After a slightly fitful night’s sleep thanks to the excessive temperature in my bedroom, rising to run this morning was both a mental and physical battle. Today was the final run of three in week four of the programme and I couldn’t find running socks for love nor money!

Way back in week one I said something along the lines of ‘I couldn’t imagine ever running without support socks because of my stupid leg’ (well… something like that anyway!). But this morning I did, and this may have been a massively foolish decision. After finding the first run this week surprisingly easy and even the second one – whilst running with the dog proved less problematic and painful than I had expected. But this morning – my legs felt like lead weights and the only think I could possibly attribute it to, was the lack of support socks.

If anyone has advice on this leg pain phenomenon it would be gratefully received. The muscles down the outer side of my shin bones were burning and causing my legs to feel so heavy that I almost stopped a couple of times. I stretched before and after the run and did a five minute warm up and cool down walk as with every podcast in the programme. The pain always comes in the same muscles. Like a stich sort of pain, but in the muscles on the outside of my shins – this all seems so very odd. Could it be my shoes?  I was ‘checked’ for the particular style in a Sweaty Betty store so they should do the trick and I certainly can’t afford a new pair, this is one thing I am sure of!

Pain aside though – I am really bloody proud of myself for getting this far. Running that far is genuinely something I never thought I would or could ever do. But I have, and with each week, I feel less daunted by the one that’s waiting for me. If there’s anyone reading this that’s wondering whether or not to bother with starting the plan – or thinking that maybe they won’t be able to do it – so they won’t bother. You should put those thoughts to bed. Give it a go. Give it six weeks and you will find you are so used to it that the fear subsides. Get to week four like me – and you will find you already feel that. Four to six weeks is nothing really is it. It’s no longer than you had to wait to remove your first earrings when you had your ears pierced. No longer than the summer holidays, it’s got to be worth a punt, right?

Week five beckons for me and although I know it’s going to be a difficult one, with three different, ever progressing runs, rather than one repeated run, I am genuinely looking forward to it.

I have not yet seem much progress with weight loss or body shrinkage, but I am sure it will come when the running time starts to increase more. The infamous shorts are still sitting in my drawer, taunting me. But I will win. I will shake my bootie in those Calvin Klein’s. Just you wait and see!

So, today - for the second time I started the Couch to 5k running plan.
It comes in various connotations, from phone apps to downloadable paper programmes to podcasts. I have chosen to try the latter form.

I downloaded my podcast from the NHS website. I am not going to go through lots of ways to find it, suffice to say, if you Google 'NHS Couch to 5K' you can't go wrong.

It's a nine week plan that aims to get people like me (and worse I might add) up and running with steadily increasing run to walk timings. The plan works by getting you to repeat each podcast three times; then, you simply move on to the next one.

'Laura' acts like the 'good' angel on the shoulder and advises you when to run, when to walk and on your five minute warm up and cool down sessions.

Now - back to my admission of having started the plan before. I did you see, and to my shame, only got one run in before having to shelve it for a couple of weeks. In my defence however, this was due to the impending deadline of eleven-thousand words of essays to complete in two weeks for a Masters in Music... so you see, I had my reasons.

So I guess we need to come back to the question of 'Couch to 5k. Why Bother?' Well.... simply because I have seen it works. I have seen first-hand evidence of the benefits of Couch to 5k and how it has turned around the life of someone who thought that they would never run. A very lovely friend of mine, Emma started the programme after years of trying various diets, regimes and self-imposed conditions and having two lovely children. I don’t know exactly how much weight she has lost but there's no need to ask. She looks amazing, and as she glides around in size ten jeans. With glowing skin and bubbling over with energy to entertain her kids, I know that she exudes the benefits of a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle and that her children will continue to benefit from this too.

I don't have children to think about, but I do come from a family with a history of diabetes and cancer and at 32 these things start to come to your attention a little more. I have always been overweight. For as long as I can remember (even since teenagedom) I have never worn under a size 14 and currently my size 16 clothes are feeling a bit too snug and for as long as I can remember I have always hated my body. All of it. There seems to be no let-up in the voices in my head that tell me how disgusting I look. So in short, before I go into needless detail, and because this blog is not being written for sympathy votes; but because I know that I am by no means the only woman who feels like this about themselves... (And probably because I need something to fill my hours now all the essays are finished!)... This is why I am bothering.