mudrunner. please help. not sure where to start.

[onemoredayplease]

my lovely 10 year old daughter is desperate to do the mudrunner with me next year. she is a very sporty girl and will have no problem completing this. I wish the same could be said of me I'm 3 stone overweight and the most exercise I do is walking the dog (4 miles per day). looking at the website the junior mudrun is 5k and usually held around june. so the question is how do I begin to even think about taking part in this? I know I need to sort my weight out but how to I approach the fitness side of this? my knees arent great so I need to be careful. please help. I dont want to let her down.

First stop is to make an appointment to see your practice nurse to get checked over. They will be able to advise you on weight loss, refer you to NHS physiotherapy for your knees if need be, and advise you on safety.

Next, go to a running shop and get fitted for a proper pair of shoes to run in. Essential to avoid potential injury from wearing poorly fitted shoes. Also essential to get a good running bra!

Then have a look at various running programmes. Your local running club will doubtless welcome beginners and will have the advantages of safety in running in a group, motivation, social experience and people who know what they're doing and so can correct your technique. If their times aren't suitable then have a look at the NHS Couch to 5k podcasts, which do exactly what they say, but I would strongly recommend having one or two sessions with a personal trainer specialising in running, or a running coach, to make sure you have the right stride and breathing techniques.

5k is a manageable distance. You have oodles of time to nail this but start now for your own confidence.

Wow 5yr olds can run it! I have a 5yr old and ran my first muddy run a few weeks ago so can't wait till he can join me.

I've being doing military fit for the past year so have exercised outdoors for just over a year to toughen me up - I'm a former gym only exerciser and can't stand being cold and wet. I also found a local running club who have a lot of cross country runners so have joined them a few times. I got a cheap pair of trail shoes from Decathlon and they did the job.
I have had a lot of issues with my knees in the past but haven't had any problems since doing military fit - they are quite good on technique and building up strength to avoid injuries.