A good test for swapping exercise for smoking is the “Would this have stopped me?” test: If your excuse for not exercising would have stopped you from smoking before you quit, then it’s valid. It’s raining? You’ve smoked in the rain. Get on the bike. It’s the middle of the night? You’ve done that too. Jilly is crying and needs Daddy? Nope, you wouldn’t go for a smoke then, so you can delay that work-out.

Another good tool is to get Jilly involved, both in your exercise and in your quitting. Get a calender for Jilly to mark off every day that Daddy doesn’t smoke. You can also have her mark down your exercise times/distances(Google Earth is great for charting stuff). I know you dude, you’ll disappoint yourself, but you’d french kiss Aldo on videotape before you’d disappoint your little girl.

Your gym pass/gear costs, mountain bike costs or whatever costs are your “peace dividend”. Want a smoke? Go for a run. Actually, don’t start running yet, your muscles/tendons/ligaments are likely not yet able to handle it. I’d suggest biking or if the snow is too deep out that way, get into the gym and hit any cardio machine except the treadmill. Try a couple until you find the one you can live with and go from there. Start small, no more than 20 minutes a day, building up until you can do 30 minutes a day. Once you’re there, you can get on the treadmill/go for a run.

Another thing to remember is that you’re not competing against anybody except yourself. Don’t try and do the “JTF2 personal fitness course for assaulters recovering from S&M disorders”, do baby steps. You’ll be amazed at how quickly it does ramp up, however. One minute you’re doing 10 minutes of jogging and thinking that is the peak of exercise, then almost overnight, you’re running for five hours and not even feeling it the next day.

Heck, once you get yourself onto a treadmill, we could organize an on-line race/zombie postal match contest! Cuz if you can’t shoot the zombie, you better be able to out-run ‘em!

Dave: Thanks man, I think this is the time. I just don’t want to be a junkie anymore. Yech.

Theodore: Wiseass.

-GRIN-

Greg: Ayup, am figuring I’m going to have to do some sort of physical activity again on a regular basis. Not just to keep the inevitable pounds off, but to rebuild some semblance of stamina that has been sorely lacking in my life for going on 15 years.

Micheal: Hehe, I quit back in 2000/2001 with the help of Zyban, fell off the wagon hard on day on a 14 hour layover at Chicago O’hare…. worst mistake of my life.

This time I hope, and want, it to last a little longer.

Dad: Oh hell ya… I’ve quit dozens of times, the first few days usually see the end of quitting and some sort of resolution to “cut down” as a rationalized surrender.

Piet: Ah…..Evil!

KD: Ah I doubt this effort will provide any inspiration, beside Dad doesn’t smoke that much, right?

The downside is that your lungs are probably going to dump out a ton of crud for the next 6 weeks. Seriously. I hacked up so much junk, my lungs started bleeding and I had to get X-rays done.

After a short while, the crud stopped and I started moutain biking. That lasted for a year, then I sort of laid around a bit and a year after that, started running and working out. I have sort of slacked a bit, but can still run for over 3 hours without stopping and still walk the next day. I’m seriously thinking of doing a marathon in the summer of 2009, if not before. Heck, I was even thinking of trying this out, just to see if I could do it:

http://www.sinister7.com/

I figure that with 27 hours available to complete the 135km, if I keep a pace of at least 6km per hour for 24 hours, I’d be able to do it. I currently jog at around 10km per hour for anything over 10-15km, so if you factor in fatigue and the massive elevation rises, I could probably do it. I’d have to go absolutely hardcore on my training(Hills and more hills), but what the heck!

My point is that you know I used to smoke as much as you, but if I was able to quit, so can you.