For many people, being chased by zombies represents the essence of fear, their worst nightmare of the undead coming for their living flesh. For others, though, it epitomizes the ultimate adventure, a surreal escape from the mundane rigors of life; it’s the reason why zombie movies and TV shows remain popular after so many years.
The latter group are the folks who dress as zombies for Halloween, clamor to be extras on “The Walking Dead,” and have made events like Zombie Run a huge success.
For the past four years, Zombie Run has provided participants with a chance to live this real-life nightmare scenario. Participating runners are given the chance to run through a frightening 5K course as zombies do everything in their power to keep them from reaching the finish line unscathed. The zombies themselves are portrayed by other participants, adorned with realistic make-up, splattered blood, and torn clothing.
The distinctiveness of the event is one of the reasons that Zombie Run continues to grow.
Origins and Expansion
The first Zombie Run took place in 2012, a hurriedly thrown-together event that took six weeks from conception to execution, said Christina Morrow, Director of All Things Dead at Zombie Run. The original Vermont run was well-received, so an effort was made to expand the event – a handful of runs were hosted in 2013, and about a half-dozen in 2014.
The most popular of those was hosted at the Guardian Centers in Perry, Georgia, just this past year. The reason why it was so popular? Come on, look at the place.
It’s been called “doomsday Disneyland” and the former Cold War missile plant has been transformed into a disaster response training facility. The 830-acre installation features a mock subway station, a highway with overturned cars, abandoned and collapsed buildings, among other lifelike facilities to allow responders to interact in a variety of drills, all in one location.
It also looks like a scene from a horror movie, and the perfect place to stage a Zombie Run.
Morrow said Zombie Run has been predominantly focused on events in the Southeast, because that’s where they’ve seen the most success.
“We’re always working on a constant search for venues,” she said. “We’re always out there, sleuthing around, looking for these opportunities. It’s crazy what we’re trying to do, looking at prisons that are no longer open, mental hospitals that are no longer open, reported haunted houses or mansions.”
And that’s how they stumbled upon Guardian Centers last year.
“Guardian Centers is first and foremost a training center for disaster and emergency relief, but they loved the concept of doing something in their off time, and it gives them a new business opportunity that isn’t in conflict with their core business,” Morrow said.”
The inaugural run at Guardian Centers took place in October of last year, and represented the largest Zombie Run yet – there were more than 4,000 participants and more than 6,000 attended the event.
So, there really was no question about hosting another event at Guardian Centers this year, and Morrow said they’re expecting a possible 10,000 participants at this year’s incarnation.
A Challenge for Everyone
One of the reasons why the 5K event has proven to be so popular, Morrow said, is because it invites people from all walks of life, not just hardcore runners and athletes.
“We try to stress that this is a safe event and provide the opportunity for you, but it’s your job to have fun,” she said. “We want this to be a stress-free experience for you…unless you’re running from zombies. Because of that, it’s not timed. There’s a lot of gameplay to Zombie Run which opens it up to people of all varying walks of life, body type, and fitness-level. Sometimes you’ll find that your guy who walks the course is your most valuable team player, and your sprinter gets killed immediately.”
Those who participated in last year’s event will find the course noticeably different this time around.
“We’re actually working on the course this week,” Morrow said. “There will be some slight alterations from 2014. While we will be utilizing many of the same areas, we’ll be approaching different parts of the site and coming in different ways. Whenever we’ve returned to venues in the past, we’ve never repeated the same course. We want participants to have a different experience every time.”
Because of this focus on the experience, participants have given high marks to past Zombie Run races, something that officials take seriously when planning future events or repeat venues.
“We’re very fortunate that the zombie theme has stood the test of time,” Morrow said. “A lot of themed runs come and go, but Zombie Run has been going for a while, even as we’ve seen a lot of our competitors disappear. We’re very careful about where we go, how many we do a year, not growing beyond our ability to manage it; all of those things come into play. It has led to a high satisfaction rate; we do a survey after every event, look at the feedback, and filter through all of that looking for trends, finding where people were satisfied and where they weren’t. We want to make sure that any issues are addressed.”
This includes maintaining the proper ratio of zombies to runners and ensuring that the correct numbers of zombies are on the course at one time to increase the difficulty for runners. Zombies typically run in two to three hour shifts, which includes arrival time, makeup, and training.
Zombie slots are expected to sell out, though Morrow said they’ll keep a close eye on numbers and, if the number of runners continues to increase, additional zombie slots could open up to keep the desired runner-to-zombie ratio intact.
And that’s possible – both runner and zombie numbers are ahead of where they were at this time last year.
Not All Zombies Are Created Equally
Just because you’ve encountered one zombie doesn’t mean the next one you’ll run into will act the same way. In fact, it’s likely just the opposite.
“There are different types of zombies,” Morrow said, “and we want them to have as much fun as the runners. They come dressed, we provide the makeup service, and when we put them out on the course, we get a feel for how active they are. Are you an aggressive zombie? More laid back? We want runners to
constantly be on their toes as they’re playing this.
“Why do people love this? Who doesn’t like to be scared in some way or another? This is why we ride roller coasters – it’s kind of a controlled fear,” she said.
Registration is still available for the October 24 event in Perry and you can register by visiting https://zombierun.webconnex.com/register. The price will increase as the event draws near, so those who register now will pay less than those who register the week of the event.
Additionally, for those who aren’t participating, there are assorted food and drink vendors, live music, and memorabilia dealers on site to visit with. Like last year, participants can pay to take helicopter rides over the course, and this will be available throughout the day.
If that’s not enough, a portion of the proceeds go toward a good cause. Smile Train, an organization that works with cleft-pallet and lip repairs in children, has been with Zombie Run since that initial Vermont run. Depending on the size of the run, donations from the event can result in up to a dozen surgeries per event.
“You don’t need to be an athlete,” Morrow said of Zombie Run. “You don’t even need to be a Couch-to-5Ker, because there are various roles you can play. It’s great for friends and family to just kick back and watch the game go on. It’s also a really unique opportunity to be able (see the Guardian Centers). It’s normally under high security, and this is one of the few occasions for the public to come in here and see what’s going on. You’re able to get a sense of the scale of the training that goes on there, and it’s impressive.”
For more information on the Zombie Run, please visit www.zombierun.com.
