I have been speed walking 2 miles and jogging 1 mile 3 times a week. Sometimes I get a sharp pain in my left side which makes it harder to keep up at my pace. I was wondering what causes this and what I can do to eliminate this pain?

I believe this might be what they refer to as the "runner's stitch" or something like that. I don't think there's a known reason, but they say to prevent it, to jog slowly at first to get your metabolism set for your running pace, like a five to ten minute jog or whatever your base pace is. Then there's focus on your breathing. Now, one thing i read when looking into marathon training, was to breath all the way out then you'll naturaly fill your lung to your gut or something. Basically bring the air all the way in instead of just sucking it quickly into your chest. Well, when i run, i find quick sucks and/or quick shots of breath seem to help at times. This is a technique that is important in any working out and i need to find which works well, when and why. But try to see what works for you, play around with it, and also, keep hydrated before you go out running (at least 30 min prior) that might help as well.

When I did not have the pain it was usually when I was jogging with my friend who is on a lower level of running than me, so I would go slow at first with her than when I started running alone I kicked up the pace, there is where I went wrong. I will now go slow and then graduate up to my last mile which I run, thanks for the advice that pain is such an annoyance!

Yeah, the pain can be annoying, i persoally just toughed it out, breathed sharp in and out and it seemed to help get it away as i moved my breathing back to a normal deep in and out. But this is when i was keeping just a jogging pace. Now that i'm working on my running, i don't seem to get the problem at all. Maybe because my body adapted before hand *shrugs* either way, it's always good to be 'warmed up' before you push your body or you could get a cramp of some type.