The Running Dead–Zombie 5K

Brandon and I ran in “The Running Dead,” a Zombie 5K and obstacle course on Kadena AFB, Friday evening.  When we heard 5K and zombies, we were both in!

 

They had an amazing turnout of around 700 and split us into heats of individual runners and teams.  The registration line was a great place to swap zombie stories (prior to actual zombie interaction) and make some “alliances.”  There were a handful of individual runners who came dressed up – one even had a cardboard chainsaw! 

All the runners started with 3 flags Velcro-ed to their belts.  It worked similar to flag football, with the zombies grabbing flags to symbolize bites.  The idea was to complete the 5K and obstacle course with at least one flag left in order to “survive.”  My personal goal was to get some good photos and have lots of fun.

 

We were separated into three groups to determine starting time.  (Each group started 1 minute apart.)

“Appetizers” were the fast runners.

“Entrees” were the medium speed runners.

And I chose to be a “dessert.”

Our first encounter with three zombies on the course. 

They managed to get quite a few “bites” (or flags) from the runners coming through.

After running a bit, we came across the first obstacle (in addition to all the hills) – the water trap.  You were supposed to wade through the 3 feet of water.  Sorry I didn’t get any photos of this in action.  I stopped to talk to some spectators and missed the group going through the water.  Just in case you were wondering, yes, Brandon did go through the water.  No, I did not. 

These lovely zombies even had a baby zombie!

Coming up on this group of trees and zombies was not a peachy site.  And we had to run through the trees and down the hill behind them to continue on the course. 

One of my favorite zombies on the course, meet Where’s Waldo Zombie!  Some of these guys put a lot of thought into their characters!

When the group I ended up traveling with (we decided with zombie hordes ahead of us, it was probably better to stick to a large group – better chance of survival) came across the water station, we were dismayed to find zombies had been through ahead of us.  At least that’s who we blamed for no water and dumped water coolers.  (And yes, that guy came dressed in costume from the TV show “The Walking Dead.”  His jeans and boots were soaked the entire race.)

Friendly Asian zombie…his costume was very cool!  By this time I had no flags left and was the “official photographer” (and often times bait and distraction) for our group.

 

Running down the hill into a horde of zombies.  Lovely.

Gotta love the personality that shown through for some of the undead!

While the course wasn’t as well-marked in some areas as I’m sure it will be next year, it was fun to see an occasional sign letting you know you weren’t just aimlessly wandering about Kadena’s base housing area.

Loved the “blood” splattered across the sign!

Looping back up the hill to Marek Park, I was out in front of our group when I walked into this area humming “what a great place for an ambush.”

As zombies are never ones to disappoint, slowly they came climbing out…I assume led by the smell of fresh brains?

And one down in the narrow trail you had to run through.

And more met us after the run up the other hill.  (Did we mention there were a ton of hills on this course?!)

My first time to come across a vampire/zombie hybrid!  (This later sparked a wonderful discussion for Brandon and I about alternate universes, how a vampire could contract the zombie virus, would the vampire retain her unique vampire abilities, etc.  Oh the joys of marrying a fellow geek!)

Fellow runner stopped to “hug a zombie,” though she left with her brains intact.

And I loved the back of his tee, as well!  Quite cute and clever!

The “desert” we crossed.

More obstacles…the “low crawl.”

By this point the majority of our group had no flags left, so many of us didn’t bother crawling, but we still had a few runners we were protecting.

Did we mention there were zombies waiting for us at the other end of the low crawl?

Next came the tires…

…and prom zombies.

This zombie had one side of his sunglasses busted and his eye painted black.  It was the fun details that some of the zombies put into their costumes that made it so much fun!

These zombies were nice enough to pose for a group photo.  Everyone say, “Braaaaiiiiinnnsss!”

And this one called me back to make sure that I got a good photo of his arm squirting “blood.”  As he had yet to test the distance he shot, I ended up with “blood” dripping down my leg.  The things I do for a good photo. 

More obstacles – up-downs.

And while we were told ahead of time that “zombies don’t like hills,” these zombies apparently thrive on extremely steep inclines.  My legs were still sore two days after the race from climbing all the hills on the course!

 

The resident “one-armed zombie.”

The odd rabbit-masked zombie.  (Wonder if he had “sharp, pointy teeth!”)

And the final obstacle – the mud slide.  As we were the last group of individual runners to come through, and none of us were alive after the last horde of zombies and hills, none of us were interested in getting very dirty.

Three girls from my group proudly posing at the finish.

The dog tags we received for finishing the race!  We’ll get our awesome t-shirts in a few weeks!

Brandon and I after we finished our first “The Running Dead” 5K!  Lots of fun, great costumes, zombies, and quite the work out!  Perfect way to spend a Friday night together!

Comments

[Mom Carlson]

Oh, what fun and very interesting way to meet people and get some exercise.