So for memorial day weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to try the Run For Your Lives Zombie Infested 5k in Logan Ohio. I have been running 5ks since August 2011 and used to run both cross country and track in h/s. He also ran track in hs and started running 5ks with me in Oct 2012. I have done two warrior dashes and he decided he wanted to try mud runs with me. So we pack up and drive 3 hrs. I am not going to lie, we did not expect to be "survivors." I personally am a turtle. He doesn't consider himself a runner at all and is a body builder. He has an old back injury that we discovered earlier this year was aggrivated by running but were already signed up for this and some other mud runs this summer. We decided to go anyway, said we would take our time and even walk to not over aggrivate his old injury. We are both gym rats so we did not do any extra training beyond my usual running and cardio I always do and his usual body building and yet we survived. Here's how. Tips for the Run for Your Lives Zombie 5k:
First off if you are not familiar with this particular race it is an obstacle course/mud run that includes people dressed as zombies who chase you. You are given 3 football flags at the begining of the race and set free into the 5k full of zombies. Zombies are in different areas (zones) throughout the race and there are two types of zombies.
Rule 1: know your zombie types:
Chaser zombies: these zombies will chase you for your flags but typically stay in their zone. So once you get beyond their zone they will go back and look for easier meat. These zombies usually have just makeup, no adhesives due to they are expected to run. Thus this is one way to look or spot them since when you approach you aren't sure who is who. If they seem less made up they are probably a chaser.... be prepared. Also be really aware as later in the shift some makeup has faded. As they are running beside you chasing you or others it can be easy to mistake them for another runner instead of a zombie so be super aware of your surroundings. If someone is beside you look and make sure it is that group member and not a chaser. This saved my flag a couple times. I thought I was almost out of the zone, thought it was a runner near me, I turned and looked and was able to dodge just in time as the zombie reached for my flag.
Stumbler Zombies Also in the Zombie Horde but they will literally stumble a few steps towards you but won't chase you. You can get around them much easier once the chasers are distracted. We will get to how to distract the chasers later but to get around the stumbler you sprint past them and dodge them. They will grab at you so you do need to get around them quickly. I often held on to my flag belt and shifted it side to side as well as dodging. I was kind of shifting the belt to also help dodge the flag from them itself. I found this an effective maneuver. An easy way to spot a stumbler is they will have more makeup and adhesive. I was not aware of this until after the race when someone playing a zombie was at my hotel and later told me. But personally I liked going closer to the cool looking zombies and so when having to pick which ones to run closest to go for the cooler ones in the group. Yes you are going to have to pick one or two to go towards as there will be groups of 20 zombies at a time. Go for the ones in the most makeup and special markings.
Rule 2. Safety in numbers
I know it's the cliche from all of the zombie movies and tv shows but it does actually work. You don't need to get a big group with you in order to accomplish this though. It was just me and my boyfriend in our personal group. our run was at hocking hills peaks... if that gives any hint to the steepness. Seriously the steepest hills I've dealt with. Some lasted a whole half mile. This came in handy because after the huge horde at the top of the first hill and we were all exhausted, lost all but one flag and some didn't have any after this point. We managed to catch up to a group who were resting and these people were fit, but it was lucky because we ended up waiting for each other. After completing obstacles etc we would yell zombies ahead and wait for the rest of the group to catch up so we could approach them together. A group of 20 has a better chance getting by 5-20 zombies at a time then say a group of two. Now once we gathered our group and stopped to study the zombies ahead, we next played to the individual strengths in our group. Which brings us to our next rule.
Rule 3. Play to your strengths and to the strengths of your group or running partner.
Remember how I mentioned at the beginning that my boyfriend was a bodybuilder and I have run since 2011. I saw many groups all run through real fast and the chaser zombies had a hayday with them. They loved the super serious. The zombies saw these over confident groups and pretty much ate them for breakfast, well they took their flags which in this race signifies the people being eaten. We found a good strategy for our group was the few very fast or in my boyfriend's case very muscular and fit...we sent them ahead of the group. They volunteered to go first but it worked to our benefit. My boyfriend charged down the center like a linebacker... chasers LOVED this. They first jumped out of the way because of his size and then all turned and chased him. This left the stumblers for some of us slower runners. I sprinted my best past them dodging and as the chasers got to the end of their zone and turned for me I had a very short distance left to sprint past them. It worked for us. This strategy can work in different ways. But basically try to stay in a group. Find who your best distractions are and have them go first then follow close behind once the chasers are distracted. For this to work you need someone who is either super fast, good at dodging or in our case the large linebacker size also helped. They jumped out of the way first then sort of as revenge tried to chase him down. Having a former football player in your group would be nice... just saying. If you just simply have some super fast sprinters this could work too. We had a little bit of both and it worked for our group as a whole. Towards the end many zombie hordes were astounded that our group seemed to have a lot of people with one flag and this made them more aggressive at times but I think that too worked. They were still going after our sprinters/distractions first and that got the rest of the group through. It worked well for us.
Rule 4. Save your energy
Save your energy for the zombies and the obstacles ahead. The obstacles themselves weren't all that challenging. I was a little disappointed. There was a maze, a shock smokehouse, a water slide, balancing act, crawling but if you have done other mud runs you will find these rather easy. But still good to save energy for whatever obstacle or zombie horde you have next. Don't be ashamed to walk the safe parts and be on the lookout. It makes it a lot easier to sprint when you have a big horde coming up. Plus as I mentioned before our course was full of really steep hills. I fell a total of 3 times on the course just because of the steepness and slick mud in parts of the course itself. Don't be ashamed to take your time as this may be key to your survival and also help you avoid injury if it is a treacherous course which ours was. I have done other mud runs and never heard the ambulance in the middle of my run or saw someone walk out in an air cast before. Both happened here and I saw the aircast as we were entering and heard the ambulance as I was running so these were different injuries. Just be aware of the course and since this isn't timed, take your time and save energy for the parts where you will need it. Just after the toughest hills or lengthy obstacles, there is almost always a zombie horde on the other side. So wait for your group and then approach together. Your survival (keeping a flag) depends on it.
Rule 5. Be on the lookout for bonus flags
In our race the ones with the bonus flags were volunteers on four wheelers. They were checking for injured participants but one had flags. He threw them out to our group. I felt greedy but I grabbed two, one for me and one for my boyfriend. This goes back to playing to strengths. I personally am short and petite which made it easy to squeeze through and grab two flags before most noticed where they dropped. I left the third by it for more in our group. Don't be greedy. It is easier to guard one flag but if you can get an extra go for it! Being able to act quickly and sneak in to grab us each an extra flag is probably one of the reasons we survived. It was that extra one flag we had at the end. It is easier to guard one though. I was down to one flag after the first zombie horde after the first real steep hill at the beginning so these flags put us both back at two flags but we both lost that second one right away. But it is a good tip to keep an eye on the volunteers and not just the zombies. If you see a volunteer on a four wheeler, maybe he has flags. Pay attention... if he throws one you need to act fast or someone else will grab them before you can.
Rule 6: Have fun
I mean that is the point right? Even if you don't finish with flags you still did it! Go you! And you will still get a medal as a fun keepsake. If you don't get a survival one, there is always next year. I think part of our survival was that we didn't take it to seriously. We honestly didn't think we would keep our flags. We just approached it as something fun and since we both love zombies, vampires and that sort of thing this was perfect for us. Some zombies even joked with us and high fived us. They sort of loved my boyfriends kool aid man shirt. I think this helped us too. I mean after all, zombie or runner we are all there to have fun. It was hilarious when a zombie kool aid man jumped out and I yelled hi five hi five from outside the zombie zone so they did. I laughed. My bf still guarded his flag in doing so but it was funny.I didn't stay for the apocolypse party but it seemed fun too. I did get some good photo ops before heading out. Enjoy. And if you decide to do one of these, good luck! It is a lot of fun. I know it is expensive but def worth doing at least once. If they bring one closer to home for me, I may sign up for a zombie shift instead for a whole other experience. But I would recommend doing one. Warning though, mud runs are addictive!
