Running for Our Lives!

Last weekend I died. So did Jesse. But, this time, death was fun. Getting eaten by zombies is always a good time. I guess that technically means we are both zombies now. Better watch yourself!
I managed not to get nervous for this event until the morning of. It was never a "race" for me, but an experience. Costumes were a must, although my ideas were lacking, so we ended up being a seventies type couple who got attacked at a dance. Which translates to a trip to goodwill where funky clothes were bought and then ripped up. Still, I dug our look, especially Jesse's jacket!

Riley and Brady apparently wanted in the pic!

When you get there, you can hear the screams echoing through the forest and the zombie sounds that proceeded them. We watched the other waves a bit, and had a good giggle, and then got ourselves checked in. After we got all tagged up...

Do we look scared?

We headed to the start. They had 3 separate chutes, appetizer, entree, and dessert. Based on my slow mile time, we ended up in the dessert chute, but next time I would move into the entree because there was way too much walking in the beginning. The course weaved it's way through a bmx course and in spots was very narrow, hence the getting stuck behind people and walking. My expectations were nil. I didn't know if zombies would follow us the whole time or jump out at us or what the obstacles would be like. Our biggest goal was to come out alive vs getting through it fast. My inside my head goal was to not have to have Jesse help me through any obstacles!

Once we got rolling, I was so paranoid about keeping an eye out for zombies, I didn't look down like I should and tripped on the trail, a lot, tweaking my ankle a few times. We made it to the first obstacle without any encounters and made it through the electrical shock house unscathed, but once we exited, came the first field of zombies. They looked pretty awesome, but there were a lot. Jesse and I took off in different directions and sprinted and juked our way past the first bunch. This is how the rest of the race would progress. Groups of zombies to sprint and twirl through, Jesse got a really good spin move down, and then we would walk to the next obstacle. Flat out sprinting in that heat was hard. We were both sweating a ton, like it was rolling into my mouth, but I was too dirty to wipe my face.

The obstacles were never a huge challenge, I even made it over the walls by myself, it was definitely the zombie crowds that posed the threat to my success. By mile one, we still had all our flags ( we started with 3 and the zombies could take one at a time) and were thus feeling pretty good about our survival chances. But that didn't last long. A ways up the trail we got hit by a few in a narrow spot and we both lost a flag.

Since the zombies were attacking us mob style, we decided to do the same to them. A bunch of us would gather up and then run through them together to increase our chances of survival. At one point we caught up to a group who gave out a loud "quack, quack, quack, quack" a la mighty ducks style before they headed into the fray. It was pretty hilarious! I don't know how effective this tactic ended up being as only one person in this large group survived. Maybe had we actually done flying v to protect those with flags, it would have worked better.

By mile 2 I only had one flag left, and it was soon stolen by a speedy blonde zombie seeking revenge for a group that got past her untouched. We did start to notice that the "better" zombies were near the end of the course. They really like to hit ya when you are down, and tired, and muddy. I really thought Jesse might make it, I think he did too, but after successfully making it to the second or third last mob, someone got it, and his junk. He was probably more bummed then he let on, I know he is competitive, but we were almost done, so there wasn't time to pout. We held hands down the slide into the muddy water and crawled under the electric fence (the only spot where my dress gave me trouble) and headed toward the finish line for the dead.

I felt gross and happily let them spray me with the big hose, but it barely made a dent. We tried to clean up and at least put fresh clothes on. Next time I will make sure to bring baby wipes or something, what was I thinking? Jesse wanted to seek his revenge on the zombies, and tried his hand at the Subaru zombie challenge...

Slingshot zombies into graves...

roll tire through graveyard, and finish with a dunk tank. He lost :(

I really had a lot of fun at this event. Next year, I definitely want to be a zombie! We saw lots of great zombies, some of our faves were...

-the barista

-the sleeper (complete with robe and slippers)

-the prom court

-the nanny (with a child strapped to her)

-the nurse (just trying to help the affected I bet)

ok, that's all I can remember! But there were other good ones. I hope they have it in Ony again. Getting a group together would be a ton of fun. Did you race this weekend? How did it go? Have you ever done an obstacle race? What did you think?