Desk jobs are great. There is no heavy lifting, you get to work indoors with air conditioning, and you spend all day sitting and not moving. This of course leads to rapidly expanding waist lines and a loss of energy.

This week I am starting on a challenge called couch to 5k. It is a nine week program designed to get couch potatoes, such as I have become to the point where we can run 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in 30 minutes. It takes a commitment to 30 minutes of exercise 3 days a week.

Just before graduating from high school in 1996 I ran a marathon with my track coach. I had run track and cross country all for years of high school and that marathon was the high point of my athletic career. When I went to college, I didn't participate in sports in any organized way, but I stayed active with a pick up game of ultimate disk or a friendly basketball game.

After I graduated, I found that there were even fewer opportunities to move around and a lot more of my time was devoted to sitting in front of glowing boxes being "productive." Seminary with its mountains of reading and endless stream of papers set even further down the road to couch-potatodom.

I realized that I was not going get in shape by taking occasional walks, what I needed was a program to which I could discipline myself. I had tried running before, but while my mind remembered being able to run 26 miles without stopping, my body had long sence settled into the routine of desk life. I eventually realized that I had indeed become a couch-potato.

After the first two days of this program I already feel better. I was disappointed to discover that just 60 seconds of running was about my limit, but as I look forward to day 3 tomorrow, I'm also glad that there is a place to start from and a way forward.