Will Run For Flesh! (Zombie Transformations and Turning Humans)

In February of last year, the Dad and I signed up to be Zombies on October 27th at the Saturday RUN FOR YOUR LIVES race in Darlington, MD just north of Baltimore. The Dad was SUPER excited, which is why we signed up so early. I'm glad we did too because the zombie shifts are what sell out first from the race. They had so many people signing up and on the "wait list" they opened a second race day on Sunday. Which unfortunately was canceled by Howard County due to Hurricane Sandy.

One of the perks of being a zombie this year was a free race which we ran with a friend of the Dad in the 11 am wave. (All about my race recap here.) So we all started our zombie transformation with a freezing cold PVC pipe shower to rid ourselves off the thickest layer of mud and gross from the race. Refreshing.

Undead Only

Then it was back over to the Zombie Transformation Center, the ZTC, to change into our zombie costumes and get in line for make up. The Dad and I just pulled old clothes from our closets but our friends came prepared with scrubs. There were zombies dressed as doctors and nurses, prom queens and brides, a farmer, a few nuns, some in fatigues, and even Princess Leia.

We heard about one of the zones before us all dressed as a wedding: bride, groom, bridal party, officiant, and even a baker with a brain cake. So creative! Not only the zombies dress up, we saw some very creative racers as well. A banana, a panda, super heros, guys in tutus, but the best by far was the group of guys dressed as King Arthur and his sidekicks from Monty Python, complete with coconuts and galloping. I'm told they didn't break character through the whole race! I wish I had a camera while zombing.

Stumbler

Standing in line for make up, you can have parts of your zombie outfit shredded and even pick from their zombie wardrobe if you don't have your own zombie attire. After adding holes and shredding shirts and the bottoms of pants, we waited to move on to make-up. They brought in a team of professional make-up artists to help apply all the zombie faces. Some people had plastic wounds attached to their faces and neck, but none of our little group did. There were two separate make-up tracks, the stumblers and the chasers. Chasers, like the Dad, had a base coat and red accents and then blood splatter. Stumblers (this was me) received an airbrush base coat to dull and flatten out the face and then airbrushed contours around the eyes, cheeks, and mouth. Then it was on to spot splatter where they used a thick bristled brush and flicked the bristles towards my face so the make-up would splatter. And like the chasers, the stumblers had blood flecks and wounds added.

Chaser

After our faces were all made up, they hoisted a blue tarp between two trees and zombies lined up to be sprayed with light and dark mud and have handfuls of blood tossed on us. The guy tossing the blood seemed to be having a pretty good time pelting all of us with handfuls of goopy, red syrup. The blood looked really great against those zombies in white, especially the zombie brides.

Bloody and Gross!

I like how it looks like my hand is going to reach out and get you.

Even Zombies need love, right?

Since we were they last group of zombies for the day, and they had a bit of blood left over, before we headed out to our zones they had us stand in a big huddle and flung the remaining blood on the group as you would toss a bucket of water after washing your car. A poor lady in front of us got an eye full and finding a clean sleeve to wipe some away was harder then you might think.

Each zombie received two bottles of water and a bag of snacks for during our 3-3.5 hour shift. We were scheduled from 2:40 to 6, but being the last group we were out there until the last person finished through our section and I have no idea what time that was!

While in our zone, zone 12, our goal was to take as many final flags as we could. There were a few people who had more then one flag (I saw one guy with all 3 still,) but most people had one or none by the time the reached us. Those people in groups would try and protect their friends who still had flags and it was always great when you could grab one of those. Some people didn't want to play by the rules and would roll their flag around the flag belt, a few tied the flag to the belt and there were many who had shirts long enough that they hid all but the tiniest tip of the flag. Add on all the water and mud and those flags were hard to get! There was a lot of karate chopping while people tried to smack zombie hands away from their flags. One guy I tried to take a flag from swung his arms so violently he hit me in the face. I think he made my nose bleed, but with all the fake blood it was hard to tell. (He did apologize though, he didn't mean to hit me.)

By the end of the shift, I had pulled about 20 flags and felt quite accomplished as a zombie.

Cleaning the make-up off without running water wasn't happening. We were able to get the top layer or blood off, but all the flecks and most of the black around my eyes needed more scrubbing then I could do in the fading light and with a wet paper towel and baby wipes. (We looked great heading in to WaWa to grab a drink on our way out of town, haha. The cashier told us he had been busier then usual that evening and he didn't look at us that strangely so I'm sure he had seen a few other zombies before us.)

After stopping to get our free beer (well the guys got beers, not my thing so much,) our plan was to head out to a restaurant for dinner, looking all zombie-fab, but the bus line back to the parking lot was LONG. So the guys got a spot in line and we ladies went to the food vendors to get some hot food. They had a lot of choices and the prices were pretty reasonable. I was so hungry (lunch was a bag of goldfish crackers, I could have planned that better) and the cheeseburger and fries were delicious. I'm sure they weren't as wonderful as I remember, but it was just what I needed!

The bus line moved relatively quickly, they had a great system in place and plenty of buses to keep the line moving. It wasn't long after we finished eating that we got on the bus. Let me tell you sitting down on that bus was amazing. I didn't realize my legs were so tired!

In the days and week after we were all a bit sore, but we had such a great time and we are already thinking up some costumes for next year!

10 down 2 to go (AKA The Obstacle and Zombie Race)

**First, thanks to Kate Reckner for taking photos and then letting me use them!!**

Nice and chilly October morning, the Dad and I drove up to just north of Baltimore to Darlington for a Zombie Infested 5K Obstacle Course run called RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! This was a race unlike any other I have run this year. The obstacles were challenging, but not so tough that I didn't feel I could conquer them. Each racer gets a flag football belt with three red flags, your health, and the zombies aim to take those flags. When you lose all of your flags you are "dead" and can run through the zombie sections without worry. At the finish, there are separate chutes for the living and the dead, though I think it's just to tally hoe many people make it through "alive."

Because we were scheduled to be transformed into zombies in the afternoon we had a few perks like a separate parking lot (can't be infesting those humans to early,) separate gear check and port-a-potties, and we were able to run the course for FREE. Zombie transformation can be found here!

Human Cages!!

So the race starts with everyone one of three long tunnels with a cage like gate at the start: Appetizers, Entree and Dessert. Since we were able to choose which part of the meal we wanted to be and we went with Desserts hoping for tired slow moving zombies (they were all still pretty quick.)

Scary Zombie!

Right out of the gate, you step into a cloud of fog and turn the corner onto a field full of zombies. The first zombie we saw was a woman in a white robe, pajamas, slippers and almost white pupils. Most definitely a frightening way to start a race. I made it through the first section of zombies with all 3 flags. Woohoo! Full life!

Run fast, they want your brains!

The course is run at Camp Ramblewood in Darlington and the entire course is on grass and trails. One thing we didn't realize is how hard it would be to sprint through the zombie areas. I was always catching my breath right before the obstacle after the zombies because I am not a fast runner. Sprinting is not my thing.

Besides the zombies, the other obstacles included jumping over walls (I'd say they were about 4-4.5 feet high, so it was like trying to get out of the swimming pool, without the water,) crawling under and through tunnels of various kinds, shimming under barbed wire, a maze, mud pits (so, so, so gross running after being covered in muddy water,) crossing a river (unexpected and very, very cold,) a smoke filled house with some kind of shocking action that I missed whoops, and the last two obstacles were a huge water slide and a muddy slide under and electric fence. Definitely a lot of things I have never done before, but it was so much fun. After the first mud pit, you stop realizing how dirty you are. I didn't realize how gross we got until I was able to shower back at home.

One of the various tunnel obstacles.

Of all the obstacles, I enjoyed the river crossing the most actually. I like cold swims and minus the gross leaves, mud, and sticks you could feel passing in the current, it wasn't a bad swim. And if helped get a little of the mud off of me. They had a rope tied to each bank to help with crossing and there were two guys in full rescue gear in case anyone needed help. One of them kept running and jumping into the water trying to get others to do the same. I wasn't that daring maybe next time, haha.

The Dad and I ran the race together and I am so glad that we did. Since we weren't being timed (as zombies later our free race didn't include a timing device,) we were able to enjoy the course together and had a really great time. Definitely more fun to do with someone or a group! On the 2nd to last obstacle, the big water slide, the Dad lost his glasses at the bottom in the big pool of water. After we asked the people at the top to wait so we could search for them, he found them in less then 2 minutes. Quite a feat, considering you couldn't see in anything in the water because it was so full of mud. Being able to see, made being a zombie much easier later.

The Dad's friend on the huge water slide.

Just after he slide through. 

No shocks for us!

Neither of us made it through alive, but the Dad made it close! He lost his last flag in one of the last zombie zones. This was just what I wanted since we really were becoming zombies after the race.

I couldn't figure out why the Dad was so clean, but he slide on his back under the fence. 

After finishing, we went to the "showers" to clean off some mud before heading over to the Zombie Transformation Area. The showers were a long piece of PVC pipe with holes ever foot or so with water pumped through. Freezing cold water. The tennis courts and the grass outside of them were really wet, muddy and not a place to really get clean. But, we were able to get the thickest layer of mud off.

Definitely something we will do again! Such a fun race and a GREAT workout!

Since we weren't timed, I don't have any stats for this race, but here are five things I learned:

1. Mud isn't that bad. And playing in it really reminds one of being a kid. I highly suggest it!
2. Running a race without a timed goal makes the race very enjoyable. There is nothing to worry about, nothing to beat. The only goal is to have a great time and enjoy the course and the people around you. Truly awesome.
3. I am not good at jumping over walls. By far the hardest part for me and made much harder when both me and the wall are covered in slippery mud. I made it over all the walls though!! After every wall, I felt a sense of accomplishment in overcoming each one. 
4. Racers of all shapes, sizes and ages run the zombie race. And LOTS of people dress in costume. (Check the zombie post for my favorite costumed group!)
5. I was more nervous about losing a flag at every obstacle, then I was in the zombie areas. I was always checking to make sure I didn't accidentally lose a flag. It would be terrible to lose one outside the zombie area! 

I think we are ready for the zombie apocalypse now! At least we know we will be covered in mud, tired and hungry after less then an hour of being chased by the zombie horde. I hope they don't know how to climb and we can build a tree house to escape. Now I just need to learn how to build a tree house. 

Check the Zombie Transformation Post to see how it is to be part of the undead!

What Happened to October!?!

One post in October. Now that's just sad. Obviously it was not high on my list of priorities last month. Lots of traveling, running, being a zombie (more on that coming soon!) and costume making took up quite a bit of my time.

The weekends are when I get most of my blogging in and today is the first weekend I have had since my last post. I'm also working on a children's book (in my spare time) and I have made some great progress on that. Once I get to a good place I am going to need some feedback (and illustrations, probably an illustrator, haha) so let me know if you are interested in reading some children's literature!

I have come to the conclusion that though I have had some great goals to work towards in blogging, right now it is not a big priority, or even a strong enough interest, for me to put it ahead of other things I want to do. Fortunately, and unfortunately, that list keeps growing and growing. And blogging more keeps falling lower and lower on that list.

Though I will continue to write about my races and fun family stories along that way, right now blogging isn't, and isn't going to be, as big a part of my weekly plans as I had thought and hoped. But just like so much through life, plans change, goals evolve, and interests grow, expand and morph. I am so glad to have this outlet and hope to continue to push myself to express my experiences through the written word. Yet, I am enjoying my morphing interests and I am looking forward to where those paths lead!

Here's to more goal completion in November!