shields useless in running?

ok i heard somewhere in these forums that an absorb rune shoul be put on the chest piece because it gets hit the most. If this is true, the shields (not their mods) are useless in running. Let me explain. When you are fighting, you hit, then pull you shield forward to absorb some of the blow. When you are running, you leave your shield at your side the entire time. There, it will only guard against attacks from that angle. Therefore, it doesnt relally matter what AL the shield has, just the mods. A way to test this is to run with a non moded shield, then try the run again without it. Please tell me if my theory is true. Also, does the size of the shield help block attacks more?

Well, supposedly shields add to the total AL.

So, lets say you get hit in the chest at 80 AL. You also happen to have a shield on, so the AL is actually 96 if you have met the requirements.

That's what I've been told, at least o.o

The size of the shield doesn't help at all.

The old rumor that shields are locational, like they have to hit you in the front, or on the shield for it to matter, was proven wrong months ago.