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, April 22, 2015

Boston Trail Half Marathon Recap



BOSTON TRAIL HALF MARATHON

WHEN: April 18th 2015

WHERE: Elizabeth township, Pa. (Boston Trail)

Swag: Long sleeve Tech shirt, and hat (You only received a shirt if you registered before a certain date. I did not so I did not get one therefore I have no pic to show, sorry.

Distances: 5K and Half Marathon

Course: This is a great course if you are looking to go for a PR. It is on a limestone trail that is all flat. The course is an out and back course with aid stations every 2 miles. Bathrooms are almost nonexistence on the trail (I saw one, maybe two at most) so you will want to use the restrooms before you line up. The trail is only about 7 feet wide so passing at times can be a problem if you get caught in with a group of people. The scenery is a river to your left on the way out and on your right on the way back, with trees on the other side.

Finishers Medal: The medal is nothing to write home about, but for the price of the race you really can’t expect a blinged out medal. They also give medals for top 3 finishers in each age group.

My Experience: Packet pick up was from 7-8am. I arrived a little after 7 and had no problem finding a parking spot. There were people directing traffic which made it very easy. After I picked up my bib number I did some stretching and went for a short run. I recently had injured my calf muscle and neededto see if I would even be able to run. My calf wasn’t 100%, but I felt I could give it a go. After joining some Steel City Road Runners for a photo opt. I headed to the start. NUGO had their pace teams there so I was able to find a spot around the 2 hour time. As I started I felt pretty good and soon was ahead of the 1:55 pace group. (Huge shout out to the pacer for the 1:55 group. He interacted with his group the whole time and really was trying to motivate not only his group but runners that were behind them at the turn around) Around 4 miles is where I noticed my calf muscle just wasn’t getting looser and running fast just wasn’t something that could be done. I slowed down to a comfortable pace behind the 2 hour group and ended up finishing in 2:04.


Overall this is a great race to go for a PR. It’s flat with hardly an elevation change. Most of the course has shade so you never found yourself dealing with the sun too much. They cap the race at 900 runners to make sure the trail doesn’t get too crowded. It’s a cheap race and can be really beneficial to any of the runners using it as a test run before the Pittsburgh Marathon. If you are the type of person that looks forthe big bling and the expo’s with tons of people this race is not for you. I would describe this race as your basic local race that gets a fairly decent crowd and attracts a lot of runners looking to get a PR. For the price this is one race you may want to consider.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 23, 2015 at 8:25 AM

    Good thing you didn't push it and make your calf worse. You still had a great time for running a comfortable pace! That's cool that they had pacers.

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    1. UnknownApril 23, 2015 at 8:39 AM

      Ya I wasn't expecting pacers at a small race, so it was nice to be able to use them.

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