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, May 20, 2015

My Eyes Must Be Playing Tricks!!!!

     For all of you who are not into the OCR world (Obstacle Course Racing), let me try to explain a few things. First OCR is different than road races because unlike the road races that are in one city every year, the OCR races are more of a series that can go to a number of cities. Take Tough Mudder for instance, you can run this race in Pittsburgh or you can run in a number of cities. Like any other race these series have all come to have a following of loyal runners. You have the Spartans who only run the Spartan series, then you have the BattleFrogs, Tough Mudders, BoneFrogs, along with a few other big races. For most part the athletes who run these may have their favorite series but will still run in other series because they love the growing sport, and the competition differs at each event.
      As the sport has grown a lot of these races have sought out athletes to promote their race, along with even offering sponsorship to the top athletes. One of the best in the world and the number 1 ranked right now is Ryan Atkins, who is sponsored by BattleFrog. To say Ryan is good would be an understatement. The man is a monster, he has already won every BattleFrog event this season along with a few Spartan races. Earlier in the year he won the Worlds Toughest Mudder, and last season finished second at the Obstacle World Championships.  Since Ryan is a sponsored OCR racing is basically his job, almost every weekend you can find him doing a race. He is easy to spot usually because he is out in front and he is wearing his BattleFrog gear.
      One thing that we are seeing more and more is runners showing up to races wearing the gear of their favorite series. For the athletes it is more of  a trash talking thing and a way to brag about who's series is the best, but for the actual series is seems that it means a lot more.  This past weekend Ryan ran and won a Spartan race. After he finished he changed into jean shorts and his BattleFrog T-Shirt. The picture below is after he changed.
 
Like any other race they called the winners to the podium to receive their awards and take a picture of the winners. Now notice if you can see what is different with the picture below.
 
 
If you haven't noticed it let me point it out for you. The Spartan series did a little editing with the photo and now Ryan isn't wearing his BattleFrog shirt. Here is my problem with this....I understand Spartan doesn't want to promote another race in a picture, but you have to remember that as the sport grows more and more runners will be sponsored by other races. If you do not want them to win then do not allow them to run in your race, but I can assure you that your race will lose interest very quickly. People want to race the best in the world, and they will go to a different race to do it. The funny thing about this is Spartan has done this before. For me it shows that they do not have a lot of faith in their series and are worried that runners are going to go else where.  For the athletes though it is not about who wins and what shirt he is wearing. The athletes all are on the same team and want to push each other to be the best even when competing against each other.  Come to one BattleFrog event and before every race you will be blessed to hear some encouraging words from a great man who goes by the name of Coach Dewayne Pain. He not only gets you pumped up but he lets you know that we are all on the same team and if you see a fellow runner that needs help, then help them. Ya, we want to see one of our teammates win the race but if they don't we don't get all upset and tell the race make sure that guy isn't wearing a shirt that supports another race. We will stand there and clap and congratulate him like we should. 
 
here is a link to Coach Pain giving some emotional words before one of the races. He was privileged enough to know a 12 year old girl, who lost her battle with cancer.  Hopefully the link works for you to see what these races are all about, not the politics about what series is better.
 
https://www.facebook.com/imabfab2010/videos/10153383019668530/


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