Last night instead of running the Soaker 7.7K, because I’m a wimp and didn’t want to risk falling, Fleet Feet Buffalo was holding a Good Form Running Clinic so I went there instead.

I’m so glad I went!

We learned about good running form – foot strike, cadence and lean with a little bounce, shoulders and arms thrown in for good measure… the Good Form way.

Leslie and Dana, from Fleet Feet, taught the class. They are runners with a wealth of experience and education. Glad to meet & learn from them.

I was a little late – arghhh traffic! We started with filming running across the store. First with sneakers and then without.

Then we headed outside to get a little theory, drills and tips.

We started talking about foot strike. Foot strike is how your foot hits the ground when you run. The best way to see it is… to film it. I appreciated that we were taught the Good Form theory on foot strike before we looked at  the video. Mid strike is best, landing with a soft knee in the middle of your foot. Thinking back to my physics days, hitting the ground under your body with the middle of your foot makes sense. Learning to align your body correctly. Once someone points it out, it makes sense.

Then we touched on cadence. Cadence is how often your feet hit the ground each minute. Your cadence impacts your stride and where your foot hits. Lastly we learned about the lean. Along the way we talked about bouncing, shoulders, soft knees, your hips & butt.

After learning some background… we put it to use looking at our videos. Not too bad… My shoulders are tight and basically a mess… with a little foot strike thrown in for good measure. Not bad. I’m really good with not bouncing – it’s something that has come over the past couple years.

Before going to the class, the conversation I had with myself went like this… “Self, we’re going to this class and the perfectionist in you will want to put this info to use immediately. Remember the goal is the half. If there are small changes, great. Otherwise, we’ll look at this seriously in 7 weeks.” Self agreed.

So now that I know a little more about running form, there are new things to be mindful of. Starting with my crazy, tight, stick to my ears shoulder. Baby steps…

As you know more, you do more. With running, add to that as your body gets stronger in different areas, you can do more… or do differently. Good form makes running easier. Getting to good form takes strengthening (and time). I’ll keep with the cross-training and running, paying attention to what I’ve learned about form. Understanding that these things take time and just like running a half marathon is a goal, improving aspects of form can be a goal… after the half :).

The clinic cost $15 and was well worth the cost and the time.