Sounds a lot like the running shops I’ve gone to. I’m not a professional runner. I’m fat and will never have the long-n-lean look, even if I can build up to marathons. I will never run sub 10 minute miles. I’ve grown weary of the running shops who look at you like dirt if you’re not running 8 min/mile marathons every month. 
Sounds like a hybrid would be a good bet, but I’m not an expert.
Anyway, if you’re mostly on normal roads, but not on really rough tracks/loose sand, you should probably go for normal road tires instead of the (partially) “studded”/hybrid ones.
IOW: something more like http://www.bicyclesouth.com/taber/48_4808_i5228.html instead of http://www.bicyclesouth.com/taber/48_4804_i16313.html
If you like a really upright position, you may want to have a handlebar with the grips curved even more towards you. But any decent bike shop will let you try out different bikes / advise you on that / swap handlebars. In other words: another vote to find a decent bike shop before selecting a bike. Not that there’s anything wrong with going in informed, of course 
The tires on that bike are these:http://bontrager.com/model/00448/en. These hardly compare to the panaracer model you linked (a hardcore off road mud tire). I think the stock tires are fine for what they are. No need to make getting into the sport any more complicated.
Consider your options (and there are lots of them) when the tires wear out, post another thread here on that subject when the time comes. Until then, on a limited budget, it’s not worth worrying about.
Looks pretty good to me. Couple thoughts:
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Steel fork is a wise choice for comfort. Too many of these bikes have some half-assed suspension fork that really over complicates things and just makes the front of the bike squishy, not comfortable. Steel flexes nicely, and should take a good bit of the sting out of bumps while still retaining a solid confident feel.
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36 hole rims are incredible overkill for a “bike path” bike. The good news is they’re likely to be worry and maintenance free.
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I hate twist shifters with a passion. Some people love them. Pay attention to them on a test ride.
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7 speed is out-dated but will be incredibly reliable and fairly tolerant of abuse. The chain is thicker and more durable, the gears aren’t as tight so the shifting adjustment won’t need to be absolutely dead-on perfect. Again, should be fairly low maint.
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V-brakes can be a pain to align sometimes but work way better than the cantilever brakes you’d find on other similar bikes.
Looks like a pretty well sorted bike to me. Go for it, but make sure you like the shop you’re buying it from.
UPDATE:
I put a deposit on a bike yesterday!
It’s this Specialized Ariel (though this isn’t the shop I went to; just a site I found for the link). The price is pretty darn good and I was able to take it around for a spin to see how it felt. I like it! The tires are smooth in the middle but have more grip at the outer edges for turning, which it does nicely.
The bike shop was great (KLM Fitness, for those Detroit-area dopers). They had no elitest snobby attitude whatsoever and answered any questions I had, even if they seemed dumb (I’m sure).
Ah. I guess I am too late to give my opinion. Which is. There is nothing wrong with getting a used bike. If you go to a decent shop, the people there will be more than willing to let you test ride a few and find one that fits and is what you need. I have only been riding used bikes for the last 8 years of biking for transportation.
I recently acquired the love of my life, a 1973 Collegiate which looks a lot like this one for around $130. The most comfortable bike I have ever ridden. Sure, it weighs 1,000 pounds … oh, maybe that’s why people seem to be more enthusiastic about newer bikes.
Either way, good on you for wanting to start! If you ride a lot, you can probably work up to feeling a lot more comfortable in traffic (although I understand that some places are extremely non bike-friendly). I used to ride only a few times a week, but quickly realized that I greatly preferred it to driving or taking the bus. I stopped driving about seven years ago, and have not missed it one bit.
Equally comfy, if not more so, is my 1973 Raleigh Sport. It’s like riding down the street on a three-speed piece of living-room furniture.
The old Hercules looks much like my bike right down to the Pletscher rattrap rear rack. I have a homemade set of panniers slung over it made from surplus Danish army musette bags - total cost about ten bucks.