I do have an observation, however. So far I've been at the Greenway, which is very flat, to work on my form. Tonight I ran in my neighborhood. Let's just say it's really, really hilly. I knew it would be a little harder for me to focus with the dog joining me, but I've found that going up and down hills is also making it difficult to focus on good form. I will have to bring this up in my class. For example, I find myself wanting to essentially stomp my way up a hill and then with the faster cadence I end up having to slam on the brakes coming down, causing other problems. In the meantime the dog is pulling my left arm, running in front of me, and having to carry his mess in my other hand is both gross and limiting the movement of my right arm. I ended up with a really stiff upper body, bent at the waist, and frustrated. To top it all off I finally measured the distance of my usual route around the neighborhood and noticed it's a measly 1.3 miles. I was supposed to go 2 miles tonight.
There are a couple obstacles I need to address right away based on tonight's results: chose a new route (or alter my current route) and either deal with the dog or leave him at home. Since this is exercise too, I hesitate to leave him home for the short runs. He absolutely stays home for the long run. Not only is he distracting, but like people dogs have to build up to longer distances and faster speeds. He's just not ready for that, and I'm not taking him to that level.
I've got to figure this out before Thursday. We'll see what I can come up with. In the mean time, check out youtube and search for good form running. There are a ton of videos out there, and for me seeing a good example was really helpful. There is a lot of great, free advice out there if you know how to filter out the junk.
Happy running!
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