Imagine that you’re taking a jog through a quiet woods when suddenly, a dark gloom envelopes you. Numbed with terror, you try to flee but zombies spring up from all sides, their glistening eyes giving away every intention of feeding on your soul. Surely that’s not an experience anyone would want to go through?

Well, over 7,000 people voluntarily showed up last Saturday at Ramblewoods Park in Darlington, Md., to be chased by the undead.

Ok, of course zombies aren’t real. It was really a themed 5K race — called Run for Your Lives —with obstacle courses. Here’s how the official website describes the event:

“Protect your brain and run for your life. This is one race where your legs giving out are the least of your problems. Run For Your Lives is a first-of-its-kind event, one part 5K, one part obstacle course, one part escaping the clutches of zombies — and all parts awesome. Runners will navigate a series of 12 obstacles throughout a 5K course in an attempt to reach the finish line — all while avoiding zombies.”

At the start of the race, participants each get a red “belt” with three flags on it. As they go through the race and obstacles, they have to protect their flags from the zombies that they encounter. To stay ‘alive,’ participants must have at least one flag left at the end of the race. If they lose all their flags, it means they’ve been zombie-fied.

I didn’t take part in the race, but my three friends Greg, Jess and Mike did. More race dates are planned for next year in other cities. Jess’s and Greg’s accounts of their experiences really give future participants a good idea of what to expect.

Pre-race preparations and getting there

Jess: I started running on a more regular basis. I should have done sprints in preparation for it—maybe even some agility drills.

Greg: I started to train 3 days beforehand, haha. Actually I was going to the gym lifting weights for the possibility of having to do a lot of strenuous upper body lifting, and also ran 3 – 4 days a week. Right before the race I started to run 2-3 miles per day.

Jess: It took us a long time to get into the parking lot and we had another long wait for the shuttle so we were late to get there. After that, registration and bag checking went smoothly. There were a lot of people in costumes ranging from zombies to brides to superheroes. A lot of people had already raced and were eating, drinking, and enjoying the bands.

Greg: The first thing I noticed was the number of people. Many were taking the race seriously – running gear, stretching, etc., but there was also a fair number dressed up. I found enjoyment in this perspective myself. I wore a suit I purchased from the Salvation Army for 10 bucks and ripped it up. Overall, though, I think people knew it was going to be a lot of fun.

Run for Your Lives!

Jess: We started out together but I’m a slower runner so Mike stuck with me and Greg ran ahead.

Greg: It quickly turned into mayhem. We had to go over this hay bale mountain, and it totally obstructed our view. When you came down, you were faced by a wall of 10 to 12 zombies. I knew they weren’t real, but adrenaline just kicked in, because you really want to “survive.” People were screaming around me, zombies were hoarding, it was overall a really cool, actually scary feeling.

Jess: There were two very big, very steep hills that we had to navigate as well as a trellis of fake intestines and some more typical obstacles. They closed the one water obstacle due to temperatures, which I think was smart with the risk of hypothermia. We ran by it and I was quite relieved as it looked like we had to essentially cross a pond. The zig-zag sprinting/evading the zombies was the hardest. I wasn’t adequately prepared for so much evasive maneuvering.

Greg: It was so hard to tell the difference between zombies and runners. I basically started on the left side of the hill and ran in a

diagonal to the other side of the hill, having about 5 zombies all pursuing me at once. I almost got through, but the last zombie managed to grab one of my flags.

Jess: The zombies were a mixed bag: some were slow and just kind of swiped at you while some would chase you rather aggressively for a short distance. We did come across one girl sitting off to the side holding her ankle, but that was the only injured participant I observed.

Greg: Towards the end the people who were still alive started to get people to crowd up and take on zombies with a mob mentality. We would stop people and then count down, and then all rush, knowing that one or two of us would get tagged, but overall most would survive unscathed.

On getting zombie-fied

Jess: I lost a flag at each of the first three obstacles—where the zombies were most highly concentrated. I was a zombie for about the last two-thirds of the race. It was actually nice not having to sprint and dodge and weave—I felt relieved that I could just enjoy the rest of the course.

Greg: I was the only survivor of my friends! A lot of ducking and weaving. Also, looking ahead. And by that, I mean not rushing into anything, and realizing  the best method of attack to the situation. Of course, it didn’t always go as planned, so a little luck and off-the-cuff thinking came in handy. Also, I tried to “outsmart” the zombies by hiding my flags so they wouldn’t be able to see them as easily

Pros and cons of the race

Jess: The finish line had a fence you had to slide under through some mud. It was like a dirty, grownup Slip ‘n’ Slide. It was so much fun. They also had two water stations where we could get drinks, which was awesome. The zombies were all really into it and had great costumes.

Greg: The atmosphere and how everybody seemed to be having fun, even if they were out. Also, I loved the unique idea. I am not the type to enjoy suspense movies or haunted houses, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Jess: There was a wall you had to climb up via narrow wooden slats and then slide down the other side. I felt like I was going to fall and hurt myself and the slide wasn’t very slippery so it was hard to get down. They had some problems because it was the inaugural run of the race, but I found them to be understandable/forgivable problems (parking was crappy and took too long, the shuttle buses weren’t coming frequently enough, etc.)

Greg: Within the race, it was probably some of the obstacles. I was expecting them to be more difficult. Outside of the race, the parking situation and transport to and from the vehicles were pretty terrible.

Would you do it again?

Greg: DEFINITELY!

Jess: Definitely. I’d do it in costume next time, too.

The results:

Jess: Placed 4,021 out of 7,045

Mike: Placed 4,016/7,045

Greg: Placed 2,236/7,045

Pictures courtesy of Greg R. 

—Klarmane

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