To ask how I get into running?

[4beautifulchildren]

I had this brilliant idea that I would take up running.
I put on my trainers and ran, I didn't even get to the end of the road and I had a stitch, my lungs were burning and I was out of breath.
I thought I'd take easily to running because I love walking and hiking, I walk for hours most evenings.
I'm healthy weight and not ready to give up.

I love Couch25K. I did it about 12 years ago when I couldn't run for more than a minute at a time (general fitness was okay, I was a swimmer, but I'd never been able to run). Ended up doing two half marathons!

I also used it when I started running again last summer after having a baby. It was a great way to build back up safely - I started when he was 11 weeks old and got back up to 5km in about 8 weeks.

Take it slowly, but it really does work!

If you are worried about knees try and find somewhere soft to run like a park not tarmac. Physically it’s a bit harder and requires more effort so your speed will be even lower but it is much easier on the joints.

I always liked the Nike run app myself

<sigh> to remind me that knees never really heal. Must re-read my posts before posting, it at least soon enough afterwards to be able to edit 😑

(And I'm sure they probably do heal, often, at least from some things, but at least with the PFPS I had, treatment was all about "Here's a load of exercises to make the leg muscles stronger; your knee will still be shit, but it'll be slightly easier for you to move it almost like before you buggered it"

Echo the above, couch to 5k! I started it about a year after my now 4 year old was born, then after I finished I went to a local parkrun and never looked back.

I now run 30-40 miles a week (over 4 days) and just take 2 rest days. I'd recommend getting some decent trainers, they don't have to be stupidly expensive but something that offers good support / cushioning. A running belt for your phone and a cheap foam roller for stretching (you will ache a lot to start with). Be sure to make sure you rest on rest days, keep hydrated and don't eat too close to a run.

But mainly just enjoy being out and about, get a good playlist on and zone out!

OR at least soon enough afterwards.

FFS.

Motherfucker.

This is what happens when you try (or at least when I try) to post with even a semblance of coherence, to try to communicate an experience to a (potential) fellow owner of crappy knees, after over 44 hours awake nonstop, and under the influence of both (prescribed) amphetamines and the dregs of last night's utterly ineffective (prescribed) benzodiazepines.

I don't even know why I'm telling anyone this. It's certainly not needed or wanted on the thread.

When they write my death certificate, the cause will be right there in black and white: HER OWN FUCKING TYPOS FINALLY OVERCAME HER AND HER BRAIN EXPLODED FROM MILDLY SUBSTANCE-ASSISTED RAGE.

Just do it, as someone once said. I didn't used C25K myself, I just went out for a run one day completely out of the blue, felt like I was going to have a heart attack after two minutes and sloped off home. Then I tried again and aimed to get to a special tree, and I got there. So next time I went further, then a bit further etc etc until I was determined not to stop. My advice is to just keep going when you feel like you want to stop. I now run about 6 miles or so every Sunday, just round the streets where I live, it's my hour of escape with my music and the fresh air (LOVE a rainy run) and I absolutely look forward to it as my thing to do. I have done the Great North Run, but honestly prefer the solitude of being in my own world for a while. I would say, yes, please look after your knees, and I have learned that lots of hip mobility exercise and strengthening will help. Enjoy OP!