistair, did I get that right...you want to lose 30lb = 14kg in two weeks.  That is an awful lot an a very short period of time. 

I have lost 29lb this years but it took about 4 months to do it.  I gave up alcohol and started to exercise everyday.  This has meant that I have also dropped by blood pressure medication by half.  I feel great and am succeeding at keeping it off.

I have always believed that slow gradual weight loss is more lasting than a quick fast.  Be careful how you go about your diet...you don't want to do more damage than good.

LOL!

no Michelle, you totally misread that     30lbs in 2 weeks is exactly what i am NOT trying to achieve: I'm aiming for achievable sustainable goals. overall i'm looking to lose about 40lbs - probably by early next year. my comment was more that so many people have an imminent event such as a wedding (like myself) that they specifically try to lose a stupid amount of wieght for in a short space of time. and even though my marital event has given me a target, i'm not using it to set unrealistic goals.

EDIT:

hah! we just had posts cross.

apology accepted