Buffalo Creek Half Marathon Race Recap

Okay, so I signed up for this race just this past week. I was debating if I should run this as part of my EQT 10 Miler training, but not many training plans have distances longer than the goal as part of the weeks building up. But I knew a bunch of great friends of mine were planning on running it, and everyone raved at how fun it was.

So here I am, a Tuesday before a Saturday race, signing up for a classic Pittsburgh fall race. I wasn't going to race it - just have fun.

Since I wasn't racing it, I didn't really prepare. I didn't eat a bunch of carbs prior, slept horribly, did not hydrate enough, and even ate a Fiber One bar on my way to the race. Talk about long run poops...

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It was a beautiful morning for a fall race! Cool, sunny, and with such pretty landscape to enjoy. The race was downhill and on a trail. I'll be honest, I didn't feel like it was as downhill as my Garmin showed - maybe because of the crushed limestone versus asphalt?

I met up with a bunch of awesome ladies at the start line.

Maddie and Chelsea

Check her out Chelsea

Jessie and Gretchen

Okay, this picture was at the end, but you get the point

Gretchen and Jessie have spent the last 10 weeks training like badasses for this race. They trained for 8:30 pace, which I ended up joining them for.

(I actually didn't have a pace goal for this race up until I decided to run with them. I didn't want to do anything more than 8:30 just so I wouldn't overdo it for EQT)

I don't know about them, but I had a freaking blast! We chatted the first half, kept on each other about paces, caught up on life, talked about trainings, and just enjoyed the awesome weather. Gretchen mentally broke up the half into two 5-mile segments and a 5K. We powered through each segment, and I slightly overheard them talking about breaking free at Mile 10 - I had headphones in and only caught snippets of their conversation at times.

Mile 8!

But it was clear, at Mile 10, they broke free from their side-by-side cadence and Jessie went ahead. I caught in the middle since I wasn't trying to push anything. Not too far into Mile 11, I caught up to speed with Jessie.

She breathlessly said, "Help me."

I turned off my headphones and blared my music to help distract her from the pain as we tackled this last leg together.

Never before did I see so much fight in a person. She wanted to throw up the whole time, and I could see the agony in her face. But DAMN, she persevered!

The last 0.25 miles of the race was hell. We had this horrific climb before the gradual decent to the finish line. We were struggling up, and she caught her pace back as we worked our way down the road ramp to the finish.

Our friends Ciara and Katie met us for the last 50 steps, screaming "You can puke after you finish!" Jesse pushed harder than I had ever seen someone push before.

And what do you know...

She (and Gretchen not but a few steps behind) PR'd and by 3 minutes!

Our other friend Maddie also PR'd by 3 minutes too!

I am so incredibly proud of these ladies. I saw so much smart running and fight in them throughout the whole race.

Me personally... I was feeling a little "why am I doing this?" at mile 2 and 9, but wanted to keep with Gretch and Jessie, and pushed past those mental barriers.

When I strode alongside Jessie for the last 5K, I didn't feel my own pain or mental blocks. I wanted to be there for Jesse just like she did for me.

This past spring, I met Jesse as I was throwing up on the side of the Just A Short Run 8.1 Miler race. She made sure I was okay, and pushed me to the finish. The least I could do for her at this race was to do exactly what she did for me.

I had so much fun at this race, and will definitely be thinking about it for next year!