How did you ease into 5k running?

great story and I hope you will make your goal of running a 5k someday...except I'm kind of wondering why a trainer would tell you to run on a torn meniscus. That's not an excuse, it's a serious injury. I have known a few people who have required surgery for a torn meniscus--it's not something to play around with. You might want to consult with a doctor so that you don't make the injury worse.

Ditto what everyone said about Couch to 5k, & keep up the strength training! Getting your legs good & strong will help prevent injury. I don't know if there's anything else you do for cardio, but I'd caution you against things like step aerobics & turbokick if you're working on running. There's too much twisting in those classes & that will tear up your knees. Not to say you should NEVER do them, they're a lot of fun, but you should limit them if you're working on a running goal. Congrats on wanting to challenge yourself with running! If I can do it, you absolutely can.

I went from never having run in my life, to completing the great north run half marathon in 2010 (I have some pacing issues)

But the way i did it was to give myself over a year to do it, I started by doing 40 minuet run walks, like a very gentle fartlegg (sp) type thing, but running when I was ready and only for as long as I could.

After I felt comfortable with that, I found a Cto 5k six week training programme which I liked (there are a lot of them out there just find one you think suites you, or two and try them out) they tend to start off with gentle intervals, pushing the time up and up until you can run for 30 minutes straight. I remember my first 30 minutes, hell I rememeber my first 10 minuets. Very cool moments.

Thing is, I was never quick, I have short little legs, I just take it at my own pace, running is for me going faster than my fastest possible walking speed, moving at a pace at which I could not walk at.

After the first solid 30 minutes the 5k came very quickly, so I moved on to doing it all again with a 10k training plan, but taking into account I could already do the 5k

After that, I started desigining my own training plans based on advice from friends from websites from anybody who would talk to me, and eventually I did run my very first 13 miler, quite by accident... I went out for a run got lost kept going got home looked at my meter and it was 13 miles, I was so pleased.

When I did finally do the half marathon officially, I did a lot worse than I had done originally, but this is a run with 44,000 people in its the biggest running event in the country and I kinda got a little overwhelmed... seeing as I put on my audiobook and tend to run alone it was a little bit of a game changer.

I love running, I dream running, I lust after runners when I see them running I wish I could run now and I will again no worries about that, I will no longer allow debilitating agony, severe hypermobilities achilis tendenitus and plantar facitus hold me back. While running I never felt so free, so happy so totally me.

I'm very jelous of you and I wish you all the best luck in the world, just keep at it don't over think it, just enjoy it oh.. and urm pace yourself, cause like, I'm crazy.

As to me, I struggle to walk for ten minuets without severe pain these days and have been written off by the medical proffession told to get a desk job and not to walk much, I figured I'd rather hang myself than do that sooo I accepted a job where I am on my feet for 8.5 hours for two days running (I managed it just fine mostly) and the day before last I did the SLOWEST 10 minute set of intervals you would ever see in your life 3.2kph to 5.7kph (a very slow walk to a very slow jog) and while most people can walk faster than that for me, actually completeing it doing every interval, well it was a special moment for me, tomorrow ill try it again, and maybe if i do that a couple of times next week, the week after ill up the speed a weee bit nothing spectacular like maybe 3.5 to 6.1.

Baby steps

BodyGlide is a pretty good anti-chafing balm. It may be a little bit better for your clothing than Vaseline

People have pretty much given the same answer I would have - anything like the c25k program. Even if it is a matter of adapting it to what you can do now, maybe run 30 seconds, walk 1 -2 minutes. Just decreased the walks to 1 minute, then gradually increase the time.
I have coached a learn to run program (based on the same idea as C25k) and it works, it really does.

If you do decide to see a doctor about your knee in the future, I will pass on the same advice the head of our running group (a physician) gave to the running group - try to find one that is into sports medicine or even running if you can't get to a specialist. You will find many doctors will tell you to rest, when that isn't always just the answer. Yes, rest can work, and in a lot of cases, it is necessary, but not always. I suffered severly from shin splints at the beginning. Every doctor I went to told me to rest, no other advice. I would rest, run, and get shin splints again. Repeat. Basically, in the end, I went the route your friend suggested (I had no choice at the time, the running was required) and ended up running through them with lots of ice and ibuprofen. I may still not be running if I had just kept resting.

Body glide is my best friend. Like someone above mentioned, once I hit about an hour/10k, my bra starts to chafe. Body glide or vaseline is a life saver.

Good luck! Happy running. You can definitely be 5k ready by summer.