Even if you have never run before you can be ready to run your first 5K by this spring. So make a New Years resolution that you will stick to. The program is fairly straight forward. You will run/walk three days a week for 20-45 minutes. Once you can run for 30 minutes straight you should have no problem running your first 5K race.

If you have not exercised in a while add a week or two to the beginning of this program of just walking three days a week for 30 minutes.

Week 1 Run 30 seconds / Walk 90 seconds for 20 minutes
Week 2 Run 30 seconds / Walk 90 seconds for 30 minutes
Week 3 Run 60 seconds / Walk 60 seconds for 30 minutes
Week 4 Run 90 seconds / Walk 30 seconds for 30 minutes
Week 5 Run 2 minutes / Walk 1 minute for 30 minutes
Week 6 Run 3 minutes / Walk 1 minute for 30 minutes
Week 7 Run 5 minutes / Walk 2 minutes for 30 minutes
Week 8 Run 10 minutes / Walk 3 minutes for 30 minutes
Week 9 Run 15 minutes / Walk 5 minutes for 40 minutes
Week 10 Run 20 minutes / Walk 5 minutes / Run 20 minutes
Week 11 Run 30 minutes

If any week feels too hard, redo the previous week again. If it feels too easy, skip ahead a week. Be honest with yourself. Your body will rebel and try to get you to stop. Running is a mind game, just keep putting one foot in front of the other and run at an easy pace. Good luck!