Run For Your Lives 2012

I decided to do this run last summer because it looks different from all the other races and it looked really fun. All the zombies were already sold out so I just registered for the race.

For those of you who don't know what this race is about I'll tell you a little bit about it.
There are three things that you can register for, one is to be a spectator and yes you have to pay to be a spectator in this race, second is a zombie, they go all out and have professional make up artists who make you look like a "real" zombie (they really do an amazing job) and third you can be the runner. The race is 5K, ours was about 2 and a half hours south of Seattle on a dirt bike track. It happened to be one of the hottest weekends in Seattle, I think during my waive at 4:30PM it was about 90 degrees out. This race is not about the obstacles, but about not getting your flags taken by zombies.

When I got there I checked in, they gave me a belt with three red long flags on it (think flag football), they were attached to the belt with Velcro. You put the belt around your waist and you can adjust the flags however you want, back, sides, front, wherever. The rules are that you cannot tuck them in your pants or shirt, they have to be visible, otherwise you will be "disqualified" and won't get an official finishing time. I think you still get a medal though. then they had three staring lines: slowest, faster and fastest. I went into the fastest line since I was going to finish at a decent time. They let each of the lines go separately, so we got to go first. So they had the zombies right out of the gate and I got my first flag taken right away, I was bummed. I did face plant as I was trying to run away, pretty embarrassing, but I didn't know any of these people so I just kept running :). I lost both of my last flags as we were running thru the trees. There was even a zombie sitting in a tree. I finished the race, however I DID NOT SURVIVE :(
I got a medal anyway though. For 2013 they will have two separate medals, one for the survivors and one for the "dead".

It was a fun race, I don't if I would go down there again this year, it was such a long drive and the course itself was pretty boring, it was lots of sandy hills and some woodsy areas. I think the course used to be and old motorcycle rally area or something like that. I don't know. I was also disappointed in how many zombies there were, well its subjective I guess, it was cool seeing the costumes and make-up and all that, but truly unless you ran in a huge group where everybody else can protect one person it was impossible to not loose your flags.

We'll see, I'll keep you posted if I will run it or not.

Keili