Back in March, I woke up one morning and decided to put my life in order. I was about 310lbs, 5'11 and more importantly turning 35 in a couple weeks.

I wanted to show my kids I could be that cool dad that could do anything, could do all sorts of sports but I also wanted to teach myself some discipline and in a way pass it to them.

So I started from basics, began counting my calories, bought a standing desk and a walking pad. I walked and I walked, 8-9-10Ks per day, inclined. I lost like 25 pounds in 2 months and started to feel good about myself.

I always dreamed about being a runner, I just always thought these people were so cool. I started C25K in June.

W1D1 - 1MIN intervals... I actually cried at one point. I thought I'd never get through it. I slept with medical ice packs taped to my knees... but I kept going.

I just kept thinking about W5D3, the dreaded 20min run.

But I kept loosing weight... I integrated weightlifting between my runs and I kept walking aimed for 10K everyday.

Then W5D3 happened, I made it and was actually so proud. I felt like I could do anything at that point.

Pounds kept dropping, I was disciplined with my nutrition, added supplements kept my training regimen steady and I just kept going.

Today was W7D1. It's supposed to be 25minutes.

My wife came to the track with my kids, they were there watching me.

I just kept going...

https://imgur.com/a/HTXaQFH

Dont give up people - it feels so good to reach a goal

EDIT : Typos 😂

Hi all, so Ive competed a couch to 5k course before and was then running regularly for a few months. Then unfortunately life has gotten in the way and I attempted a run last week and it didnt go so well. So im thinking of starting the course but would love your opinions, should I start from the beginning or half way? Has anyone done something like this before?

I was both dreading and excited for today. Dreading the possibility of my knees getting sore during the run and excited to see if the cadence running I’ve been doing would both get me through 20 mins without blowing up cardio wise and save my knees at the same time. Happy to say that I made it through unscathed, even though my distance/time wasn’t as good as it had been the last time I did this in 2023.

M51, hardly any physical activity since becoming a father. Started running early Jan, short distances at first, 1 -1.5 km tops, once a week. Hated every minute. Started 2 km runs, still once weekly consistently around March. For several months, remained stuck at 2 km. Changed route end of July, reached 3,7 km, and, since last Monday 5,0 km, 👍 (6:38/km). I still hate every minute.

Are there any free or one-time-payment (non-subscription) couch to 5k apps that auto sync with Strava? I’ve been using Just Run and I like it a lot but also want to be able to share my progress with my friends for motivation.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading through all of the encouragement and advice that I got when I posted my original thread.

And I took it all onboard, slowed my run right down to a slow jog, and even changed my run location to somewhere flat— and lo and behold, yesterday I managed to conquer W2D1!

I feel so energised and I really enjoy my runs now. They’ve become the highlight of my day! Today is a rest day and then tomorrow I’ll be back on the trails for W2D2!

Thank you so much everyone!!!

All right, so I'm looking for some advice. Technically, this is the end of Week 1 for me because I switched apps midway. I have one more day of this week coming up on Friday, which honestly, I think I need. Being a bigger guy (6'2" and 300 lbs), I'm only finishing about five out of the eight running intervals. I still attempt the last three, but I only get about 45 seconds into them before my legs are on fire to the point where I have to stop.

So, my question is: if I'm not finishing the full eight runs, should I redo Week 1 or just keep going? I'm worried that Week 2 might have longer runs and I'll just end up failing all of them! lol.

On my rest day (Day 4), I rowed for 30 mins at a 20 spm pace and lifted weights. I'm also still working on not snacking when I'm bored. I'm thinking the best way to tackle this is setting a hard window with intermittent fasting—maybe breaking my fast at 3:00 PM (1500) and stopping at 9:00 PM (2100). Relying on just black coffee with Splenda in the mornings might be the easiest way to keep myself from grazing early in the day.

Personal thoughts while running: I run this block around an old church, and there is this little old lady who also runs/walks it. Somehow, we are always going in opposite directions. It’s only been 3 days, so it’s funny we already have this pattern. I don't know if she does it every day, but I know she runs way better than me. I never thought I’d say, "Man, I wish I was in the shape of a 5-foot-nothing, 50+ year-old Hispanic woman," but here we are. She is my ultimate goal at this point. I want to run like this lady.

I am a big mouth breather…

Since starting I have noticed there is a slight weeze on my breathing and have phlegm coming off my chest.

Getting conflicting information online (the shock) that you shouldn’t be mouth breathing and should be nose breathing.

Not sure if this is normal when beginning to run, I used smoke/vape but not for about 2 years now.

So generally looking for any information on the symptoms and mouth vs nose lol