Jason Kirin... Runner #5... Pittsburgh, Pa.

Subject line says it all.

It's 6 years into the past...

The Doctors tell me, "Pain with be chronic as long as you are alive." They weren't lying about that...

They said, "get surgery, you don't have the opportunity to do certain things, we're sorry."

It is 2 years into the past...

I smoke a pack of American Spirits Yellow every day... I'll drink anything you put in front of me...

It's 1 year into the past...

I ride my bicycle to and from work daily... 3.5 miles each way.

It's Sept 3rd 2012, I think that being a cyclist allows me to be a runner.

I sign up for the "Run For Your Lives! 5K Zombie infested obstacle course."

I can feel the brink of vomiting, hyperventilating, dying.

I'm still a smoker.

It's Sept 4th, 2012 - I learn for the first time in my life that there is a runner in me.

It's Sept 12th, 2012 - I buy a really nice pair of running shoes and set a schedule for MWFS mornings. It hurts, burns, terrifies me in ways I've never experienced.

It's early October, I've been running a month, I run the "Fugitive Mud Run." I finish this run 30 min quicker than the zombie run.

I keep to my schedule.

It's October 14th. I've been smoking longer than I haven't been... For some reason - they just don't taste right, they become - no longer an option and I throw my pack away.

I keep to my running schedule.

It's November 3rd, 2012 - I run "Mud on the Mountain" at 7 springs; a 7 mile, 22 obstacle, mud run in 10-35 degree weather over the top of a mountain. I projected I'd finish in 3 hours - it took 2; I ran this race on a herniated disc and a taped ankle...

It's my 24th day without cigarettes.

I'm close to my weight loss goal and life is great.

The problem is/was - the Doctors did have a point and my spine wasn't so good at carrying my weight around. It wasn't a lot to begin with; 220 at 6'2" isn't anything to be ashamed of.

But having now lost 43 pounds at least... A lot, though sadly not all, of the spine pain has lifted.

I'm a runner. I'm not a smoker. And I no longer identify as a "pain-person."

Runner #5? Any of you out there?

Zombies! Run! is the running app on the iPhone or the Droid... I just hit my 100 mile mark and figured I'd intro myself.

Hi, I'm Jason.