Zombie Evac Review: Bored of running intervals? Try the Apocalypse with a Zombie run…

I hate running. Largely because I’m terrible at it, which then has the knock on effect that I’m the one desperately woofing in huge lungfuls of air and if I’m lucky, hanging at the back of the group. And yes, I am glaring (a bit) at the bunch chatting about shopping or parking, or their friends who got royally drunk at the weekend while floating along as if they are being whisked away on a travellator.

Sometimes you really need to try something a little different to take your mind off things or just to shake up your speed. I’m firmly of the belief that even setting out for a run with a very different pace in mind can help, and running drills and intervals can make a real difference to what pace you will run in that big race you have coming up.

But if you really want to try something very different, I’d strongly recommend finding a Zombie run, especially at this time of year.

At the weekend I ran a ‘Zombie Evac‘ for the first time, at what is grandly titled ‘London West’ (and in reality was Henley), beside the river. I’ve done zombie runs (and here) before but this was my first from this organiser. It was small scale – around 80 runners for the 10k (two laps of the five k course), and I think about half that for the five k, and although race numbers were issued it wasn’t chip timed or anything like that. There was a large food and small coffee van and a reasonable number of portable loos.

The way the zombie run works is that each runner wears a belt with three ‘lives’ velcroed to the rear. The zombies try to grab the tags, and if the runner completes the course with a tag left, he’s a survivor, if he loses them all he becomes infected. As you can imagine, a number of strategic options do open up as you look at and evaluate the other potential food sources running with you.

An entertainingly in character briefing was delivered by the sergeant and finished with a number of choruses from the runners of ‘…or you’ll be shot on sight’ as he laid down the event rules and before we knew it we were off.

What starts off as a fairly straightforward gravel/trail run suddenly became more interesting as, passing a herd of cows, we ran into a green cloud spewing from a smoke cannister. As we turned the corner a makeshift structure gave the actors playing zombies cover while creating a natural restriction for us all to pass through. With a fairly big bunch as we were still early on in the run, most of the runners managed to make it through all lives intact.

There was quite a lot of screaming though.

This is where the training benefits come in – each time you are being chased by undead monsters, your heart rate then running pace spikes significantly (in that order, unusually) and twisting and turning to avoid losing a tag can really result in you pushing muscles in ways you might not usually do so. If you’re often a bit sloppy about stretching and warming up, now is not the day to skip your routine.

You can see in the picture below that my heart rate jumped by at least 20 bpm at each of the first three zombie attacks.

Without giving away any spoilers on where and when to expect attacks there were enough zombies to make the event a challenge and you had enough time to recover from the sprinting, even if any semblance of a running rhythm for me was shot to bits by either the zombies or the hilly terrain.

I soon found myself split between the larger groups, running with an American named Will. We could have slowed down and waited for a big group to catch us but found ourselves ploughing on regardless. At the third zombie station I discovered that Will, on escaping on the first lap had taunted some of the smaller child zombies and had made himself Zombie Enemy Number One. I’m still not sure if that worked for or against me, but he managed to make it through without losing his final tag – I found myself relentlessly pursued by a surprisingly fast and determined young zombie and eventually lost my second.

Entering the penultimate zone with a single tag left each we were faced with a narrow gap and a zombie in the middle. Without needing to discuss it we knew we had to split up; I raced right and Will sprinted left – I swore as the zombie swung towards me, snatching my final tag, then cracked up laughing as another zombie lurched from its really effective hiding place in the trees and snatched at Will.

Catching the larger group in front, and knowing I was already infected I raced into the lead and tried to draw as many of the zombies to me as possible to allow some of my fellow runners to finish as survivors. Pleasingly, the medals were military style dog tags with black ‘Survivor’ tags or green ‘Infected’ medals. I happily accepted my ‘Infected’ medal as these are usually cooler anyway.

The event itself was reasonably priced, considering it included a (small) medal and an finishers shirt (and Zombies). Parking was an additional fee and although that didn’t work for me this time turning up on my own I’d usually have a carful, so can’t complain about that.

If you fancy something different and a bit of a thrill find a zombie run near you. I can promise you, no one on this run was casually discussing shopping or parking, or friends getting drunk. And your typical park run doesn’t require quite so complicated tactical planning.