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

Friday, November 14, 2014

Freak Out Friday: Social Media


This week for Freak Out Friday I am ranting about Social Media. I obviously use social media everyday so I am not against it, what I am against is the way certain people use it. I know there is no rule book or set of guide lines that a person should use when using social media, but come on people some of you need to get a grip. First let me start by saying what I use social media for. I use Facebook to keep in touch with people I may not see every day. I also use it as a way to contact with my Battle Frog Field team. Every day we get messages from the team saying what races are coming up and when people can register. I do use Facebook to promote the Battle Frog race, and I am sure people will say they are sick of me blasting out my promo code. I am just trying to make a sport I like get bigger. I use Twitter for mainly running. Most of the people I connect with are running related. I use it as a way to get tips and training methods. I also use Twitter for #runchat, a weekly discussion about running related topics. I use Twitter and Facebook for promoting my blog, and if you are reading this there is a good chance that is how you found it.

 What I dislike about both media outlets is the way certain people use it. First I will start with Facebook, where you are allowed to basically write a book as a status. We do not care about what you are doing throughout your day. If you’re at home cleaning, cooking and knitting a sweater that is great just keep it to yourself. I don’t think Facebook was ever made with the intention of letting people know your every move. On the other side of long status you have your short status. Example being “I am depressed today”. Don’t leave us in suspense all day, what are you depressed about? I mean you obviously wrote this for all of us to see so why the cliff hanger? How are we supposed to push you to the bridge or pull you back if we don’t know what it is wrong? I feel a status like that is just a tease. When did social media take the place of a therapist? People spit out every problem in their life like they are laying on couch in a psychologists office and we are the psychologist. Put the cookoo back in the clock and go get some help. Most of us have enough bullshit in our own lives and don’t need to hear about yours. My favorite status’s are the meat heads who post pictures of themselves with no shirt on and write stuff like go do a push up or get to the gym. I am all for working out and trying to get into shape, but you look like a fucking tool when you take a selfie and flex up. And who the fuck are you to judge anyone? Maybe people don’t want to do a push up or go to the gym. Maybe they are content with the way they look. At the end of the day does it really change your day? I highly doubt there is a person who reads that status and says “shit I need to get to the gym.” Most people are doing what I do, I read the status and laugh at the other idiots who back up what you say.

 The pictures are another thing that kill me on every social media outlet, one reason I am not on Instagram. I want to meet the first person who took a picture with the kissy face. I want to walk over to you and punch you right in the fucking head. You look like a moron. I have not seen one picture of a person doing and thought, hey they look nice. On the topic of pictures we need to have a cut off limit of how many pics you can post. I am tired of seeing your kid dressed up, dressed down, dressed like a clown, and dressed like dad. When you leave your house do you plan on snapping 1000 pictures? A picture here and there of the kid is great now and then, but when you bombard us with his or her face we start to get sick of it.



One of my favorite things is when someone writes a status about religion or politics and someone challenges what they wrote and the person gets pissed. Hey dipshit you do realize you wrote this on a site where we can all see it. When you write anything controversial you leave yourself open to the other side of the argument, and we all know everyone has an opinion. At least with Twitter you are limited to how much you can write.

 Like I said earlier not all social media is bad. Truthfully I have gained a lot from using the media outlets. My blog gets more views, I have been contacted from company’s asking me to try out products and I have even been awarded free entries into races. Everyone is entitled to use whatever media outlet they use to their own way. I am simply just saying some people need to take a step back into reality.


4 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I am cracking up about the kissy face! I rarely post "selfies" on my Instagram, but when I do I'm not making that face! My Instagram is cats, food, running, cats and some hockey.
    I also get annoyed at Facebook. I love being able to keep in touch with my brothers/other family that I rarely get to see. But don't post the "woe is me", vague status sh*t. Either say what is wrong, or don't say it at all. And I hate reading the "Oh my god, I have no money" or anything similar. It makes me really uncomfortable and we all know you just want attention. STOP!
    I really enjoy these posts. I like venting with other people :-)

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    1. Ahhh the woe is me post are always the worst. Like you said its all for attention. I am glad you enjoy reading my rants and even happier you agree with it.

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  2. This cracked me up! I'm totally with you on this. I have a Facebook account but rarely am on it because it annoys me so much. Had a baby? Got married? Completed a marathon? Yes, I want to hear all about it and see pictures! But all the details about what your kid said at the dinner table or that you are tired or that you love wine...not so much. I pretty much only am on my blog and rarely use Twitter or FB. I can see how it would be beneficial to use other social media (and I've been thinking of instagram), but FB just annoys me too much and Twitter is too overwhelming (I follow so many that I seldom see tweets from the people I actually want to follow).

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    1. That is one thing about Twitter that does suck. You pretty much miss anyone that you know and only get to see random people. However I do like runchat so that is why i use it. As for facebook, well like you said you want to see some things but people go overboard.

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