A review of Run For Your Lives' first Zombie race in Darlington, MD. Reposted from October 26, 2011:
But not even hours of traffic, miles of mud and sluggish shuttle buses could stop the 10,000 plus runners and Horror genre enthusiasts from attending the Woodstock-like event, putting on their fastest sneakers and running for their lives from a slew of aggressive Zombies.
Parking Woes
It was like the opening scene of a horror movie come to life as I rode the school bus turned parking shuttle from the "carpocalypse" farm alongside a myriad of hopeful runners and creepy looking costumed characters. After having waited in line for almost 45 minutes, it was nice to get in a little rest as the shuttle meandered almost two miles down a two-lane residential street, passing through scenic views of woodsy areas, sun soaked farmland and even a cemetery.
Exclusive Run For Your Lives photos, video clips and more, after the jump:
Once at the race site, I found it difficult to remember there was even a race happening there was so much to do and see. In addition to drinks, food and various Zombie related vendors to visit, I was overwhelmed with the urge to stand still, hang my jaw low, and people watch. A bizarre mix of runners, adventure racers and Zombie fans filled the open field of the "commons" as they stretched and hydrated before their scheduled wave.
Many sported fancy running garb while most opted to adopt the spirit of the event and dressed in Zombie and Survivor related costumes. However, despite how they were dressed when they started the race, almost all looked the same as they crossed the "Safe Zone" fence at the finish line...muddy.
Fierce Zombies
The logistics of the race were quite simple. Every runner was given a plastic belt with three red ribbons attached to it, similar to the original concept of flag football. Each of the red ribbons represents the runner's "health," if all flags are gone by the time the participant crosses the finish line then they are considered to not have survived the apocalypse and is therefore now a newly minted Zombie.
Going into this particular experience, I think most participants thought that the hardest part of the race would be the 5K itself or perhaps prepared themselves to encounter some challenging obstacles...but no one could have predicted the ferocity of the Zombies and their determination to snatch those pesky little "health" flags from scrambling runners.
Note: It was rumored that Health Packs were to be hidden along the course for observent runners to try and earn a second chance at survival. To my knowledge, the advertised Health Packs were never found and/or did not actually exist.
Gleeful Survivors
Towards the end of the day, most participants had raced and the field was slowly filling with beer guzzling, hungry survivors and zombies alike.
Despite the drop in temperature as the sun waned, combined with wet clothing from the hoses in the "decontamination area," racers were smiling, shivering and gleefully recounting their strategic methods of survival used earlier in the day while dodging Zombies and running for their lives.
After Party
Sunset came early, as it tends to do in the shorter days of Fall, and the last waves of the day were cancelled due to safety concerns. However, disappointed racers were reassured that they would be reimbursed and with the darkening of the sky, the Run For Your Lives Staff quickly ushered in special celebrity guests Richard Christy and Sal Governale of The Howard Stern Show to announce the winners and kick off the Apocalypse Party.
Afterthoughts
I would say at the end of the day, Run For Your Lives was an overwhelming success.
Once a small idea, now the Horror Cinderella story of the year, Run For Your Lives came to fruition at the right place and at a perfect time when Zombie mania was at the very height of popularity. In fact, so popular was the concept of this race, thousands were willing to travel hundreds of miles from across the country to experience what it would be like to live through a true Zombie Apocalypse while testing the merit of their own survival capabilities.
Unfortunately, it was the incredible popularity of Run For Your Lives that was also the primary contributing factor to the race's ultimate downfall. The narrow, tree lined roads of a small town like Darlington were not designed to handle the volume of traffic that such a large event generates. The farm that held hundreds of racer's vehicles will probably never grow grass again, not to mention the aftermath of the foot traffic on the actual course itself. The shuttles were slow and so infrequent, they failed to properly transport racers in a timely manner and caused an almost hour delay in many racer's start times (it took me almost an hour and a half from the time I parked to reach the race site).
That said, once at the race, I had a wonderful time. It was a beautiful Fall day to be outside in the elements, even if you were running from a thrashing Zombie. The obstacle course was intricate and the Zombies were so intensely dedicated it added credibility to the difficulty of surviving the run with all "health" flags in tact.
Special guests, Richard Christy and Sal Governale were charming and spent a good amount of their night interacting with fans. Richard even went so far as to act as a photographer for racers who wanted their picture taken and later went on to record a lengthy voicemail message for an adoring fan.
Having observed racers and gathered intimate knowledge of the race and its obstacles, I hope to run the race competitively at some point and test my own survival skills at a future Run For Your Lives event sometime down the road in their cross country tour.
Maybe by that time, I'll have my racing shoes, Run For Your Lives will have a few more parking shuttles and we'll both be a little more prepared.
For additional material please visit Nerdsburgh's photostream on Flickr and check out our new channel on YouTube. Exclusive interviews with SURVIVORS and complete RACE FOOTAGE coming all this week!
Special thanks to Kerry O'Neill, Brian Schultz, Geri Magee and especially Mr. Josh Wolf.
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