I’d like to think I’m a healthy guy: 14 years a vegetarian, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t binge drink, mostly eat a low-fat diet that is rich in things like “dark leafy greens” and nutritiously rich ‘superfoods’ like quinoa, practice yoga, and walk or bike several miles every day.

But ( and this is a big “but” ) I don’t exercise nearly as much as I should. Let’s be honest — Walking and Biking don’t count as real exercise — they’re a great component of a healthy lifestyle, but they honestly don’t make up for what you should be doing.

This year I peaked at the unhealthiest I’ve ever been. While my bloodwork at a checkup was magnificent (my doctor even gave me gold stars!) , I had put on 30lbs (of fat) in a 2yr period — almost all of it on my gut. My BMI went from 22.4 to 26.4 . That was not cool.

In effort to fix myself I tried some ridiculous things. I started doing bike sprints back and forth over the Williamsburg Bridge ( which, btw, are really hard ). This task built up my endurance, but it didn’t make me feel any healthier. Then, I freely admit this as I have no shame, I tried exercise videos like Jillian Michael’s “30 Day Shred”. Not only did Ms. Michael’s “Level 1″ basic routine completely floor me, it left me sore for weeks. Only 2 days into her program, I had stressed my body so much that I had trouble walking for days.

It became painfully clear to me (literally, I might add) that I was in bad physical shape, and that I had to do what I most dreaded – I had to start running. I really didn’t want to run, but I knew it was the only way I could get my heartrate up for sustained periods of time, and that was the only actual to get healthy.

There was one little problem though — I can’t run.

After many glowing recommendations, I looked into the C25K program. C25k stands for “Couch to 5k” — a beginners program designed to help people get up off the coach and move from no physical activity to running a 5K race in just 9 weeks. It’s a great, well respected and established plan. It outlines a simple and proven strategy to reach the exact goal I was after… so I bookmarked the site, jotted down some “how to” notes to bring along, and started my plan by heading off to the track with my girlfriend.

And it was on that very first day of the C25K that I completely lost all faith in myself. Despite my expectations and hopes, I couldn’t even run 1/4 of a lap without nearly falling down from exhaustion. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. My stomach hurt. My lungs hurt. My back hurt. Everything hurt. It was miserable. I would have been mad at myself, if I weren’t so preoccupied with feeling completely humiliated. I should have done better than the “Week 1″ plan — it’s a system designed to get fat people off couches, and I walk + bike every day… I even do little sprints here and there… but I couldn’t run a mere 1/4 of a lap around a track. It was shameful. I was shameful.

I’m not the one to back down from a challenge, but I realized that the C25K program — despite being a great system — was simply not going to work for me. Aside from the fact that I couldn’t even fathom meeting the week 1 goals, I knew that I needed to be more aggressive, and I needed to ‘game’ myself into working at this harder. Utterly dejected, I resolved to do whatever it takes to somehow best the C25K.

It took a lot of work and experimentation, but I managed to pull off some magical goals:

1. 3.5 weeks into running, I ran 3.5 miles straight — that’s a 5.6K run — besting the C25K program by 5.5 weeks ;
2. After 3-4 weeks, I got down to a 9:45 ‘best’ mile, and my average hovered aroun 10:15 ;
3. After 6 weeks, my best run was a 8:45 mile ;
4. After 9 weeks, I could regularly run 5 miles straight.

On top of all that, I started losing a lot of fat, toning all my muscles, and actually feeling good for once! I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt so healthy.

If you’re a seasoned runner, you’d laugh at my “accomplishments”. But keep in mind, on Day 1 I could not even run 1/4 of a lap — 1/16 of a mile. Within 9 weeks I went from not being able to run for longer than 20 seconds without stopping, to being able to run for over 50 minutes.

How did I do it? Game mechanics.

As an internet industry professional with a background in advertising, I’m very familiar with game-based marketing and loyalty programs — engagements designed to foster and retain connections between a customer and the property/brand you represent. When I just stared running, I was in the middle of designing several customer loyalty programs and campaigns with ArtWeLove and a consulting client. I thought to myself:

If game mechanics can be used to strengthen a customer’s engagement with my brands, there is no reason why I should not be able to create a compelling campign where this Track is the Brand and I am the Target Customer.

So I thought of the most addictive video games I’ve ever played — titles like Puzzle Fighter, Bust a Move, and Puyo Puyo — and I thought about how people act when they gamble in Las Vegas on games where both an element of strategy and risk are involved.

I looked for examples of games where moderate success was possible if one “Plays it Safe”, but much higher levels of a windfall successs are only possible if the player is willing to take risks that lead to greater rewards. With this in mind, over the course of a several days I fine-tuned a program that was designed to game me — ensuring that I meet my fitness goals. In this process, I essentially created a 12 step program ( though there aren’t 12 steps ) — and it worked.

12 (actually 4) Steps to Gaming Yourself

note: this is not medical advice, use at your own risk

1. Like all 12 step programs, you need to admit defeat before you start. You’re not using this program because you want to, or because you think its fun — it’s because you know that: you’re unhealthy, you need to change , nothing else has worked. You need to admit this — that you’re out of shape, that you need to change, and for 9/10 people (including me) you’re at least somewhat fat. You need to realize that you’re at the bottom, because once you’re there, you can either wallow in your own shit, or take the opportunity to only look up. If you can’t do this, don’t bother. You’ll never win at this game – or any other – unless you decide to play it.

2. I promised myself that I would run on the public track — not on the street, not on a treadmill, not on the greenway — but on the overpopulated track. I did this so I could continually guage and humiliate myself — knowing that there are people significantly better than me. As an average sized 32 year old male, I couldn’t help but be embarassed when Senior Citizens lapped me. It was also humiliating to see clinically obese people run with more stamina and endurance than me. Running on the public track kept reminding me that other people can play this game better than me. If I want to win, I need to beat them. The track is also littered with great markers — every 1/4 lap is clearly marked , and various other markings show intermediate distances.

3. I promised myself that I would run and exercise each and every day no matter what. Experts say to only run every other day, I don’t care about them – they know me. Friends kept noting that you’re not supposed to run every day either. I didn’t care about that either – they know me, but they’re not experts. This logic is impeccable.

   My first 2 weeks I ran 7 days a week and stacked other exercises on top of this routine 3 days a week. After 2 weeks I dropped down to 4-5 days of running each week, and alternated those days with other forms of exercise (instead of stacking them). In order to keep some variety for my muscles, I would run 2-3 days straight for endurance / distance, and then 1 day for speed. If I recall correctly, Dr. McDougall notes that for his namesake lowfat-vegan diet, one must to commit to the first 10 days which are the hardest — once that point, sticking to the plan is significantly easier. I took this approach to running like that as well.

4. I played my Running Game (details below) every day. My girlfriend thinks its both amazing and insane that I was able to codify a ruleset like this to motivate me – especially one so excruciatingly complex. But it is honestly really simple to master, and can get you from not being able to run to running long distances in a matter of weeks.

The Running Game

1. I set a distance target of 3 miles – a number that I arbitrarily made up as the distance relatively healthy people seem to be able to run easily. This means that every day I need to run 3 miles. This does not mean that I need to go on a 3 mile run — but that I have to run 3 miles before leaving the track. At an average pace of 12:30 — which most people can achieve after a week or running — that means a max of about 37minutes of running a day. So I could run 1/4 a lap, then stop, 12 times. I could run 1 mile, then stop, 3 times. However, if I were to run 1 mile and then walk 1 mile, I would have to do that 3 times as well — only distances spent running count(!) — this was a huge departure from most other running programs, but it’s a key point to get results.

2. I set endurance goals based on distance. The C25K program set goals based on time. I think that’s great for some people – but for me it just doesn’t work well – I needed my primary measure to be distance. I chose 1/4 mile markers for 2 reasons:

   a. I couldn’t run 1/4 mile on the first day, so I find that significant b. these intervals are clearly labeled on the track, and its very easy to estimate the midpoint between any two as a secondary mark.

3. Every day, I would try to “level up” — making the distance that I’m trying to run slightly longer. On the first day, I started on the “1/4 lap” level – meaning that I had to run 1/4 of a lap. In order to clear a level, I had to perfect it 3x within 2 days or 2x in a row.

4. At least half of my running each day must be spent at the current level or pursuing the next level. Example: If you’re trying to advance from .5 Miles to .75 M, only .5 M lengths count towards your 3 M quota of the day. Any smaller distances only count as a half fraction: a .25 M length in this example would only count as .125 M towards the 3 mile quota. This system penalizes you for bad performance.

5. When perfecting a level, a level may be “overshot” and count towards advancing to a higher level. In essence, you advance to the shortest common distance of your last few attempts (if they’re higher). So if you’re trying to run “.5M” and can run “.75M” — do it! Example: trying to run “.5M” you run .5M, .5M, .75M — you clear “.5M” ; trying to run “.5M” you run .75M , .75M , 1M — you clear “.75M”.

6. In order to offset penalties for under-performance and entice rapid leveling-up, you automatically create and maintain a daily “bank” of accrued distances that will count at 100% so long as you stay “committed” and can cash out at an “eligible” time. Two non-sucessive distances in a bank may also count as “in a row” to clear a level as well.

   This is the single most complex rule of the game, akin to “offsides” in association football, so it needs a heftier explanation. During a running session, all completed distances go into your daily “bank”. You are considered to be “committed” as long as your walking breaks are no longer than the greater distance of 1/4 a lap or 1/4 your last distance and your last distance is at least 1/4 of a lap. You are “eligible” to cash out when you complete a distance for the level that you are trying to clear or have reached the 3 mile daily quota. For example, if you’re still trying to clear 1/4 lap, 1/2 lap or 1 lap, any distances below those levels will count fully as long as: 1. you don’t walk for more than 1/4 a lap , and 2. you either fill your daily quota or sucessfully clear the 1/4, 1/2 or full lap. Also, If you run a mile straight, you can walk a full lap before you must start running again, and as long as all your successive distances are at least 1/4 of a lap followed by no more than 1/4 lap of walking, your bank will be active and you can cash-out on 3 M or clear the level on your next full mile that session.

This program won’t work for everyone. Admittedly, you probably need to be INTJ/ENTP or exhibit a hint of Asperger’s Syndrome for it to float-your-boat. The benefits of this program have been great – I’m now running 5 miles per session , both as a continuous run or made up of various segments ranging from 1M to 4M — allowing me to work on pace and endurance at the same time. Soon I should be able to attempt my one true goal — outrunning a starved lion on the African plain next Summer. (that is a joke).