Podcasts for Running: Helpful for Non-runners

Let me preface the rest of the article by pointing out that I am not a runner or an athlete. I don't play or follow sports. The extent of exercise I've done in the past six years, up to eight weeks ago, included a yoga video and the occasional game of ping pong.

With that covered, let me divulge another bit of info about myself: on my requisite "Things To Do Before I Die" list I have "Run a marathon."

I don't know why it's there, but it is. Imagine my excitement when I came across Podcasts for Running, which follows CoolRunning.com's Couch to 5K in 9 Weeks running program. The exercise program gently and steadily trains the latent runner in anyone to be running 5K, or three miles, in little more than two months.

In other words, someone like me with no track record (ha, ha) of running or doing any exercise regimen at all can download this podcast and be running 5K, or three miles, after nine weeks of running three times each week. At the beginning of each week, there is a different 30-minute podcast to follow with new instructions. You simply follow the instructions when Robert Ullrey, podcast creator and host, pipes in and listen to the funky techno while you're implementing his instructions.

You may be saying to yourself, "No way I could do that." But listen: I'm writing this to you as I'm about to begin my first day of week nine. WEEK NINE. I'm supposed to run three miles in 30 minutes. And I'm thinking, "I don't know if I can do this." But, to assure myself and you that it is possible for someone out of shape to be running for 30 minutes nonstop in only nine weeks, all I need to do is look back at the previous eight weeks that I've completed.

Each week, the gap between time spent running and time spent walking shortens, and then I begin running more than I'm walking. During Week One, I'm running 60 seconds and then walking for 90 seconds. By Week Four, I'm jogging up to five minutes and walking for two. During week eight, I ran for 28 minutes straight, with only the regular five-minute warm-up walk and then the five-minute cool-down walk.

What's cool about this exercise program is that it consistently sucks and is empowering. What I mean is, there's a constant challenge to meet and then surpass and feel great about. By the last day of Week One, I'm running my 60 seconds pretty easily; but the next week I start running 90 seconds. This might not sound like much of a difference, but running isn't easy and each second feels longer than the last when you're at the tale-end of a two-minute jog.

Robert Ullrey's idea to put this very doable running program to music on a podcast is the stuff of genius. All I had to do was download this free podcast onto my iPod, tie on some running shoes and go! Exercise was never this easy (as far as the setup is concerned, anyway).

His instructions are easy to follow, and the much-needed encouraging words he gives aren't overdone; just every once in a while when you're feeling like crap in your last 30 seconds of a five minute run he'll break in and tell you that you're doing great. This is nice to hear when your out-of-shape self is pushing hard to complete that last minute!

Now, I still have some work to do. Excuse me as I tie on my running shoes and head outside, water in hand and iPod in ears! Today I'm going to run three miles. And in another year or so of running, I'll be primed for that marathon.

And you can to. All you need is dedication, an iPod and some running shoes!