The last time I wrote about the Couch to 5K program was back in 2019. I had shockingly just passed the dreaded Week 5 Day 3 where the program goes from alternative walking/running to a complete 20 minute run. Now, I’m sad to announce I’m restarting C25K all over again.

I am almost ashamed to say that post was made in August of 2019. As of today, I have yet to actually complete a 5K. I say almost because I am trying not to go back on the title of this post, “No Shame in Restarting C25K”. 

Well as the title of this post has given away, I’ve had to restart the C25K program. What may be a surprise is that this isn’t my first restart. I’m sad to say that almost 2 years since I started the C25K program, this is the second time I’m retrying it.

I honestly don’t remember why I ended up stopping the first time I did the program. The closest I came to completing the program though was in the beginning of 2020, my second attempt. 

I had made it all the way to the last week and with only 3 more sessions to complete, I dropped the ball. This time, I do remember clearly the reason for stopping the second time, COVID. 

I had been diligently going to the gym 3 times a week to run on the treadmill which I liked much better than running outdoors. I live in a hilly neighborhood so I found the flat surface of the treadmill much nicer.

When COVID hit in March of 2020 and gyms closed, it was hard for me to translate my treadmill training to running outside. My hilly neighborhood made it hard for me to sustain the 28 minutes continuous running I was supposed to be doing as part of Week 8 plan, so my first attempt was a failure.

A second failed attempt proved to be too much for me to handle. Instead of going back down to an easier run, I took a break completely from running.

That break became longer and longer. When I was ready to start back up, I was in for a shock to find that I couldn’t just pick up where I left off.

I was completely out of my elements. I couldn’t even run 1K without stopping anymore, let alone the goal of a 5K. Dashed were my dreams of completing the Couch to 5K program and I put it away for good.

At the start of 2021, I made a pact with a friend to run a 5 mile running trail every weekend with an end goal of 52 runs on this trail total this year. 

At first I had gotten discouraged with the C25K program so I was just running without any plans, stopping to walk each time I was tired. Realizing that my progress has been very minimal compared to when I was doing the C25K, I decided to restart.

I’m inpatient so I started back up at Week 3 rather than from the very beginning. I’m now at Week 4 with a running schedule of 2x/week short runs around my neighborhood (< 2 miles) and the 5-mile run on the weekend to make the 3x/week schedule of C25K.

Goals

At first I felt ashamed at having failed C25K and having to restart. But then I realize the only person losing out is me. No one is going to care how many times I attempted the program. The end result is what matters.

So to hold myself accountable, I’m going to put my goals out here in the open. My goal is to be able to run a 5K without stopping by the end of March. It’ll be nice to come full circle from when I last stopped in March of 2020 to actually finish it in March of 2021.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me without having follow up goals.

My running goals in order of completion:

1. Finish a 5K non-stop run
2. Run 5 miles in under 1 hour
3. Finish a 5-mile nonstop run
4. Run 5 miles in under 10 minute/mile pace
5. Run a sub 30-minutes 5K

Now that I’ve written all these goals, they seem a bit daunting. So I’ll just close it up for now and focus on my first goal which is to finish the C25K program to run the 5K nonstop.

They say third time’s a charm so hopefully my third attempt at restarting C25K program will be a success.