My running life began a short time ago, in the last week of October 2007. I made the decision to begin running in much the same way I’ve made other important, life changing decisions: by buckling to peer pressure. I had just started a new job and made a couple of friends in the office. About that time it seemed that “everyone” in the office was talking about participating in the annual St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. Not wanting to be left out, I decided that I too would participate in the event and began considering registering for the St. Jude Memphis Grizzlies House 5k. Considering that for the past 10 years of my life I had been, among other things, an avowed couch potato, a heavy drinker, and a heavy smoker, it didn’t exactly follow that I would be a candidate to participate in a foot race of any distance, much less a 5k jaunt in the company of accomplished runners in the dead of winter. Enter my solution, the Couch to 5k running plan.

The Plan

The Couch to 5k running plan from Cool Running is a 9-week program designed for people exactly like myself: brand-new to running, terrified of the thought of anything that even resembled exercise, and ready to make a change. The program is “less of a running regimen than a walking and jogging program,” beginning with lots of walking and very short periods of jogging. The program doesn’t even include a jog of more than three minutes until the fourth week. I knew that this was a program I would be able to tackle, and I jumped into it with gusto and not a small amount of trepidation.

As I began the program, I discovered immediately that a 60-second jog is nothing to scoff at. For a guy that hadn’t run for anything but his dinner in the past 10 years, 60 seconds of jogging was all I could pull off without walking and/or puking. Things got worse in week two when I had to jog for 90 seconds without stopping. I truly thought that I was going to die. Still, it felt really good to be accomplishing something, even a small amount of something, that I wasn’t sure I was capable of.

Big Trouble and Good Advice

In week three I started to jog for three minutes at a time. While I was able to complete each of the runs, I had pushed myself to my absolute limit, and found that I wasn’t able to complete the 5 minute runs that were part of the fourth week of the program. I wasn’t sure why, after the success I had experienced in the first month of running, I was having any problems at all. Sharing my difficulties with my friend Scott, I received the best advice that a new runner could be given: slow down!

Here I was, a brand new runner, trying to get myself ready for the big 5k and working my way through a new runner’s program, and I was trying to run an 8′30” pace. Somehow, in my mind, an 8′30” pace was slow. It took a while for Scott’s advice to work its way through my thick skull, but when I finally slowed my pace down to around 10′ per mile, I was able to complete every remaining Couch to 5k run without any trouble.

The Big Race

At the end of the sixth week of the Couch to 5k program, I felt like I could tackle the big race. I completed the St. Jude Memphis Grizzlies House 5k with an official time of 34′08”, without walking and without puking. The feelings of pride, accomplishment, and joy that I experienced were well worth the pain and discipline of training. I wore the finisher’s medal that I earned that morning all day long. It felt like a gold medal hanging around my neck, and I was as proud of it as I would be a gold medal.

Sweet Success

In the following weeks, I finished the Couch to 5k program, my graduation run being a 29′56” 5k. The same guy who couldn’t run for 90 seconds without begging for death (that would be me) finished his last week of the program by running three 5ks! Thanks to a simple program of action, the good advice and encouragement of friends, and the discipline to carry through, I was able to transform myself from a couch potato into an honest-to-goodness runner. I’m here to tell you, if I can do it, you can do it too.

What Helped

• Baby steps: There’s no way I could have gone out and simply started running. The Couch to 5k plan showed me exactly what to do and how to do it.
• Friends: Having some fellow runners in the office to help encourage, give advice, and share with was priceless.
• Goals: I wrote each of my Couch to 5k runs down on the calendar, giving me goals to accomplish every week. The big goal, the St. Jude Grizzlies House 5k, was also on the calendar, and it was always on my mind. Accomplishing small weekly goals en route to the big goal helped to build confidence. The big goal kept me pounding the pavement, accomplishing the little goals.
• Good clothes: I started running in cotton. Bad idea! I grabbed some inexpensive running clothes from a local department store and it made a world of difference. Not only was I more comfortable, but it had the effect of making me feel like a “real” jogger, whatever that is.
• Nike+ Sport Kit: I’m a big geek, and being able to easily track my run data is not only a must, but it’s also lots of fun with the Nike+ system. Getting involved in challenges is another great way to stay motivated.

Resources

• The original Couch to 5k Running plan
• Nike+
• C25k.com
• The Couch to 5k Checklist