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, July 30, 2014

Turtle Trot 5K Recap

     Last Saturday I ran yet another 5K. This one was a local race called the Turtle Trot. The Turtle Trot has been around for 23 years now and always has some good local runners show up.  When I woke up Saturday morning I questioned whether or not I wanted to run the race, but after talking to my friend Anna I decided I would run the race.  Since I was not registered I had to register before the race. Registration was open until 8:45 for the 9:00 start.  The race was only a little over a mile from my house so I ran down to register as a warm up.  The fee for the race was 20 dollars if you pre-registered and 25 dollars for race day registration. 
     Like most local races all you got was your shirt and timing chip.  This was the second race in recent weeks that I did not have to wear a bib.  I am starting to like this non bib thing.  I also have to say I really like the shirts.  It is a normal T-shirt and is very comfortable. Don't get me wrong I like tech shirts but there is something about a nice cotton T that makes you feel good when your throw it on...No, ok maybe it's just me then. 

Me and Anna
     As I was registering my friend Anna arrived and was registering as well.  It was nice that she actually drove down and we were able to put our shirts and tickets we received for the post race raffles in her Tahoe.  We did some stretching and a light warm up and did a lot of people watching.  I was telling her who I thought would win.  This year the competition was extremely good. 
    
                                               THE COURSE
The course was basically an out and back course.  You started in Turtle Creek and ran down a flat road until you came to a bridge that took you into Wilmerding Pa. You ran under the bridge and made a turn back out onto the main road and ran back down into Turtle Creek for the finish.  There were 2 water spots one at the first mile marker and one at the second mile marker.  They also had a person yelling splits which was nice.    One thing that threw me off during the race was as I made it just past the first mile marker I saw the leader go past me and head back to the finish.  Normally I don't get pay attention to something like that on out and back courses, but his lead was so far that I was amazed.  I ended up finishing with a time of 23:34. The leader finished in 14:32.
                                                                      POST RACE
    Once you finished the race and had your chip cut off you could enter a area that had refreshments. They had the normal water, fruit and bagels.  I am not complaining I ate a few bagels and had a few waters.  They had a board with numbers that coincided with the ticket they gave you during registration and this was your way of knowing if you won a raffle prize. I didn't win anything but Anna won a nice little cooler. They also gave away a weekend trip to seven springs which was pretty nice.  We did not win that either.  After the last walker finished they announced the winners and the age group winners. The top guy and girl won 250 dollars, second won 100 and third won 50 dollars. The age group winners won a trophy. I came in second in my age group so was pretty happy.  2 of the top woman could not accept the money and had to give it to charity in order to keep their amateur status. That is another topic for another time, because I think the NCAA is bullshit when it comes to students and money, I digress though.

Overall this race was well organized and had some great competitors.  There was plenty of refreshment and more than enough raffle prizes.  I think I may have been the only person not to win one.  The trophy's were nice for the age groups and any race that gives money out to the top runners is always nice.  I am giving this race 5 out of 5 stars.  If you live in Pittsburgh and want to run a fast course next year mark this one on your calendar.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like an awesome race! I'm starting to make up my 2015 race schedule, and I think I want to devote the summer to lots of 5Ks. I'm adding this to my list!

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    1. As much as I love running marathons, there is something in the 5k's that I really like. They by far are my favorite to do. This one is definately a good, small local one that is an easy course

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