I am also a new runner (just under 5 months) and I am soon to be 64. I started running with my 24 yo daughter (waaay not near equal or fair!). I started with a program similar to C25K. When I started I could not jog the full minute and it took me a solid 3 minutes to catch my breath. My problem was the C25K jumped in run time too fast for me. I even altered my program when it began to jump from 4 min. run time one week to 6 the next. So, I made it work for me. I simply have consistently added 1 min run time (still using 1 min walk/recovery) each week and stayed with 4 repetitions. In this way I slowly increase my run time endurance and my distance. I am now at 12 min. run times. Still giving myself that 1 min walk. The 12 minutes is just barely under 1 mile. My daughter is using the same schedule. We rarely get to run together (she lives in different town), but we talk or text our run experience routinely. We have our 3rd 5K scheduled in Sept. I am no one to be giving advice (I am way too new at this running thing) but you may want to modify things, just keep adding one minute to your run time each week. I found it doable. And most improtantly, I feel successful. You see, I HATE running! So at the very least I have to feel successful. I am one of those people who feel that if I am not going to win, I don't want to play the game! I have slowly gone from struggling to jog for 50 seconds to running for a mile without stopping. Other people here are faster, progressing faster, but I am competing with me and I feel pretty good about where I am at. Modify your program to work for you and you will end each run feeling successful, not defeated. Stick with it!
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