I quit drinking soda completely a few months back. Didn't feel any kind of withdrawal, maybe just been extra tired since. But I can attribute that to so many other causes so I don't know if it's a lack of caffeine thing or not.

Nicotine withdrawal is a bitch though. I'm not sure on how to handle it at all.

Soda is addictive?... I drink it occasionally, I didn't even know it was addictive. And, I don't believe I'm addicted to anything, except procrastination, if that counts.

You need true motivation. Obviously, running will make you feel like shit, hence you need a very good and strong heason to do it day after day. My main reasons to run were (now I'm too busy with exams) getting into better shape and discipline, really. Pain is just weakness leaving the body.

Also, don't start too harsh - if you feel like crap after a few minutes, you need to run slower at start. Try finding a pace in which you can run an hour, for example. Then, when you get better, start adding 50 meter accelerations to it and increasing the average speed.

It also helps to have some geographical object as your goal. When I was starting running back in Latvia about... 2 years ago, I ran along an old, almost never used road. There was some factory near it. At first, I could reach the factory in 25 minutes, then I started noticing that my time gets better, hence I increased the range until an old bus stop that was further down the road, etc... It helps much more to have something you can see and even touch as your goal rather than just running circles in some stadium with a wristwatch and measure time.

I emptied 2x12 can boxes of Pepsi in a week. Um...

Well, the first week or two is definitely the hardest. Your body isn't used to it, and since you have a rough time with it you don't want to do it, you feel tired and crappy. Basically, when I started running (I'm not on track or sports or anything, I just run for myself), all it took was to drag myself out there for two straight weeks. Start little and build yourself up. I started off with 1 mile, if that's too much, run a half a mile. Find somewhere easy and convenient to run (school track perhaps, I just run around my block because I measured it and 2x around is 1.1 miles), that'll help a bit too. If you get through the first two weeks of consistent running (defining consistent running here to be roughly running 3 out of every 4 days), your body will start to get used to it, you'll be less tired at the end of a run, and you'll even feel good. I guess it just takes some willpower, you need to want to do it because it's good for you, and not just "well I should probably go running..."

I think the point is to get over the physical "hump" of changing "I feel like crap" after a run into "I feel good" after a run.

When you start to feel like shit during a run, you need to analyze that a bit. Is it just your body getting tired because you're running, or is it because you're out of shape and going to hurt yourself or can't breathe or something? If you're just tired and not in danger of hurting yourself, just man up and keep going. If you need to stop though, slow down or start walking. Don't stop immediately and sit down or anything because your blood is running very fast and sitting down will cause an inordinate amount to go to your brain, what I do after I run is walk back and forth between my front door and garage and check my pulse against my wristwatch for something to do, until it slows down enough.

Keep track of how much you're running. Wear a watch or something, or run around a block or track so you can count laps. If you run 2 laps the first day, you should be running 2 laps the next day. If you're running like 16 laps one day and the next day you only run 15, that's a completely different matter though, since it's roughly equal, but the point is to progress and not regress. You can set how much you should be running for yourself, since you know best what's going on in your body. If you're about to collapse after 2 laps and you're trying to run 4, then just stop at 2, but if you finish your goal of 5 laps and still feel good, go for the 6th. (You can substitute number of laps for amount of time if that's how you keep track too.)

You can run even if you're already tired too. I work at a place where I'm standing up/moving around all day (convenience store) and I usually just want to sit down after work cause my feet hurt, but if I sit down for 1/2 an hour or so, I can go running again afterwards. The human body is pretty resilient to stuff like that as long as you get enough nutrients and stuff to replenish what you burn off. On a related note, if you don't get enough sleep, running is much more difficult. Trying to go for a run on a day where I've only had 3 hours of sleep is like hell. I don't bother running if I didn't sleep enough.

And one other tip: make sure you stretch first. You might not think it makes much of a difference, but I've found that if I do a few pushups first to get my blood flowing, take the time to stretch, then go running, it really feels much nicer and you get less stiff/sore afterwards.

I'm addicted to sex! Every time a girl offers, I can't help myself!

Eugh. I enjoy running, but I usually don't notice how hard I'm pushing myself until I'm done, I have really soft feet, and I live in one of the suckiest cities around, in terms of air quality ( I read that it was ranked at, like, 12th worst in the nation in a newspaper, recently ) . Plus, I probably need to drink a lot more water.
Interestingly, though, I often find that even if it's a bad day for my knees, and walking hurts, I can still jog without a problem. Can't say so much for my back, unfortunately.
lolthreade-railment

Obvous sarcasm was obvous ;o

You have to just keep forcing yourself up and out at 6 am. If you find your legs are getting sore, make your diet a little more basic. If your back hurts, run along side a bunch of windows so you can watch and fix your stride. If you're winded, only exhale when your left foot is exerting force.

Eventually, you will love running.

Also, if you have a safe place to do it, the best running you can do is bare foot.

I encourage running when it feels good outside to you, whether that be heat or rain or dusk. IMO, nothing is better than a 1AM run avoiding cops and running like a madman through the city streets while being refreshed by the cool air.

If you can master the art of flip flop running, you can do this almost anywhere without having to worry about hurting/cutting your feet. It's essentially the same thing.

I had the same thing Loveless had going on. After awhile of doing e, I didn't want to got to a party unless I was going to be rolling. I really wouldn't say the mental addiction is hard to get over tho. The main withdrawl symptoms are parties are still fun, just not as fun I have a friend that broke his leg awhile back and go addicted to pain pills. It's like 3 years later and he still can't stop, though he's tried a couple of times.

I don't really know how soda has anything to do with running, I just sorta stopped after 4th grade with it, but honestly, I think it comes down to working out in general, when you're not used to it, you do it and think "man, this sucks, I don't wanna do it anymore" when you're done, but if you do it long enough you start to like the burn, honestly, when I don't work out for more than 2 days, I start to feel like crap, it's horrible and it makes me work out again.

I'm addicted to Metal. If I don't listen to it I get sad, and feel incomplete.

If it counts, I'm addictive to smelling.
I do not have one of those spuer developed noses but I wish I did. I can however remember scents and "recognize" them when I'm smelling something deeply. It'd sound silly but I can tell who uses X shampoo or Y cologne

I cannot eat something without smelling it first.

Architect: the story of a modderer.

What you said makes sense, and tell your friend to gradually reduce his dosage, i assume he's on some kind of opiate painkiller eg, vicodin, oxycodone?

Smell is the sense most intricately recognised with memory: Anyone can do this.