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, October 2, 2015

Random Friday: Vick-tim


I am back on track and finally getting in all of my posts I want for the week. With that being said welcome back to another edition of Random Friday. This week I was going to skip Random Friday so I could post a race recap, however that can wait till next week. I need to get something off my chest that has been eating me up the past few weeks, and it all centers around Pittsburgh Steeler backup quarterback Michael Vick.

A few weeks back the Steelers backup quarterback Bruce Gradkowski went down and Pittsburgh was in a frantic about who we can get as a backup. You would hear a player’s name being thrown out here and there as too who might get the job. One name that kept coming up was Michael Vick. If you don’t watch the NFL there is still a good chance that you know the name, and it is not for anything good. In 2007 Vick was implicated on dog fighting charges and served 21 months in prison and another 2 months on house arrest. The NFL suspended him and was forced to pay millions of dollars back to his former team the Atlanta Falcons. In 2009 he returned to the NFL and has played on a few teams since then.

Fast forward now to a few weeks ago when the Steelers decided they would sign him. When I heard the news my thought was, aha veteran QB that can still move. I don’t like him but oh well. That is how about half of Pittsburgh took the news, while the other half was up in arms because of his past. Post after post on Facebook was about how we was a dog killer. People were calling radio stations saying they will boycott the Steelers as long as he is on the team. While others were threatening to get rid of their season tickets. One of the big anti Vick supporters was a new group called “Pittsburghers against Michael Vick”. This group protested a game, and was posting picture after picture of dogs that Vick had injured during the dog fights.

First let me give you me my opinion on Vick. I think he is a piece of shit for what he did. If someone ever touched my dog in a harmful way, I would probably be in jail for murder. As for him being a Steeler, I could care less. Listen he did his time, he went to jail and the whole thing made him claim bankruptcy. I am not saying we should forget what he did but who cares that he is playing football. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news here people, but the NFL has a few criminals playing. In fact some of those criminals are on our beloved Steelers. Now let me tell you what has me so irritated over this whole thing. While all these people were posting reasons Vick was a piece of shit and he shouldn’t be allowed to play. I started to look at the people who were saying these comments and what I found was quit humorous. A few of them had committed some type of crime in their life, some petty and some as bad as domestic abuse. Then I looked at a lot of people’s friend list and sure enough they were friends with people that committed some type of crime. Let me get this straight, Vick is a piece of shit but you and your friends aren’t? Oh wait that is right he harmed a dog, something way worse than any other crime. Are you fucking kidding me, a criminal is a criminal any way you say it or try deflecting it. Next this group “Pittsburghers against Michael Vick” recently posted a statement saying they have now become a 501© charitable organization and will continue to battle dog fighting and animal cruelty long after Vick is a memory. So it took a NFL player to come to Pittsburgh that you all hate to make you start this thing up? Once again I don’t mean to point out the obvious but dogs were being harmed here in Pittsburgh before Vick was on the team. Why didn’t anyone come out with a group while the news was showing other dog cases? My last reason I am so heated is because some of these people said they are done with the Steelers since we got Vick. Okay so you would watch football as long as he wasn’t on our team? Shouldn’t you have boycotted the whole NFL once he came back after his release from jail? You sound like an idiot when you say you are mad that he is on our team. If you are as big as an activist as you claim to be then you shouldn’t have even been watching football while Vick was in the league.

Like I said earlier the man is a piece of shit, what he did was wrong and disgusting. Do I think he should be in the league? I don’t know, I don’t look at him as some high person I look at him like every other player I see. He is a man, he has the same skin as us and breathes the same air as us. He is a man who made a terrible decision and had to suffer the consequences of his actions. He has been trying to make right ever since, so the least we can do is just let him make a living, or we can bring up everyone’s past and play the blame game with each other.





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2 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 2, 2015 at 1:02 PM

    All right, Shaun, my boxing gloves are on! I am absolutely one of those people who are upset that Vick is a Steeler, and I'm one of those who not only is boycotting the Steelers this season, but I'm actively wishing the Steelers have a terrible losing season so they'll get rid of Vick. I was thrilled this morning when my husband told me the lost--with Vick as the starter. Obviously, I'm a crazy animal person, and not just because of Vick. I changed my whole life to eliminate animal products so that I don't support factory farms that harm animals. I stood outside of Petland when it opened in East Liberty every weekend to protest puppies being sold (the puppies come from puppy farms, where dogs are kept in cages their entire lives and forced to breed litter after litter). I volunteered and fostered at the local animal shelter for years. I spent tons of money and years of my time to trap stray cats around my neighborhood and get them spayed and neutered to reduce the homeless cat population. I also spent years taking in stray cats, caring for them, and finding them good homes on my own. All of my charitable donations go to animal shelters and organizations. My point is that not everyone is just upset about Vick and doesn't care about any other animal issues, nor does everyone against him have their own criminal past. I don't! I'm enraged for the opposite reason--that people are like, "Oh, he abused some dogs. Oh well. He did his time, so he should be forgiven." Um, he freaking killed dogs by slamming their bodies to the ground. He hung them. He wet the dogs then electrocuted them. He drowned them by holding their heads in a bucket of water. That's beyond cruel and disgusting, and someone who can do things like that doesn't change. I don't believe he should be given a second chance, and I'm not giving him one. In my mind, he deserves to have the things done to him that he did to those dogs. That won't happen, so the other option is to not hire him. Boycotting the whole NFL when he played doesn't make sense. I wasn't rooting for the whole NFL. The whole NFL wasn't my home team. In fact, there are many NFL teams that I "boycotted" or refused to watch because I hate the teams so bad. I'm boycotting the Steelers because they are MY team. My earliest memories are of SuperBowl parties in the 70s that my parents hosted. The Steelers are in my blood. So to have my home team hire someone as despicable and disgusting as Vick--and I can't think of any NFL player that has done anything as vile as Vick--is embarrassing and painful, and the reason I will not be supporting the Steelers as long as Vick is playing for them. Oh, and thanks for mentioning the Pittsburghers Against Michael Vick group. I will be joining them!

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    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 2, 2015 at 2:37 PM

      Jennifer first you are the complete opposite of the person I am talking about. I commend you for all the work you do with animals. You truly are one of the people that I would expect to see protesting him, and I would say you have every reason too. I am talking about the people that all of a sudden make it seem like animal cruelty was a problem before this. The reason I believe people boycott the NFL is because he is part of the system. They allowed him to come back. They allow criminals in the league. Please don't think I am one of those people that say oh he just killed a dog. Like you said he should have the same done to him. My problem is with the people that feel the need to make it like they give a shit about a topic when they don't look at other issues. Believe me part of me will never look at the steelers the same way, but I blame the NFL, the coaches, and Vick for that. Here is a question for you... I have a friend who is a huge animal lover and like you cares for many animals. She walks a higher up member of the organization dog. So I said if you really do care about all that you say then wouldn't you quit walking the dog and cut ties with that person because he is part of the reason that Vick is here. What are your thoughts on that? And Jennifer I like that someone finally came back with a great respond to one of my Friday rants. Nothing but love and respect for you.

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