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

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Oakmont 5K Recap


      Even in a big city like Pittsburgh you still have to appreciate a good local race. On June 14th I ran the Oakmont 5K for my 4th time. For me this race is the definition of a “local race”. Oakmont is a small town with great local shops lining the main road and is known for being home of the U.S. Open for golf every few years. 

                                                                       REGISTRATION

      I arrived to register at 8:00 am for the 9:00 am race. In order to pre-register you have to print the form from their website and mail it in. If there was a huge price difference I would have went this route but even race day registration was 20 dollars. The only thing I may have missed out on was the shirt. Not that I didn’t want one, but if I didn’t receive one it wasn’t the end of the world for me. I however did register early enough to get the shirt. They usually order enough shirts so everyone gets one. Besides the shirt you were given your chip for timing. One thing I really like is you aren’t given a bib. I don’t like bibs that much anyway so not having one felt great. Your chip is all you needed. I am not sure if people who pre-registered were given a goodie bag or not. I did see some people with little bags but I didn’t pay too much attention to the other tables at registration.

                                                                    THE COURSE

       One of the main reasons I love this race is the course fast and flat. You start in the middle of a field and run on a double gate onto the street. You make 2 turns and you are on the main road of Oakmont. From here you run pass the famous Oakmont Bakery and numerous other shops. The smell coming from one of the restaurants had me salivating at a half mile into the race. You continue on the main road just before the mile mark and you turn off onto a side street. You run pass the Greek Orthodox Hall which marked 1 mile and then turn as if you are going to be making your way back to the main street. I had my wedding reception at the hall so I was pretty familiar with the area. Instead of going all the way back to the main road you turn right down a dead one street. There was a cone set up in the middle of the road for you to run around. This was the turn around and marked 1.48 miles. After running back the same way you came you enter the field. Instead of going on the field you stay on the pavement that takes you alongside of the field. You follow the pavement down a slight hill and end up on a track. Once you are on the track you ran 200 meters to the finish. I have no complaint on the actual course. The track was only 4 lines so at times it did get tight but everyone managed to maneuver around each other without causing a jam. The top 3 times were all under 17 minutes, just to give you an idea of the fast course. I ran a 23:14 and finished in 62nd overall out of 247 finishers. Not my best time but not my worst, and far from a PR.

                                                                   POST RACE

      Once you were in the finish shoots there were 3 people waiting to cut your chip off. They were quick and kept the line moving. After you exited the shoots you could either make your way to pavilion in which you registered for refreshments or step to the side and watch the rest of the runners finish. They had an assortment of bagels, fruits and drinks. I was happy to see chocolate milk. One thing I can say is they made sure there was enough snacks for everyone. As soon as the race ended they used the same pavilion to start announcing raffles and awards. This race probably gave away more raffle prizes than any other race I have done. Go figure I didn’t win anything though. They also gave awards for every age group both male and female and overall winners. At one time this was a money race but it has changed and now just gives the winners trophies and medals. However even without the money the competition is always very good and runners from all over come to run the fast course in hopes of getting a PR.



      Overall I would give this race an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Great course with good competition, very organized and easy to navigate around if you are a spectator.
      If I had one gripe it would be the same for this race as it is almost every local race I ran.  The start!!!!  Parents please quit letting your kids stand at the front of the race.  Every race I see it. A young child stands on the line and wants to be at the front.  This is great and cute in all, but it can lead to an injury, and chances are its going to be the child.  This race had a line drawn almost across the whole field so you could spread out.  However there was still 3 rows of people.  I did not see it take place but my father who was watching the race said a young kid started on the line and when the gun went off he was running way to slow and the runner behind him went to the right to pass.  Now here is the problem with little kids at the start. If you are directly behind one you know they are there, unfortunately the person behind you can not see them.  So when the runner stepped to the right the guy behind him sped up and basically ran up the kids back.  I do feel bad for when this happens because I have went down in a race and had people step on me, and let me tell you it is scary and painful.  Parents should step up though and tell the child to let the runners who deserve to be up there go first.  If you are a newbie to a race fall back a bit until you know your ready to be up there with the fast runners.  I don't fault the race's for this because they have enough on there plate. I put this solely on the parents. 

If you ran Oakmont how did you do?
Have you ever almost ran a child over at start?  

2 comments:

  1. I definitely want to do this race next year. The no bib would be great!

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    1. Jennifer definitely mark it on your calendar. It's not often you get a completely flat course!!! Plus the no bib is basically like running naked

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