50 Yard Finish 5K Recap

Saturday, June 18th, I ran the 50 Yard Finish 5K hosted my Impact Sports Performance. The race takes place at the home of the Buffalo Bills, Ralph Wilson Stadium. My friend and I decided to leave around 6:30 to ensure that we would have plenty of time to drive to Orchard Park, park and pick up our bibs. Packet pick up was hosted at the Adpro Sports Fieldhouse.

Once we got our bibs, we snapped some fun pictures inside the fieldhouse, then decided to walk back to the car to put our shirts away (that I don't think we were supposed to get, but they're cool), then walked around the Stadium a bit. Another one of my friends who was running the race, messaged me shortly thereafter to meet up, so we walked back into the fieldhouse. We chatted with them for about 20 minutes, then decided to make our way out to the start.

Once we made our way over to where the race was starting, they were starting to do a group warm-up for the runners that wanted to participate. It wasn't long before we were set to start. They sang the National Anthem, and then we were off! The start was pretty cool because some of the Buffalo Bills had come out to give high fives at the start as you passed them.

The race started on Abbott Road next to the Bills Store. The course took us up Abbott Road to the intersection where runners turned right onto Southwestern Blvd. Southwestern Blvd. was a nice downhill slope. Once runners made it to the next intersection, we turned right again onto California Road. This was the longest stretch of the race, and we ran on this road until we made it to the intersections of Big Tree Road which we again turned right onto. We made our way back up Big Tree Road, then turned right onto Bills Drive. We ran up rills drive and turned right just before the ADPRO Sports Training Center. We ran down the side and behind the training center and slowly looped left toward the stadium where we ran down through the tunnel and on to the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The race (as you have likely already guessed) finished as runners crossed the 50 yard line.

(I couldn't get the entire course mapped out due to it being off marked roads)

Just past the finish, Bills Players were there to hang a finisher medal around your neck and congratulate you. I had finished the race in roughly 35:00, and I was really pleased with that time considering I hadn't been running consistently.

We grabbed some water, food and a free beer to refuel and we plopped ourselves down on the 25 yard line to eat, and watch other runners as they made their way across the field to the finish. We hung out in the sun for a bit, then as the last few finishers were trickling in, we decided to walk over to where the players were handing out medals to get pictures and autographs before finally heading out.

(Gary Chambers)

(James Wilder, Jr.)

(Reid Ferguson)

(Marshall Morgan)

Pros:
Bills Football Players (C'mon, clearly). It was so fun being able to interact with the Rookies and Billy.
The price: I only paid $30 to run this 5K. I registered online and there was no processing fee.
Refreshments: The race had a lot of great post race refreshments. Water (both spring and flavored), fruit, granola bars, hot dogs, and for those of age, a free ice cold beer.
The Course: It was a fun course that had a little hill to provide a challenge. And who wouldn't want to run through the tunnel at the Ralph and finish a 5K on the 50 yard line?!
Personally, I LOVED this race, and I look forward to running it again next year!

Cons: I'll be honest, I don't really have any. I had a great time at this race, and it was enjoyable from start to finish. I can't wait to run it again next year!

(Billy!)

QOTD: Have you ever run a race at/around one of your favorite teams Stadiums?