Stephen,
Well, we are about the same age, I am 53. Actually I started C25K when it was owned by coolrunning.com, prior to active purchasing it. The cutover to make a long story short was a nightmare and many left for other websites. I think the problem was coolrunning had a good running log and the active log left much to be desired. Looking around I am not even sure they have the log anymore.
You are right, if you follow the plan then it is manageable. My running has been inside this week in the gym but nice. It will not be long and the treadmill the treadmill will begin to feel like hamster wheel and I will need to get outside.
Honestly I find I missed it and so far I am really enjoying the program. I finished WK1 yesterday and tomorrow I am on to week 2.
I had an odd thing happen on Wednesday when I went to the treadmill I was using my phone with a program to run C25K. Also this is suppose to track your steps and calculate distance. I am a tachie by nature. After I was done I noticed the phone app worked only OK and I was not thrilled with it. I said to myself, "Jeese, this thing does not work half as well as my old forerunner 305. I forgot completely until then that I still had it and it was packed away in some drawer. I went home, put it on the charger and it works like a champ. I had the foot pod for that unit and once batteries were replaced it was good to go and I used it yesterday.
If you did 4 miles on WK1 you are going way after then myself. I logged 2.25 miles for WK1 intervals. Of course I had always been a slow runner. Likewise I have dogs but they are still pups and though they walk "OK" I do not think they are ready for running with me.....someday I hope.
Any others here? Jump in the water is warm !!
Mike
P.S I can not take credit for the "Couch of Doom" comment. There was a podcast called Phedippidations by someone by the name of Steve Runner, I stole it from him. Hmm, I wonder if that podcast it still around ....