New Store = New Friends

New Clinic Update:
    What a  friendly crowd. I really enjoyed the sense of community that I've experienced at the Waterloo and Aurora Running Room, so I wasn't sure what to expect at the Newmarket location. Everybody in my new clinic was delightful. They made me feel welcome right off the bat. I was nervous prior to getting there, but excited about the possibility of forming new relationships. I'm normally one of the slower runners in the group, and the clinic instructor stuck with me for the first half of the run. I was excited to find out that nobody in our clinic brought their ipods, so I carried mine the whole way without using it. I will not bring my ipod to clinic nights but I still plan on bringing my it to hills and slow long distance runs.

Challenges:
    I knew that finishing up my last university course would require a lot of time and attention. As a result of my workload and the fact that a majority of our mark allocation is slotted at the end of the term I have temporarily compromised my running and sleeping schedule.

Advice:
     If you are accustomed to running while listening to music I encourage you to try a run without it at least once. I found I paid more attention to my breathing, and that I had to dig deeper to push through some of the challenging spots. I strongly recommend "listening to your body". When you pay less attention to eating properly, getting the sleep your body needs and proper hydration either decrease your pace, distance or level of intensity in your run to prevent injuries. A lesson I learned from my previous instructor is to stretch properly right after your run. It is easy to get caught up in conversation while you're stretching and look like your going through the motions without the same benefits you would get if you were paying attention to your form.

I have some exciting changes and surprises for the upcoming weeks.
I'll make sure to keep you posted.