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, August 6, 2015

Run Naked Just Once!!!

I have a challenge for all of my running friends who read this. The next time you go running, run naked. I don’t mean that literally, don’t strip your clothes off and go for a run and blame me when you get arrested. (Not that running with no clothes on would be pretty fun)



What I do mean though is the next time you go out for a run leave the phone, the headphones, the compression socks, and whatever else you wear for performance or tracking your progress and just go run.

Recently I have been doing a few runs during my training cycle with nothing but my shorts, shoes, and shirt, and let me tell you those are the days I think I am having my best runs. I am not focused on a clock, I am not focused on what song is playing in my ears, and instead I am focused on the road ahead of me. I am not saying you need to do this for every run. I still use my headphones on my long runs and I still track my speed and progress on most runs, but every once in a while it feels so good to just get out there and run. I would assume that most of you are like me and if I told you to go run 4 or 5 miles you would already have a course mapped out, so next time just go to one of your courses and run “Naked”. Zone out on the course, and remember why you started running. Forget about the time it takes you to finish, forget about your mile splits, and just go run.

I try to think back to when my father’s generation ran and I know at the time they didn’t have fancy Garmin watches. They didn’t have shoes that were designed for each foot type. Now here is the crazy part…..they were still able to run, crazy I know. Sometimes I think that we get so focused and wrapped up in the technology that surrounds running that I think a lot of us forget why we started running. I think we start to obsess on beating times so much that we aren’t really enjoying our run. That one day a week I run “Naked” is that one day that brings me back to where it all started. I remember the reasons I started to run, I didn’t start to keep beating times and I didn’t start to stress myself over hitting a PR. I started because I saw something that my father was doing and he enjoyed it, and I thought maybe I would get the same enjoyment. Do I like to compete? Do I like to run races? Hell Ya I do, and when I am out there I want to beat you, but that isn’t why I started running. I started running for the love of the sport, and even if it is just one day a week that I get to have that feeling again of just running free, it is worth it.

10 comments:

  1. I try to run naked as much as possible (you know what I mean) and it's very liberating! It's great to just enjoy the run and not worry about pace and what song is playing and how far you're going. Great post!

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    1. Thanks, I am trying to do more naked days, and I think once I master figuring out my pace with no clock I will eventually make an all time thing

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  2. This has been one of my recent decisions too. It's tough to break the habit, but it puts you in tune with your body. I also think it allows you too push harder, instead of looking down and seeing that you are going "x" pace and telling yourself to slow down, you just get in that groove of what feels right.

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    1. Exactly, I use to always hold back cause of fear of hitting a wall and now I just go and let my body dictate the speed.

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  3. That's why I don't run with headphones. I love just being out and enjoying the city at sunrise when I wouldn't otherwise be out. That's definitely why I love running!

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    1. I envy you for your morning runs and the scenery you get, but even with the shitty scenery I get there is something about just going out and losing yourself in the run

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  4. I recently noticed - like seriously the past few weeks - that I don't NEED my iPod as much as I thought I did. I used to have to take it for anything over a 3 miler. I'm now up to 8 miles without the darn thing. Sometimes I still like to have it, but it's not some Linus' blanket type thing for me anymore. I forgot my headphones for my speedwork today and instead of getting pissed I just laughed it off and still had a great run. I need to do some untimed untracked running, though. Maybe between training cycles, especially as the weather turns crappy..

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    1. I use to be the same way, anything over 3 miles I would want my headphones. Now if I forget them it's no big deal. Maybe one day we will go for a run and with no headphones and we can just bullshit the whole run

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  5. Love this. I took some time off of running last year while my step dad was sick and then after he passed away, and when I came back I did just that. Left everything at home - no watch, no music, not even a phone and it was wonderful. I don't think I could do it during a training cycle, but I definitely need to remember to do it more often during my downtime! Thanks for the reminder :-)

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    1. Glad I could be a reminder to you. Like you said during training it is sometimes difficult to do but every once in a while it is so nice to just get out there and run

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