Run for Your Lives

We went, we ran, we died.  :-)

The 'Run for Your Lives' 5K was billed as an obstacle course where you are also chased by zombies. Sounded fun! There was a steep entry fee, but seeing everything they had to bring in and set up, I can understand it better in hindsight. There was also a $10 parking fee, but... Subarus got to park for free. Heh.

The future undead.

Waves went off every half-hour, to spread the people out on the course. It was partly open fields (DUST), partly wooded trails that seemed to have recently been made or widened with a DR brush mower (DUST and root snags). Oh, and the obstacles and zombies. Some zombies just shuffled around, but others actively tried to grab one of the three flags on your flag-football-style belt. No flags at the end = dead and zombiefied after you cross the finish line.

 

Mah flags - now you see them, soon you won't.

The obstacles included sandwich-board-style walls to climb over, then wood beams to go under; a shack-type thing with a maze inside that also had zombies in it; a slimy mud pit; another shack-type thing you climbed into where it was dark inside... the piped-in "fog" didn't help... and electrified wires hanging from the ceiling. (I made it through that one OK, but Paul got zapped several times.) Near the end there was a large structure to climb with a water slide down the other side, little wooden things you had to crawl through on your knees in the mud, and then last you had to slide under, flat on your stomach, some horizontal chain link fence that they said was electrified, but I hit it twice with my head and nothing happened.

Live people are eligible for time-based awards, and dead aren't, but we all got the same medal. Theoretically there were "health packs" on the course with additional flags, but neither of us saw any sign of one. Not that I was in competition for an award anyway! So no matter. Stand in a long line for a cold shower with about 40 of your best friends, with water pumped direct from a tanker truck, and try to discreetly rinse out the mud that got INSIDE your shorts. Muddy shoes got dumped in a large pile - they'd be cleaned up and re-purposed through Project Sole.

 

See mine? They're right there... near the top...

All in all it was a lot of fun. I did pop my bad hamstring again... we'll see how long that takes to heal. Right now I have to lift my left leg to go up stairs and can't sit for very long - it's that spot right at the top where the hamstring attaches to your butt. Painful to sit at all. And my bad right shoulder is sore, probably from grabbing the tree to break my fall, when I dodged a zombie, caught a root with my toe, and torqued the hamstring.

But the zombies were all made up professionally by the race production company, and most of them looked pretty darn convincing. They did put a LOT of work into making the race happen. Advice to anyone who wants to do it, if they have it here again: take an early wave start.  :-)

Oh, and remember the rules:

1. Cardio

2. Doubletap

3. Beware of bathrooms

Since I probably will take a week or so off to let the hammie heal up...

Wed., 8/1: 5.5 mi

Friday: 5.5 mi

Sunday: 5.35 mi

Tues. 8/7: 5.5mi

Wednesday: 5 mi

Friday: 5.5 mi run, 1 mi dog-walk

Sunday: 7 mi

Tues., 8/14: 5.5 mi

Wednesday: 5.25 mi

Friday: 5.5 mi

Saturday: 5K zombie run, plus walking... total 5 mi