Should I take up running?

I'm starving. I had an early dinner today and ate as lightly as I could considering the caloric content of what I ate. I didn't take any pics unfortunately, but it was roast beef, mashed potatoes, homemade white bread, and roasted carrots in butter. My hips are plumping as I type this. To add icing on the cake, I ate homemade carrot cake with cream cheese and butter frosting. It was an excellent, comfort food filled meal. So I shouldn't be starving now, should I?

I love to eat. I love to eat a lot. I mean volumes of food. And it's not the right type to be eating volumes of it. I love dairy. I love grains. I do love veggies, but not always plain green leafy veggies. I think I can continue this way if I increase the intensity of my exercise.

Currently I walk 2 miles/day at 4.0 mph at a 2%-5% incline, so 30 minutes a day of walking. I also do some yoga. I could lift weights if I had a gym membership. Or I could take up running to up the intensity of the 30 minutes I already commit daily to some physical activity. But every time I try, I poop out.

I have not been successful at doing a regimented Coach Potato to 5k routine. I get bored doing the 1 minute walk, 1 minute run, blah, blah, blah . I could if I had a coach or friend cracking the whip telling me I MUST do it. But on my own, I am merely motivated by the music on my portable player (not an iPod fan) . Usually when a cheesey Britney song, like Toxic pops on my player, I get motivated enough to run. But often I get a cramp in my right side near the bottom of my rib cage that keeps me from continuing more than 5 minutes. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I need to grin and bear it and keep running through it? Am I a baby?

I've always wanted to be a "runner." I always wanted to be one of "those people." The ones that look like jocks who LOVE to run. I LOVED to hate those people growing up. I was the 'big-boned' girl who did the sports, who was never an effortless jock. I worked very hard at every sport to be good or just to qualify to participate. I was a thrower in track. We ran the "fat girl's relay." It was my only running training. We spent more time training how to pass the baton than the running itself. When I joined the track team in college, Coach told us to run a 1 mile warm up. He may as well told us to strip naked and walk through the boys' dorm. I was mortified. How was I ever going to do that? I almost walked off the track and back to my dorm room. But I did it. And every day it got a little easier. But I never ran it faster than what I can walk it now. I'm much healthier today than I was in 1996 when I first had to run that mile warmup. But in my quest to life a healthier life, I want to find more ways to enjoy working out.

Should I try running? And how do I begin? There has to be an easier way than the few online sites that tell me to run intervals. Maybe I'll try my first 5k this summer?