Parkrun

[Whitney168]

So, I am at least 5 stone overweight, and feeling hellish. I am pondering Parkrun.

Has anyone majorly overweight and unfit tried this and was it good or awful? There seem to be 270 odd people completing my local one, and some taking over an hour, and I know I could walk it a good bit faster than that, but I will not be able to run much at all.

Any experience appreciated.

I'm not majorly overweight or unfit so tell me to eff off, but I am part of the core team at a parkrun. Please go!! We welcome all ages and abilities, one of my best friends is over 20 stone and completes a parkrun in about 50 minutes. He's also done 10k races too.

We also have mums walking with prams and other people who, through various reasons, choose to walk. Anyone taking over an hour will be walking.

The routes are published online so you could go and have a practice run (or walk!) on your own to give you some confidence and an idea of what to expect.

Parkrun once a week won't make you lose weight but add a couple of other sessions in during the week and you will see an impact.

Are you a runner or running currently? If not, and you're that over weight, I'd suggest that you start gently and work up to half an hour/5K.

Try doing the C25K programme - it's really good.

Can you run 5k?

If not, try the Couch to 5K program to teach you to run for half an hour:

www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Couch-to-5K-running-plan.aspx

I started C25K when my BMI was around 35. I'm now closed to BMI 25 and run at least 5k every day, often 10k.

There’s lots of people different shapes and sizes at my local park run. Slow miles are better than no miles and if you don’t complete in the first few weeks just keep at it and that can be your goal. Once you complete you can try and get it in a quicker time. Good for you for trying to take on the challenge x