My wife and I are determined to get involved in this. We are both dreadfully out of shape but have started the long slog preparing ourselves. It was horrible at the start of January but I must admit I'm starting to enjoy the trips to the gym.
We have set the middle of March as our target and have found the parkrun we'd like to have a go at. The times are irrelevant, we both just want to finish the race without having to take any breaks.
What I really like is its something achievable we can do and both feel proud of ourselves for achieving something TOGETHER at the end. Wonderful for our health, our lifestyle and our relationship - I can't see any negatives at all.
Good luck to both of you.
About 2 years ago, I was horrificly out of shape running anymore than 100m was a real challenge, I found this out very quickly doing couch to 5k. I am still most definitely considerably overweight but am in a lot better state of fitness and geniunely think I wouldn't be still running if it wasn't for the fact that I am totally addicted to parkrun.
Even if you can't run all the way that isn't an issue at parkrun, they have a tail runner whose job it is to stay behind everyone and make sure that everyone completes the course who wants to. I think the biggest concern of everyone who starts parkrun and running in general is that they will finish last, people will pack away before they have completed the course etc. This NEVER happens at parkrun.