You can SO do this!  I'm a 43 year old choir director.  I have never, ever been able to take up jogging/running on my own.  But with this podcast, I knew I had to keep going until I was told it was time to walk....so I couldn't wimp out like I always did before.  I'm running my first 5K on Tuesday.   Hang in there....December is almost over!  (Oh, and it's weird, but you'll have days when you do GREAT and others where you're barely making it.  I haven't figured out all the "whys" of this happening...sleep, food, state of mind, who knows?)

It's okay to take more than one day off between runs. In many cases, you'll find that you take two days off. See how you're feeling. If your next run is rough, you might want to repeat it. If it goes well, just keep going! You're not going to lose any fitness by taking off two or three days.

Once you've built a larger base of mileage, you'll find that you can sometimes go for a week without losing anything. Do that too often, though, and you'll find yourself slipping. Now and then is fine.

Keep it up! You're doing great.

Don

For me, my schedule happened to end up so that I did Day3 of each week on wednesday and Day1 the following week was on Saturday.  I think having 2 days off really made a difference in that saturday run... and when it came time for the 20 minute run in Week 5, I actually did it on thursday so I could have the 2 days rest.  It was a coincidence that it was Thanksgiving morning     Don't underestimate how important it is to let your body recover.  It is critical!

I'm in Week 9 now and yesterday I just ran my first 5k... not a race but a route through my neighborhood.  It is crazy to me to see my own progress! I started out just like you and just stuck to the schedule.  All my online buddies were doing these Jingle bell 5k races and there weren't any near me so I just made my own.  It took me 38 minutes, but I ran the whole way.  As long as you just keep going each week, you will look back at how you felt in these early weeks with amazement at what you can accomplish   Of course, today I am resting, because my legs really got a workout with the whole 38 minute thing.  I may take off monday too and shift a day... not sure.  I'll have to see how I feel monday morning.

Here is a great inspirational article that I found a few weeks ago... This story starts off just like any of us and I want my own story to read just like this a year from now!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/story/796123854839887923/how_i_fell_in_love_with_running

You can do it if you really want to.  But you have to "want" to.    TMs are great, don't let anyone else tell you differently.  For the pace, find what's good for you.  Make yourself work and if you start to get sore, ask yourself if it's a "good" sore or a "bad" sore (good sore - legs are tight/bad sore - ankle hurts w/ every step).  I'm 6' and my good walking pace is about a 15 min. mi. (4.0?) where my wife is just over 5'2" so she's going at a good clip at 3.2.  One thing is a certainty:  if you can, always raise the elevation on your deck to 1.0 - 1.5 to simulate an outside work out so when you DO transition to the outside it won't be such an adjustment.  Speaking just for myself the hardest part of the workout isn't the workout; it's just getting to the START of the workout.  The first 10 mins. of any workout are always the most miserable for me and I hate them with a passion so I fuss and cuss and all that, but after a while it's good and in the end I'm glad I gutted it out.  Best of luck to you!!!

OUTSTANDING!!!  Revel in your victory and get ready for your next go.  You have no idea how key that whole eating thing is.  You have to look at it completely different than how you look at it now.  I'm a foodie.  Love food.  LOVE it, but until I was able to get it straight I just couldn't lose my weight.  Took me a few years but I finally got it nailed.

Hey Tammy, glad to see you're doing well!  I've been a slacker this past week and I'm supposed to start W3 tomorrow but I'm nervous about the 3 minute runs!  I may do one more day of W2...not sure yet.  The holidays basically killed my workout schedule.  I was doing good before then...running 3 days a week and lifting weights 3 days a week but then all of a sudden...my motivation dwindled.  My hubby talked me into staying home and snuggling on the couch with him while we both had time off!  This felt just as good as exercising!   I kinda feel like I'm starting to lose my motivation...need some help with that!   I'm also thinking about running at a local cemetery to have a change from the treadmill.  There is a park nearby that I could run at also, but I'm intimidated by hills right now.  I don't think I'm ready for them yet.  Anyway, back to the gym this week (hopefully), good luck with D3!