Couch to 5k story

Earlier this month we had an e-mail from 17 year old student Georgina Jones about how she found the Couch to 5K app on our website.  In her e-mail Georgina told us the amazing story of how she managed to lose lots of weight, get fit and improve her overall wellbeing by using the Couch to 5K app.

Georgina’s story is so inspiring that we were very keen to share it with others to show how an app has the power to change lives.  Below we present Georgina’s get fit story in her own words.  Our thanks to Georgina and her Mum for consenting to us sharing her story and photo:

Georgina’s story

‘My name is Georgina Jones and I am 17 years old. I downloaded your app back in April 2020 in the first lockdown.

At the time, I was very unfit, overweight and unhealthy. I wasn’t happy with the way I looked or how unfit I was. I could barely run for 30 seconds. I’d heard about the Couch to 5k app before and as my exams had been cancelled due to the pandemic, I had enough time to start to focus on improving myself physically and mentally.

The first couple of weeks were hard but I kept going and stuck to the running schedule. I remember thinking how will I ever complete this or even run for longer than 3 minutes. The first 20 minute run without stopping felt like such a huge achievement. I’d never ran for that long without stopping. After 9 weeks of running every other day, I completed my first ever 5k and I felt so overwhelmed. In 9 weeks I’d managed to turn my fitness around. I was also feeling so much better mentally for it.

After the 9 weeks I decided to keep running as I was enjoying it so much and it was helping improve my health. Fast forward a year later and I’m still running every other day and run around 130k a month. A week ago I completed my fastest ever 5k time of 25 minutes. I’ve gone from not being able to run at all, to running fast times and absolutely loving it. Your app has also helped me to loose 4 stone in 7 months, which has made me feel so much better in myself and made my general health better. I am also hoping to enter my first competition soon once restrictions allow and I’m hoping to complete a half marathon in the next few months.

I’ve emailed you my story just to thank you for how much this app as helped me grow, physically and mentally – especially during the year we’ve all had.’

If you would like to learn more more about the app that Georgina used to lose weight and get fit, visit our Couch to 5k app page.

You can also see a more detailed breakdown of the Couch to 5K programme on the NHS website.