How I started running and regained my life.

I get asked quite often how I started running. I have never been an athlete, not as a child, not as a teen, not as a young adult. I mean, I got along OK, but I wasn't amazing and to be honest, I hated all physical activity.

In 2005, when I snapped to the fact that the 230+ pounds I was carrying around was damaging both my body and my psyche, I joined Weight Watchers Online. I started walking -- one time around my neighborhood is half a mile, so once the kids were in bed, I'd hit the road.

One night as I walked, I thought to myself, "What if I started running?"

I laughed at myself, because I wasn't a runner. Please. I was never even able to run a mile in school, when I was MUCH younger.

But the thought stuck in my mind and I decided to research it -- I love to do any kind of research. I read stuff online, I looked at books at Barnes & Noble, and I bought two books there.

I bought the cheapest pair of running shoes that I could find, a pair of $35 Nikes that didn't do anything special.

And on February 7, 2005, I ran. The book I had bought recommended that a beginning runner run for two minutes, then walk for two minutes and repeat the cycle five times.

I did that every other night for two weeks. I'll admit that it was difficult. Not the physical part, really. But the mental part. My butt jiggled. The sports bra felt really confining (which is the point, no?). Even though I was running at night, I still felt like people were watching me and laughing. I didn't know what to do with my hands.

But I stuck with it.

After two weeks, I switched to running three minutes, walking one, for five cycles. Then I progressed to running five minutes, walking one. I was in the middle of my two weeks of that when I impulsively decided to try to run the half-mile circuit around my neighborhood.

I did it!

That was pretty much it. I ran three miles three times a week at night, and then I started running every night, and then I started running every morning and at lunchtime, and walking at night. And then I got really obsessed and almost went insane (OK, not really).

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As of today, I have lost 17 pounds in eight weeks. I feel incredible and people are starting to notice my weight loss.

Tomorrow: My recommendations for running gear: What works for me.