That Time I... Survived a Zombie Apocalypse

You may remember a weekend recap I did a few weeks ago where I said I successfully completed a 5K Zombie Run. I promised to do an in-depth post of that run - now I'm keeping that promise!

Part of our team - with our friend Anjru, the photographer

To give you a bit of insight, the Toronto Zombie Run was held on October 27, 2013, with partial proceeds of the run supporting the Heart and Stroke foundation. The experience was one of a kind!

Fortunately for us, we had our friend, Anjru, on the sideline taking pictures!

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

Our goal of the run was to survive. We were given three "lives" (as indicated by the red ribbons) and had to protect them through each obstacle we encountered.

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

Our first challenge required us to weave through a field of zombies. Honestly, this was a little poorly set-up. When we made it out of the obstacle, we stood behind the line of caution tape, confused with what to do next. The "zombies" shouted at us to go back through it again, which seemed kind of pointless. We did though and I made it out successfully.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the next obstacle, which had us making our way under and over wires that were being guarded by zombies. This is where I lost one of my lives.

Photo cred: Anjru Williams
We are completely unaware of the zombie behind us

The following obstacle had our group link together with hula hoops. We were given two rules: don't let the chain of hula hoops break and protect our lives.

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

Sure, we may look happy. But let me assure you that this was a lot harder than it looks!

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

After a good few minutes of trying to protect ourselves from the zombies, and stay together at a neutral pace, some of us (including myself) were pretty tired so we walked slowly to our next obstacle.

This is where it becomes a bit of a blur. The obstacles became more challenging, possibly due to poor teamwork, poor organization or fatigue. It was in the next obstacle that I lost all my lives and calmly walked through the following challenges.

When we made it to the half-way point, we were exhausted, dehydrated and excited for water.

That's when we ran into an issue.

The organizers ran out of water!

We waited a good ten minutes for organizers to arrive with supplies (aka. water) to no avail. Realising that waiting any longer would be pointless, we carried on, disappointed.

More challenges followed as well as opportunities to get lives back (which we all did!).

Photo credit: Anrju Williams
The look of determination is in my eyes

By the end of the race, I was determined. I managed to earn two lives back. I was going to protect to them as if my life depended on it (weird, right?).

Photo credit: Anjru Williams
What's so funny Andrew? There's zombies around you. Run!

I ran to the bottom of a giant hill, passing hoards of zombies on my way down. One locks eyes with me. This zombie can run! And he does. He runs after me. I run faster. I keep running. I've passed a baseball diamond and I'm clearly out of bounds. I'm safe now, aren't I? I'm not. He's still behind me. He catches me in a moment of weakness and takes one of my lives.

"Dude," I say, while trying to catch my breath. "That's not fair."

He shrugs.

"Seriously. I ran to an area we're not even supposed to be in."

He starts to hand me my red ribbon. I'm weary though. I still have one more life. What if he tries to take it? I tentatively reach for the ribbon. I grab it quickly and back up.

"Good job," he says and moves on.

Awesome.

Now, I just need to get up the hill. Then I'm home free.

I plan my route and start making my way up.

Goddamn. Another zombie locks eyes with me and clearly wants the deliciousness that is my red ribbon. I'm too far for him to reach me though.

He looks up the hill.

More zombies.

He looks at me. Then back at them.

"Get her!" he yells.

Shit, they're all running towards me. I'm pounding on the grass and running furiously up the hill. What about my boyfriend? My friends? Ah, it's too late for them now anyway. Fend for yourself!

Then it happens.

I make it! I make it up the hill with one life left!

I survived!

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

Our team meets at the top of the hill as we quickly check to see who "survived."

Photo credit: Anjru Williams

We celebrate our successes and go down our last obstacle: the bouncy slide.

Our team - partly not ready for the photo

We reign victorious and proudly display our I Swear I Did Not Get Bitten t-shirts!

Despite moments of poor organization, this run was fantastic. I would absolutely do it again! Oh, and click here to see a hilarious photo of Andrew and I, taken by photographer Gregory Holmgren, going down the bouncy slide (I would have included it in the post but I don't have the rights to save the photo). You can check out more of his photos from the run here.

Would you do a zombie run?