New Goal

So I have been thinking about what tasks to tackle in this the next year of my life. And of course there are many things I need to work on, but the tangible one that I could plot my progress on and be willing to post about would be to increase my physical fitness. I have been an avid walker for many years now, and have always really enjoyed that. But now that I am trying to shed the last ten pounds or so I feel I need to step it up a notch. Thus far most of my weight loss efforts have centered around improved diet and decreased portions so it seems appropriate at this point to focus more on exercise.
I have decided that running is probably going to be the most time efficient way to achieve this goal, I don't have much time or resources to use at this point...so the pro to this is that the only equipment I really need are some running shoes, which I do already have. Plus at our complex there is a workout room with treadmills which also is convieniant. The con is that I have never have been much of a runner. At first I considered training for a 5 or 10K, but at this point that is kind of overwhelming. I probably could handle a 5k but I would feel like a fraud showing up to something like that . I need to prove to myself that I am runner enough to run in a race first. So step one is being able to run a solid half hour without stopping. I found a training routine to help me do just this on runnersworld.com...it promises that in just ten weeks I will have acheived the desired result. If I make it to the end of the program (when I make it...I should talk positive shouldn't I?) I decide where I want to go from there....will I decide to enter or train for a race of some variety...or will I just maintain that and start focusing on flexibilty or strength training? We'll see. I am on week one right now and so far so good...but if you looked at the training link you wouldn't be very impressed by that. I would love any advice from more seasoned athletes if they are willing to share.