Ran For My Life
May. 5th, 2012 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo today was the Boston Run For Your Life, a 5K race/obstacle course filled with zombies. I've been training for this for a few months, and this morning I ran it.
Well, by "ran" I mean "slogged." And, for the record, I wound up zombie chow. But it was still pretty darn awesome.
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umbran and I went through as part of a team with two other friends, and that was definitely the wisest choice we made. Matching (incredibly loud) tie-died t-shirts made it easier to keep track of each other, and pack tactics were the only thing that let us survive as long as we did.
There was a lot less running than I had anticipated, mostly because the majority of the course was a heinous struggle through ankle-deep (or deeper), slimy, sucky mud. (By sucky, I mean suctiony. Not just lousy. Which it also was.) At one point I had to pause to help another runner who had gotten trapped when the mud sucked the sole off her sneaker. So, instead of jogging for half an hour, it was more slipping, sliding, and trudging for an hour, interspersed with brief but adrenaline-filled sprints as the zombies rolled, lurched, or ran at us.
Yep, ran. There were speedy zombies. Which is where pack tactics came in handy - as a team, we always had at least one person to peek ahead and call out when there were zombies around a corner or hiding in bushes, and another at the back to holler when what seemed like a slow lurcher decided to follow us at a dead run. More than once we thought we had made it past a pack, only to have someone shout, "RUNNERS! GO GO GO GO!"
There were fewer obstacles than I had anticipated, which was a bit of a letdown; that's a lot of what I love, and most of what they had were just mud and water challenges. That said, some of the obstacles they did have were pretty darn cool. The unlit house full of fog was creepy as hell, and the full-hill slip-and-slide into a chest-deep pond at the end was terrifying and awesome. At least, for me, with my simultaneous fear of drowning and love of adrenaline; I almost opted out of it and I'm incredibly glad I didn't. The electrified fence at the end? Not so awesome; I wound up knocked out for a second or two, and my legs didn't work for a few minutes after I got out. Not doing that again. Working with the other racers was a lot of fun, too - there was a sense of camaraderie that I didn't see in the Ruckus Race. (In particular, thanks go out to the nice lady who gave me a towel at the end, the man who apologized to me after slip-and-sliding into me in the pond and knocking me underwater, and everyone who pulled other runners out of the mud.)
We managed to actually turn it into a bit of a roleplaying game, too; I think at least one set of zombies actively decided not to chase us after, when we saw them approaching, I clung toumbran, kissed him thoroughly, and then pleaded with him to run and save himself, and another started to lurch for me, moaning and shouting, until I unleashed a full-on horror movie scream at him that left him a bit reeling and confused long enough for me to clamber up a ladder.
Alas, I was finally taken down in the last half-mile. By thenumbran was out of flags (runners are given 3 flags; when zombies take all of them you're infected - you can finish the race, but you're registered as dead at the end), and I was down to one. We made it for quite a ways by holding hands and keeping my remaining flag on the side next to him, so none of the zombies could reach it, until we hit a knee-deep pond filled with grabbers, where we had to separate; someone grabbed my last flag as I scrambled out before I could get the momentum to run again.
And then it was over and I was soaked to the bone, freezing, infected with zombie plague, and well and truly full of awesome stories. I don't know if I'll ever run again; the electric fence, the cold, and the mud-to-obstacle ratio were a bit less than ideal. I know I'm definitely going to work it as a zombie next year, though.
Now, though, I'm warming up, waiting for my turn at the shower, and contemplating nap versus Avengers. After that? Time to start practice walks for the 3 Day. No rest for the undead....
Well, by "ran" I mean "slogged." And, for the record, I wound up zombie chow. But it was still pretty darn awesome.
umbran and I went through as part of a team with two other friends, and that was definitely the wisest choice we made. Matching (incredibly loud) tie-died t-shirts made it easier to keep track of each other, and pack tactics were the only thing that let us survive as long as we did.There was a lot less running than I had anticipated, mostly because the majority of the course was a heinous struggle through ankle-deep (or deeper), slimy, sucky mud. (By sucky, I mean suctiony. Not just lousy. Which it also was.) At one point I had to pause to help another runner who had gotten trapped when the mud sucked the sole off her sneaker. So, instead of jogging for half an hour, it was more slipping, sliding, and trudging for an hour, interspersed with brief but adrenaline-filled sprints as the zombies rolled, lurched, or ran at us.
Yep, ran. There were speedy zombies. Which is where pack tactics came in handy - as a team, we always had at least one person to peek ahead and call out when there were zombies around a corner or hiding in bushes, and another at the back to holler when what seemed like a slow lurcher decided to follow us at a dead run. More than once we thought we had made it past a pack, only to have someone shout, "RUNNERS! GO GO GO GO!"
There were fewer obstacles than I had anticipated, which was a bit of a letdown; that's a lot of what I love, and most of what they had were just mud and water challenges. That said, some of the obstacles they did have were pretty darn cool. The unlit house full of fog was creepy as hell, and the full-hill slip-and-slide into a chest-deep pond at the end was terrifying and awesome. At least, for me, with my simultaneous fear of drowning and love of adrenaline; I almost opted out of it and I'm incredibly glad I didn't. The electrified fence at the end? Not so awesome; I wound up knocked out for a second or two, and my legs didn't work for a few minutes after I got out. Not doing that again. Working with the other racers was a lot of fun, too - there was a sense of camaraderie that I didn't see in the Ruckus Race. (In particular, thanks go out to the nice lady who gave me a towel at the end, the man who apologized to me after slip-and-sliding into me in the pond and knocking me underwater, and everyone who pulled other runners out of the mud.)
We managed to actually turn it into a bit of a roleplaying game, too; I think at least one set of zombies actively decided not to chase us after, when we saw them approaching, I clung to
umbran, kissed him thoroughly, and then pleaded with him to run and save himself, and another started to lurch for me, moaning and shouting, until I unleashed a full-on horror movie scream at him that left him a bit reeling and confused long enough for me to clamber up a ladder.Alas, I was finally taken down in the last half-mile. By then
umbran was out of flags (runners are given 3 flags; when zombies take all of them you're infected - you can finish the race, but you're registered as dead at the end), and I was down to one. We made it for quite a ways by holding hands and keeping my remaining flag on the side next to him, so none of the zombies could reach it, until we hit a knee-deep pond filled with grabbers, where we had to separate; someone grabbed my last flag as I scrambled out before I could get the momentum to run again.And then it was over and I was soaked to the bone, freezing, infected with zombie plague, and well and truly full of awesome stories. I don't know if I'll ever run again; the electric fence, the cold, and the mud-to-obstacle ratio were a bit less than ideal. I know I'm definitely going to work it as a zombie next year, though.
Now, though, I'm warming up, waiting for my turn at the shower, and contemplating nap versus Avengers. After that? Time to start practice walks for the 3 Day. No rest for the undead....
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 09:33 pm (UTC)PJW
no subject
Date: 2012-05-05 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 01:15 am (UTC)I especially like the screaming bit.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 06:31 pm (UTC)I did the same run, with a later start time than
It took me about an hour and a half to get from start to finish, and I think I was about average. (My husband, who runs considerably faster than I do, finished behind me.) Its more a survival-themed hike than a run.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 04:21 am (UTC)Well... you always were, really. But this is proof to those who didn't know you as well as I :-).
(But it's *still* a really cool icon. It would have to be, or it wouldn't even be worth bringing up in a comparison.)
no subject
Date: 2012-05-06 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-07 12:13 am (UTC)seen on Yahoo news
Date: 2012-05-07 08:57 pm (UTC)