Taking up the Couch to 5k challenge
06 September 2016
![HChris Rodgers run 1.jpg](/media/155697/hchris-rodgers-run-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&quality=80&width=1024&rnd=131244532880000000)
Chris Rodgers is an Energy Engineer for CDS at Moorfoot and joined the lunchtime running group there which encouraged him all the way from a mobile app to his first full 5k.
Here's why he took up running and what he's got out of it:
When my dad was 54 he had a Triple by-pass operation on his heart. For me to see this take place when I was 26 was quite daunting and upsetting. My dad recovered to tell the story and is now at the ripe old age of 80.
I am nearly 52 and for the past three years I have been looking at my health. With my age getting ever closer to 54, and being 15 stone at one point in my life, I decided to change my eating habits; I did not want to go through what my dad went through. Having changed the way I eat, I reduced my weight to 12.5 stone, and I am still that weight today.
But still something was missing from being fully healthy, and that was being fit through exercise. I decided to take up the Couch to 5k challenge which I followed using the Couch to 5k running programme on a mobile app. Over 8 weeks the programme builds up your running skills and stamina 3 times per week. I also joined the lunchtime running group at Moorfoot which encouraged me all the way.
Recently, I completed the programme and ran my first full 5k in a time of 30 minutes. From running for 2 minutes and struggling, to 30 minutes and being comfortable is a big achievement for me.
My hope now is I have avoided the trauma that my dad went through, and that I can reach his ripe old age in the future.
With the 10k programme beckoning me, I hope my story can inspire others to take up the Couch to 5k, whether through a mobile app or with the Moorfoot Lunch Time Running Group, as I have been inspired by it all and enjoyed the experience all the way.
More news from RunTogether
![HChris Rodgers run 1.jpg blurred out](/media/155697/hchris-rodgers-run-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&quality=50&width=1024&blur=100&rnd=131244532880000000)