Giddy up Dohgeez

Ah, ya, that's been quite a while. Obviously a couple trips and an illness fucked over my last plan real good, but since moving back to Ohio I gave it another go starting in Mid November, quit smoking, joined a gym and am still goin good. I'd been just keeping a log every couple days of my workouts, progress, blablabla, but there's not enough space there so I figured I'd raise this paltry piece from the dead. Alright, a quick bringing up to date. I quit smoking, again and definitively, about 10 weeks ago, joined a gym 3 weeks later, and today was my 33rd day at said gym. I made it through the habit-forming period, made it through my 1st mini-illness which always seems to inevitably come after I start working out, and am pretty much addicted at the moment. I've been averaging 3-4 days/week for several weeks, but if my legs/feet/shins didnt advise me otherwise, Id prolly be hittin it 5 er 6. Ya, Im dorkin out hard now. I read fitness articles and blogs, I post in forums, I have a mini-obsession workin its hilarious. Anyway, my fitness level was predictably awful when I started, but the last couple weeks Ive been making noticeable strides and am feeling really really good during and after cardio, aside from some nagging shin splints which intermittently kick on and off, and some knee pain here and there which isnt too bad, and will probably improve somewhat as I take off another 15 to 20 LBs.
Today I did 30 minutes on El treadmill (including 2 minute cooldown), and pretty much killed it relative to what Ive done before, running 16 and walking 12. 7 weeks ago I started off with some hilarious, like run 4-5/walk 23-24, so even though I havent followed the plan I think Im roughly on the couch to 5K timeline that's either on coolrunning or another site I have bookmarked. Surprisingly, the real bottleneck so far hasn't been my getting winded (which at all times previous in my life would happen within 3-4 mins) but rather the stress that my shins, knees, and leg muscles feel so I havent been pushing it, and Ive been making sure to take rest days when I felt like I needed them (altho I have gone Mon-Thur this week and have felt alright). I also incorporated the elliptical into the mix after the 1st couple/3 weeks to take some of the impact burden off. I def like the machines, and theyre way better than the stationary bikes my gym has, but they cant really match the purity of running. I also find it difficult to do intervals as easily as I can on a treadmill, b/c there isnt a level as easy as walking on the ellip, and going hard doesnt work as well for me as running 6-7 mph (which is like lightning speed for
my body at the moment). So anyway, ya 16 mins running with 2 of those 6 and 6.5 I think, and the rest 5-5.7 mph, which is getting to feel pretty maintainable for my body like I could just do it indefinitely. Running 30 consecutive minutes used to seem completely unimaginable for me, but I guess the trick is just that you have to run REALLY slow, at least at the beginning. I've even read blogs on the net where people talk about "running" for 30-60 minutes or whatever at 4 mph, a speed at which I can comfortably walk. Anyway, when I hit that point, it's gonna feel pretty goddam good, and I really dont think its that far off, but getting the 30 mins in at a decent speed (read 3+ miles) will still probably take me another 2-3 months. Alright, this has been long-winded enough for now, Ill probably update post workout from now on.