So, I finally ran the Run For Your Lives 5K. It was ridiculous. Here is a chronicle of everything from dawn until dusk that day.
Lindsey and I stayed with our friends Rusty and Janelle about an hour from the race site. We agreed to head out the door and arrive a solid hour before our wave (Rusty ran with me). Sure enough, the GPS tells us we're only an hour away from the parking lot and it's just one hour before we run. Except, traffic is stopped on this two-lane road in the countryside. Apparently the zombies drew quite the crowd (~10,000!).
Traffic doesn't move after a few minutes, and I'm starting to get nervous. If I can't run during my wave, all my fundraising goes out the door and this is a wasted trip. Rusty proposes we run to the parking lot and grab the shuttle. Oh, a run BEFORE the run. Lovely. We get out and leave the car with the wives, and hustle off. I've got my hair and chops done up like Logan from X-Men, and every other car is shouting comments at me. A few people like our idea so much they run too.
We get to the shuttle and see a line of dozens of people. Some people have been there so long they've missed their waves. My heart sinks. I get in line while Rusty asks the staff what we're to do. There's only thirty minutes to our run start and there's NO WAY we're going to make it. The staff explains that parking is a nightmare and all the runners are late. They are now letting runners run any wave they can make it to. That makes me feel better.
But now my left knee is hurting (a combination of not stretching and something I did to it while running that last mile). Rusty tells me he'll stretch me out and fix it when we get to the race site. We wait at least a half hour and finally get on a bus. Somewhere on the two-mile drive to the race site the bus stops for 20 minutes. An ambulance flies past us on this one-lane farm road and I'm wondering just what sort of race this is!
We finally arrive, check in, attach our bibs and timing chips, and survey the competition. I think I can take a solid percent of these people in a race! Except my knee is killing me to the point that I'm already limping. Of all the pains I had during my training, my knees rarely if ever hurt at all, and never did they feel like this. Every step felt like a dagger jabbed into my knee.
While checking in my bag, I see a man out of breath, covered in water and mud. He just finished the race. I ask him how it is. He grins and says it's hard but fun. He advises me to stick with other runners to increase my chances of survival. Lone runners, he says, are the zombies' favorites.
We happen upon two people from Rusty's training unit in the Navy. They are waiting to run. With the advice in mind, I propose we all run the together. While waiting at the gate to be released for the next wave, Rusty works on my knee. It's super painful, but he assures me it'll help. The wives call Rusty and say they're in the area finally, and we hop out to see them. I limp over to Lindsey and beg her for the ibuprofen she had. But, the girls left it at the car, so my heart sinks again.
I kiss Lindsey for perhaps the last time and get back in line for the run.
And then it starts...
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