I just quit smoking and was wonderinig if I should start running right away because it helps with the craves.? -
Yes.
Short answer...YES!
Anything that takes your mind off the cravings is good - and if it involves exercise...all the better!
Running will also help to boost your lung volume, and may encourage your body to cough up and eliminate some of the residual tar in your lungs.
If you need a mental image to help you stop smoking, think of this...
I work in cancer treatment. Up to 90% of the cancers we treat are smoking related. One man I was treating was coming in every day for radiotherapy and chemotherapy for throat cancer. He had a trachyotomy in (hole in his thoat to enable him to breathe - as his throat was closed over from the tumour and swelling).
One day he came in for his radiotherapy, and soon after his treatment I headed off for lunch. I passed him outside, where he was smoking a cigarette through the hole in his throat!!! YUCK!!
Another one that happened at the hospital I worked at...a man in a similar situation, being treated for lung cancer (smoking related) stepped outside for what he said would be -his last cigarette-. He lit up, took one puff, and the corotid artery (artery that you feel the pulse in your neck from) burst. He was dead before he hit the ground. Well...it WAS his last cigarette after all...
Best thing to help you keep off those cancer sticks...think of your family and the impact that loosing you would have on them. Do you really want to put them through that?
Good luck - and congratulations on making the decision to stop.