Training and cramping help

Question
I am a 6 foot 170 pound 21 year old male and have just gotten a job as a police officer.  Iam worried about the running portion of the academy.  I have never been a "long distance" runner and while in the academy we will be running 3-5 miles every other day after intense weight training.  My problem is when I run over 1.5-2 miles I get side cramps which slows me down and eventually makes me stop.  Is there anything I can do other for this cramping, and what do you believe would be the best way to work up to the 3-5 miles? I usually do 9:00-9:30/mile.  Any help would be much appreciated!


Answer
Hey,
The answer is quite simple. Your cardiovascular system is just dirty. The best and easiest, probably ONLY thing you can do, is to start training every other day, and when you feel this cramp in the middle of your run, keep running. Run until you are leaning over sideways if that's what it takes! Keep running with the cramp; it may be rough, but you're just going to have to work at it until it goes away. It's just stamina you need to build. If you don't think you can keep running it gets so bad, then start walking for a few minutes and then try again.
You don't have far to go.
Good luck
Jared