I heard about this race through a search for new races. It seemed so very cool and fun. I told my friends about it and they wanted to go as well. The next one I could hit would be in SoCal in Temecula in October. I had been watching all the videos I could to see what it was all about and what I might expect. Not really the same thing as experiencing it all in person though. I am glad I did.The goal of the run was to avoid being infected by the zombies. Each participant is given a flag football belt with 3 flags on it. You need to finish with at least one of those flags still on you to have finished and not been infected. Throughout the course you come across zones where zombies roam and their goal is to rip off all of your flags.
Walking to the staging area from the parking lot was cool and unexpected. Their were zombies walking on the trails. It was cool since they were really playing the part. In their mannerisms and all. I was talking pictures. I tried doing something similar to Austin Powers to see if I could make them laugh. one girl cracked in a few second. Another one I could not break. It was like 10 mins and many photos later but nothing. Nice.
The way the start we set up did give a feel like we were about to enter the infected and over run zombie zone. You started out in a darkened out shoot that lead into an area fenced in. There was smoke bluring the exit. I was not sure if there would be zombies already there. We were greeted but a long uphill section to the top of the mountain. In two areas it leveled out and it was an area with zombies rolling around. And the carnage could be seen as many of these zombies already had flags in their hands. Some quick foot work got me through the first two areas. In the third area I mis judged a female zombie. She moved much quicker than I had thought. I made some serious football moves but she still got one of my flags. Dang it. And that was only a few minutes into the race.
As I ran I came up with a plan of attack for the next time. That was soon to be made unusable when I came around the corner to another section. This was not an open area but part of the trail. And it had like 3 times the concentration of zombies from before. If they all put their hands out they would and could touch. How the hell was I going to make it through? As I stood there more runners came up. When we had what I thought was enough I told everyone we had to run together. To overwhelmed them with numbers. They could not get all of us that way. It was crazy but that helped me get through. Not sure how many we lost on that attempt. Feeling good I kept going only to find another such area not too far up. I was like, "come on". I did not want to wait for everyone to gather up again so I just went for it. All about speed. Just barely made it.
So far in the race the zombies were holding their character. Lost of grunts and pointing fingers. One was trying to warn us about a big cactus. All he did was point as he grunted and then would say, "Ouch". He did that 2 or 3 times and we got the message. That was cool. Later on they started talking and ganging up on the fast runners. They would say get the guy in the blue and he would get swarmed. Not fair. I found them going more and more for the fast runners. As I came through they went after me. It took me some time running around in circles by the start of the zone to find an opening to get through. I thought to myself how I could avoid this in the future. I came up with a plan. To not come sprinting around the corner to a new zone. i walked in. And I was walking with my head down with a slight limp like I was tired. This one of the areas was very long. The zombies started to walk towards me. Right before they got to me I started to sprint. They yelled out to the other to get me. But by then I was half way through. See ya sucka.
There was a point in the run where the trail came to a "Y" intersection. I wondered which way I was supposed to run and what I was missing taking one path versus another. Not sure. But as I ran on I thought that they seemed to have pushed us this way. At the next "Y" I decided to go against the grain. But by doing this I had to go through a series of zombies. It was much easier and safer to go the other way. But I soon found out that this was a shorter path. But you had to earn it. I was happy to have learned that.
One of the interesting obstacles was looked like a maze. Zombies at the entrance and I zombies behind it. As well as I am sure there was going to be some inside. It took a bit of time to find a way in. It was pretty well guarded and I did not want to loose a flag. Found an opening and went for it. I was going to be cautious inside. I could hear lots of screaming behind me. a large group came in after me. The girls were just screaming. Their were three ways in and three ways out. The middle was just find your way through. I was telling the girls to be quiet since that would alert the end zombies which door to be at. All of a sudden the girls started to scream again. Their were zombies behind us. The passage were narrow. Body to body and I was leading. The girls would not shut up. My fears were realized right before we came out. A zombie was in front of me. I spun and bounced off the walls right past the zombie and everyone else got stuck between that one and the ones behind. See ya.
I had one gauntlet to go. The top of the hill. You could not see what was on top or how far you had to go. Blind set up. So with a few deep breathes I went for it. With every step up I could see more and more and it looked impossible. Running from side to side as I tried to shalom through all the mess of zombies on an up hill and then on a down hill. I blew by them all with a few narrow misses. All the way down to the finish. I had made it through with two flags. So awesome. So much fun.
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