Who Am I?

I am an avid runner and have been running since I was 15 years old. I began running low to medium distances while on my high school track team, running the 800 meter and 1600 meter races (I was a sub 5 miler and a 2 minute 800 runner). In addition to the track team, I also joined the cross country team. After high school I still wanted to run and decided to start doing road races. I have probably ran a couple hundred 5k races (16.29 PR)along with many 10k's as well. In 2009 I decided to step up my game and try to tackle my first marathon. I will be honest; the only reason I did this was because my father ran a few and I wanted to show him that I could do what he did. I trained poorly for my first one and regret it. If you are going to run a race, train like you want to win. I still continue to run marathons and other distances as well, and every race is a chance for me to better myself.
I started this blog to hopefully communicate with other runners and to shed any knowledge I may have about the sport that can help other runners. I believe running is the best sport and can be a great stress reliever. I encourage all runners to spread the word of our sport and show people why running is so good and why the community of runners has such great people. You can follow me on twitter @byrne1324 or find me on facebook- Shaun Byrne

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Jenn's Story


     Growing up I was always the smart kid, but that was it. My cousins all played sports (football, wrestling, baseball, basketball) and being the only girl, I got really jealous when I would see their medals and trophies. The most I ever did was run the mile in gym class, and the only time I ever tried out for a sport (7th grade volleyball), I didn't even make the first round of cuts. I technically first started running back in 10th grade (in 2003) when I joined Winter Track. I wanted to be a member of a sports team, and since track was the one sport you didn't have to try out for, I joined. Running in the freezing cold really wasn't my cup of tea, but I loved seeing the payoff of my mile time going down. I ran Winter and Spring Track during 10th grade, but I stopped running over the summer. I didn't want to run Cross Country, because I was too afraid to fail. Long distances seemed really challenging to me. I stopped running, and I got really out of shape. The only time I worked out was to walk somewhere or do 30 minutes on the elliptical at the gym in college.

     When I was a Sophomore in college, I co-hosted a morning talk show on our campus radio station. We had the Friday morning show, and one of the stories we covered was the 2008 Long Island Marathon. I mentioned to my host that running a marathon was always on my Bucket List. His immediate response was, "Okay, let's do it then. We'll run the LI Marathon next year." It must have been the fact that I was delirious at 7:45 in the morning, but I agreed to it. We had a year to train for 26.2....and I did absolutely nothing.

     In January of 2009, I decided I would start training. I went to the campus gym, got on a treadmill, and ran a very slow (4.6 mph!) few miles. Since I knew I would be focusing more on distance, I ran as slow as I had to. With it being winter on Long Island, 90% of my runs were on the treadmill or on the indoor track. My host and I ended up changing our minds and (wisely) switching to the half marathon. Finishing that race and getting my medal was one of the proudest moments of my life.

     I've been running ever since, and recently finished my 5th half marathon. Through the years I've struggled with injury, no motivation, weight gain, and an eating disorder. There's something about running that's different than other workouts I've done. Usually when I would work out, I would focus on how many calories I was burning, and that was it. With running, it became more about how far I could push my body, rather than how many calories I could burn off. With running, there is always another challenge waiting. That's why I keep running - there's always another way to improve and do what I never thought I'd be capable of doing.

Jenn
http://runwithrabbits.com/
"It's never too late to be what you might have been."

     I couldn't agree more with Jenn here when she says there is always another challenge waiting. That is the beauty of running, there is no limit. Once we reach our goal we want to improve on it, so we set another, more difficult goal. I love this story also because it shows that with running you can start from zero basically and work your way up. Five half marathons is quit an accomplishment for anyone. Jenn you should be proud of yourself and all you have overcome. Much respect!

4 comments:

  1. Shaun, thank you for sharing Jenn's story.

    Jenn, congratulations on how far you've come. Running is addicting and it seems you've caught the fever for it. Thanks for the link to your blog - will be checking it out.

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  2. Hopefully people will read these and realize all of us runners just didn't jump into doing marathons and halfs. I want people to see that anyone is capable of running and these stories are so inspiring. The more stories I get the better chance a person will read one that they can relate too and maybe it will change their life.

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  3. Congrats on your 5th Half Marathon Jenn! Thanks for sharing Shaun!
    I love that I can always come back to running and I don't have to compete with anyone other than myself.

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    1. I agree Sarah, the biggest competion we face usually against ourself. Please feel free to share your story as well

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