obiebyke - You'll probably find your running speed goes up and down based off a large number of things, from the weather, to having a cold, to adapting to more distace, to just the level of life-stress you have going on. I know my pace varies a lot, and the longer I run, the slower I am. You may be, incidentally, running your training runs too fast. Take a look over at the world-famous McMillan Running Calculator. When I plug in your 5K time of 35:17, it suggests an "easy" pace for you of 13:38 - 14:08. Now, granted that in the last six weeks you have probably continued to improve your speed since new runners typically do so quickly. However, you're saying that your training runs are going between 12- 12:30. Translation: you probably need to slow down even more in order to get the most benefit from your training. Working at too hard of a pace in the stage you're at leads to 1)injury, 2)burnout, and 3) less gain. I recently took a big chunk off my 5K PR, bringing it down to 32:15. McMillan says I should be doing my easy runs in the 13-13:30 range. Actually, I can't train that fast largely because of the hills around home. But see, training at that slower level does NOT mean that my race time is slower, only that I'm improving my aerobic fitness more efficiently. And no, you may not PR in every race. And yes, that is okay. I started out a lot slower than you are now. In fact, I'd been running over a year by the time I reached the pace you had on your first 5K! (I hope everyone here knows by now I'm not a very talented runner!!!) My first races were all PR's because I started out in such rough shape that ANY amount of training would make me faster. You're not in as bad of shape to start, so you might not PR every single time. But I wouldn't rule it out just yet. Slow down your runs until you're going at a pace you'd have no trouble carrying on an in-depth conversation with someone. (But not slow enough to sing comfortably!) Keep up the consistency with your training. Train easy. Race hard. You'll probably surprise yourself!

Thanks, Wingz. Really really helpful. What a great 5k time! So how do you know how hard to push on race day if you usually run more slowly? MTA: My conclusion is that I need to do a heart rate test and use my monitor and make sure I'm staying aerobic. As long as I have a forerunner 305, might as well use it instead of Macmillan. Hurray for zones. I'll take a look at Motionbased.com at some point and see where my zones have been thus far--probably too high, I'm guessing.

Thought I was going to be able to bag W6d3 - and would have if I hadn't been trying to multitask. I had decided to make it a shorter 2.5 minute warm up and cool down and run on the treadmill at the gym during my daughters swim class. The class got out early so I had to jump off 7 minutes before I was planning on being done the whole thing. Good thing is that I felt totally like I was going to be able to do the whole long run. So, I guess I'll try it again on Thursday afterwork - without the kid thing. It was really funny how aggravated I was at having to stop early. A year ago I would have laughed myself silly if you had suggested I would be upset at having to stop running after 1.7 miles.

OHR W5D2 done!! woohoo!!

W8 D1 finished--but sorta failed. It was SO humid here in Portland--we're about to start a big old heat wave, and I was NOT prepared for walking out into moisture-filled air this afternoon, much less running in it. I pooped out in the middle of my run, took a one-block walk break, then managed to finish it, but geez...poor showing! Oh well--it's my first non-prescribed walk break I've had to take in the C25K. Such things happen. I won't let it get me down. Laine's fascinating shin update: feeling okay during my run today. I'm still going to the running store on Friday, though. Thanks for all the orthotic advice--I've been wearing these since I started this round of C25K, so hopefully they'll last me a few more years. Judging from everyone else's experiences with them, they DO last a long time! So rare to find things that give you bang for the buck these days. Happy trails everyone! Keep hydrated! -L (who's drinking a massive glass of Gatorade in addition to her water)

C25K W4D2 - Man I'm feeling completely uncommitted in comparison to you guys.... You're all planning to run races by the sounds of things.... I just want to be able to run.... I'm trying to maintain my fitness level for my "other sport".... BTW - thanks for the reminder on the water side of things Laine.... I keep filling up the drink bottle and then it sits there on my desk calling my name but I don't seem to hear it....

Hi all - I'm looking for some encouragement. I'm on W6D1 today, and went out with the dogs with no motivation at all. We run trails in the woods by my house, so the dogs are off leash. One rolled in something smelly, and that was all I needed as an excuse to put him back on the leash, cut the run off after 3-4 minutes and take a short-cut home (and give him a bath). The dogs usually are inspiring, today they were just on my nerves. Last week, W5D2 (8 minute run, 5min walk, 8 minute run) felt so good and I thought "hey, I can do this", then the 20 minute straight run the next time felt so bad despite running really really slowly ... Has anyone else made it this far and then just lost motivation? Seems like this is the part of the program when most of you started feeling better, and I'm just... blah. Thanks for listening. I'll probably be able to flog myself into going again tomorrow (I'm a recovering Type A), but I'd sure like to have a better outlook on it.

runswithdogs - I don't think there is a runner out there who has never had a few days when things didn't go well or they just plain old didn't feel like running. What makes you a runner, though, is recognizing that while those days happen, there are also good ones and overall it's worthwhile. What makes you a runner is saying, "Yes, that run wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped. But I'm still a runner." Going out and doing that next run defines you as a runner. Do it. You may want to redo week 5, as it's generally suggested that you not progress until you can do a week comfortably. The goal here is to adapt gradually and to learn to love running, not to push yourself as hard as humanly possible.