The Zombies are coming!
We were really terrified, can't you tell?
Ok so I need a little work on my acting skills but so do these zombies.
I signed up for the Arthritis Foundation’s 5K Zombie Run about a month ago and I was so pumped for it. I mean really, zombies and running, what could be better than that? Unfortunately it all happened so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to use my zombie survival skills. I hate when that happens.
Bryan and I really didn’t know what to expect during this race but I'd say overall we were not disappointed. I went home with some cool stuff and a few funny photos so I'm happy.
I made myself a Halloween tutu, which proved to be very helpful in camouflaging my "health" flags. No I didn't cheat, the zombies were just scared they'd ruin my beautiful tutu. At least that's the excuse one used for not being able to snatch my flags, but in all honesty I was a torpedo. Plus I totally offered up some little girl instead of me. Whatever keeps me alive.
So here's how the race worked. We were given a flag football belt that looked like this:
The object was to try and make it to the finish with both flags in tact. This run was for fun so you didn't get any kind of prize for finishing with all your flags, and no penalties if you lost them either. The zombies were hiding in different locations along the race course so our main goal was to evade their attempts at stealing our flags.
Avoid zombies and run fast. Pretty simple.
We started out beside a guy who was in his late 20's early 30's and he informed us that some of the zombies were his football players. Sweet! All I had to do was stick close to that guy and his players would be gunning for him leaving me safe. My strategy worked on the first group of
Zombies- well for me anyway. Zombies apparently like men because they went right for Bryan every time. Every man...ahem, I mean woman for themselves. I believe the first encounter was when I offered up the little girl. She was very cute and stayed with us for at least a mile. Sorry I panicked! I saw her freeze so I yelled, "Look at the little girl. Get the little girl." and I sprinted around her. Calm down she was fine. I think I confused them and then they probably felt bad for her because she still had both flags. My plan worked.
The next few groups of zombies really didn't try very hard. One girl came out holding a stop sign and the other girl just stared at us. They still looked good. Bryan was pretty good at distracting them away from me. Even when both of his flags were gone he pretended to hide them in order to draw attention to himself while I started sprinting and dodging. Duck and weave, duck and weave. One ran right beside me and got so close to my face I could almost feel him breathing. I just about stopped and closed my eyes. He definitely could have grabbed a flag at that point but instead he just said, "BRAINS!" Then from behind me I heard Bryan yell, "You're going after the wrong person." So I just agreed, "Yeah he's a nerd go get him."
The zombies in the leaf piles really surprised me. That's how I lost my first and only flag. We could see the zombies on the left as we approached a corner so Bryan told me to get on his right side. Well he tried distracting them but out of nowhere one jumped out of a leaf pile on my right and started chasing me. Then another one (a corner back I think) had made it around Bryan and was also after me. The first failed attempt left my tutu a mess. I sped up but apparently zombies are fast because the second attempt was successful. Fast zombies suck!
The last group of zombies were hiding behind a fence. Again Bryan said he'd distract them for me. So he ran up ahead and tried to scare them while corralling them with his out stretched arms. One did get around him and chased me down the sidewalk. It was the, "I don't want to ruin your pretty tutu" zombie. What he really meant was, "You're too fast for me so I won't even try to take your last flag." Yep that had to be it. I just waved my flag at him and kept going.
We made it across the finish line in 25:39 and I really didn't think that was fast enough for first place. Well overall it wasn't but I got a medal for 1st place female. I had no idea until the little girl I offered up to the zombies was announced as 2nd place female and then Bryan said I must have won 1st. Odd. I even thought I had a pretty good chance of winning the costume contest since there weren't too many wearing one. A lady in a lemon won.
So here's how the race worked. We were given a flag football belt that looked like this:
The object was to try and make it to the finish with both flags in tact. This run was for fun so you didn't get any kind of prize for finishing with all your flags, and no penalties if you lost them either. The zombies were hiding in different locations along the race course so our main goal was to evade their attempts at stealing our flags.
Avoid zombies and run fast. Pretty simple.
We started out beside a guy who was in his late 20's early 30's and he informed us that some of the zombies were his football players. Sweet! All I had to do was stick close to that guy and his players would be gunning for him leaving me safe. My strategy worked on the first group of
Zombies- well for me anyway. Zombies apparently like men because they went right for Bryan every time. Every man...ahem, I mean woman for themselves. I believe the first encounter was when I offered up the little girl. She was very cute and stayed with us for at least a mile. Sorry I panicked! I saw her freeze so I yelled, "Look at the little girl. Get the little girl." and I sprinted around her. Calm down she was fine. I think I confused them and then they probably felt bad for her because she still had both flags. My plan worked.
The next few groups of zombies really didn't try very hard. One girl came out holding a stop sign and the other girl just stared at us. They still looked good. Bryan was pretty good at distracting them away from me. Even when both of his flags were gone he pretended to hide them in order to draw attention to himself while I started sprinting and dodging. Duck and weave, duck and weave. One ran right beside me and got so close to my face I could almost feel him breathing. I just about stopped and closed my eyes. He definitely could have grabbed a flag at that point but instead he just said, "BRAINS!" Then from behind me I heard Bryan yell, "You're going after the wrong person." So I just agreed, "Yeah he's a nerd go get him."
The zombies in the leaf piles really surprised me. That's how I lost my first and only flag. We could see the zombies on the left as we approached a corner so Bryan told me to get on his right side. Well he tried distracting them but out of nowhere one jumped out of a leaf pile on my right and started chasing me. Then another one (a corner back I think) had made it around Bryan and was also after me. The first failed attempt left my tutu a mess. I sped up but apparently zombies are fast because the second attempt was successful. Fast zombies suck!
The last group of zombies were hiding behind a fence. Again Bryan said he'd distract them for me. So he ran up ahead and tried to scare them while corralling them with his out stretched arms. One did get around him and chased me down the sidewalk. It was the, "I don't want to ruin your pretty tutu" zombie. What he really meant was, "You're too fast for me so I won't even try to take your last flag." Yep that had to be it. I just waved my flag at him and kept going.
We made it across the finish line in 25:39 and I really didn't think that was fast enough for first place. Well overall it wasn't but I got a medal for 1st place female. I had no idea until the little girl I offered up to the zombies was announced as 2nd place female and then Bryan said I must have won 1st. Odd. I even thought I had a pretty good chance of winning the costume contest since there weren't too many wearing one. A lady in a lemon won.
I don’t think too many people knew about this event even with the local news channel WDAZ being a major sponsor. Some ladies took a few photos of me and I noticed a video camera set up on the corner where my flag was stolen but there was nothing on the news, in the paper, or on the websites. Hmmmm I wonder what they’re going to do with my photos. Maybe someday they'll show up somewhere.
Stupid moment of the day (actually 1 of 2): I brought my camera but forgot to put the card back in it after taking tutu photos. Duh! Thank you Patti for taking pictures with your phone.
Stupid moment #2: I'll just say it involved a newscaster asking me a simple question. It was a deer in the headlights moment.
Hubby came to the rescue with the memory card after the race, awards, and photos. This is my awesome friend who totally rocked by raising money for the Arthritis Foundation and for walking the course.
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| Group of Zombies |
Stupid moment of the day (actually 1 of 2): I brought my camera but forgot to put the card back in it after taking tutu photos. Duh! Thank you Patti for taking pictures with your phone.
Stupid moment #2: I'll just say it involved a newscaster asking me a simple question. It was a deer in the headlights moment.
Hubby came to the rescue with the memory card after the race, awards, and photos. This is my awesome friend who totally rocked by raising money for the Arthritis Foundation and for walking the course.
Thanks for running for Arthritis. I am so proud you won 1st place female. Way to go, Lori.
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