I went for: http://splendid-things.co.uk/getrunning/, as it had a huge number of positive reviews on the iTunes store. Also a forum you can join:

OK, so the first run starts off with a 5 minute warm up, at which they recommend that you walk at a brisk pace (there’s various settings you can set up on the phone for age, weight, connect to Twitter, etc.), with a pleasantly voiced woman (I detect a tang of Aus in there!) giving calm instructions, and letting you know what comes next:

The app then sends you off on your first 1 minute run, indicating that you have 8 of these, and that you will walk for 1.5 minutes in between each:

This is how I was looking just before the half-way mark … hadn’t realised that it gave an instruction to turn round at the exact halfway, and had turned round a minute beforehand, ho hum…

If desired, you can check the phone to see how you’re going on, otherwise leave the music going, and I found my body responding almost automatically to the instructions (tired, feel a bit like a robot!), although by the 5th run my calf muscles were aching a bit (they’ve only just recovered from snapping 3 times in 4 weeks earlier in the summer… but have been building up with shuttle runs at the gym… those are a minute each too… but I guess the body gets stretched in between…): 

“She” congratulates you at the end of those runs, having kept you going, and calls for a 5 minute walk down … she let’s you know when the warm down is done, and recommends that you stretch (but no particular stretches – I know lots from the gym, but I’d be a little worried that complete coachers would not know what to do):

As I had linked the app to Twitter (or could have done Facebook), and asked it to pre-write the message – that’s what happened, and here goes this message (it puts your next run in too, but short of running at James/Holly’s… I’d rather run again Thurs!):

Feeling quite tired at the end of that… more the psychology of getting myself running again … have been in this flat for 1.5 years and not run from here… used to run from previous lodgings (the joy of Winchester, it’s not FLAT!):

So, how are you going to cheer me on? Ensure that I run again (Thursday, I think!)… or join my ‘Secret’ Facebook group!

At this point, I’ve just signed up for the Great South Run, 28th October 2012.

In 2006, I was on a ski trip in January, and said that I would run the Manchester 10k (May) .. thinking it didn’t sound that far… but after 1 minute on the treadmill, I was slightly dying, so joined the running club. My aim was to get it done in 1 hour 30 minutes, but I did it in 1 hour 8 minutes 26 seconds…

Later that year, after sharing a bottle of wine with a friend, we signed up for the Winchester 10k, which was a WEEK later (and I was still running, but definitely not at the same level), but I completed that in 1 hour 6 minutes! I’m sure it’s more hilly also…

In the time since, I’ve been travelling around the world (where I got a chest infection), partaken in a number of computer based jobs, and I felt the need for something to inspire me to get my ‘get up and go back’ (I’ve been back at the gym for over a year, and love the classes there)… and know that running before, though I don’t particularly “enjoy” it, I really reap the benefits from it… and seeing @batty_towers talking about her runs, a friend running today in the Great South Run, and seeing the apps that show how far you’ve run (seen those Tweets about #runkeeper?). Also see:

I’ll be running on behalf of the NSPCC, so at some point there will be an appeal for sponsorship, but encouragement & support will be greatly appreciated!

After my chest infection (started in Rome on the Europe Tour, June 2008 – well, at least it was somewhere exotic), my fitness has deteriorated massively, so in November I was prescribed “exercise” (I asked if it was possible, give me that little push back to the gym that I used to love going to!), so I have been making it down twice a week, excepting skiing/cold/snowbound over the last 3 weeks. Back in today (I walked, my car is snowed in again!), met with GP-Referral lovely Lydia, and said I’d been trying to run again, but that about 1.5 minutes was my limit… so she ‘prescribed’ trying a slower speed (7.5, rather than 9.5, I used to get up to 11.5) for 2 mins, then walk for 1-2 – and with that I managed 6 minutes + the intervals, and then decided I needed a target to aim for! Karen gave me this book for my birthday last year, as she knows I have run before (and we did the Moonwalk together) and once I’m out there, find it really helps my mindset!

So, there we are, 2nd May 2010, I shall be running 4 miles around London dressed as a nun (so that’s going to be an early start for me too!) – apparently Barnardos are likely to be in touch re-fund-raising, but I’d love your encouragement