On Saturday, after I ran Gaspee, I changed in a portapotty (gross) to meet up with my friend Stephanie from Unleashed. She was running the Zombie Charge OCR in North Stonington, CT. Unleashed was representing with a tent so I volunteered to help with some other ambassadors while Stephanie ran the race, so we carpooled.
We ended up leaving RI somewhere around 11:30 and got there close to 12:15 I think. It wasn’t a bad ride at all and not too far from the highway even though it was held on a farm. Stephanie’s heat was at 1:00 so we had plenty of time to grab our stuff and head to the tent before she had to run.
I didn’t run the race, so most of my observations will either be second-hand from people who ran it (some multiple times) or just stuff I saw around the grounds while manning the tent. Right from the start, they totally immerse you in the experience. We were the only ones coming in that late at the time, so as we drive in and pay and start to pull forward, we see a guy that was kind of shuffling along. We both commented that he looked like he should be one of the zombies and lo and behold, he was! All along the road leading up to the event were zombies. One dude held a gas nozzle in his hand and pretended to pump gas in our car, another one washed the windshield and the nurse…oh, the nurse! She was the scariest of all because she just STARED at you. Like, into your soul. She did nothing else – just came RIGHT up next to my passenger window and stared straight at me. I determined right then and there that I would not survive the zombie apocalypse!
A lot of people commented how much fun the race was, but those same people were also commenting how some of the zombies just wouldn’t give up on chasing them. From what I was told, they weren’t allowed to touch you at the obstacles, but any other time you were running you were fair game for them to grab your flags. I guess a few people had this issue with someone sprinting after them for a really long period of time, and one person even said that they, themselves, were grabbed. The “zombies” were only supposed to grab the flags, not you, so that was not cool. Around 12:30, some of the NE Spahtens and others performed a Thriller flash mob, complete with zombie Michael Jackson. It was pretty fun to watch!
The course itself got pretty positive reviews, even with those slight grievances. Pretty much everyone loved the soap slide at the end. Stephanie loved it so much, she even went back and did just the slide two more times when all the heats were done running at 2:30.
Working the tent went well. There was lots of people watching to do, and zombie watching of course. Some of them had REALLY good make-up, while others just looked like they dumped some fake blood over their heads. They may not have been volunteer zombies though. Some people just came dressed up like zombies themselves so it was hard to tell.
The beginning of each heat was pretty cool. They would set off a colored smoke bomb while releasing the zombies from their cage, playing My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark and then everyone would take off running while being chased right from the start.
One of our Unleashed Elite team members, Corrine, took first place female for the event which was awesome. There were also a lot of Spahten members representing and they set up a mini camp behind the Unleashed tent so I got to meet a few more of them in person, which was nice.
This was my favorite zombie. Her make-up and costume were outstanding!
We broke down the tent after we were sure people had stopped browsing around and most people were leaving. We got several people interested in coming by and it was fun chatting it up with them. I think we were on the road somewhere just before 3:30 and I got home with just enough time to change once more and head to a dance recital for the girls that Tara used to nanny for.
The clown had safety pins in his face!
This definitely sounds like an OCR I want to add to my list for next year!
Don't blink. Just run. 
Those zombie runs look so awesome – I love to see people get all dressed up! Their makeup is fantastic! I think it would kind of freak me out to be chased by them though. Since you mentioned you were in North Stonington, CT, I have to ask you if you’ve ever been to BF Clyde’s – best cider doughnuts ever!
No, I’ve never been there. I had my first ever cider doughnut in Vermont and it was amazing, though! I live probably 40 minutes from the CT border and we don’t really ever have a reason for going there other than for a race, or the aquarium in Mystic (where my best friends actually got married!).
Mystic is really beautiful, we took a trip up there a few years back and I’ve been there as a kid with my family. I live about four hours from Mystic and we’ve taken day trips up to BF Clyde’s just for their cider and doughnuts. I highly recommend it for a day trip or if you’re in the area but parking can be sort of a beast on the busy weekends. Too bad though, when we were there we had to skip the aquarium =(
Oh my that looks so very very awesome! What a neat experience and to see it from a Spectators point of view. I think “If” the Walking Dead Experience ever does come back this way, I’d definitely run it!
I’d totally do that, too. They scared me a lot and I don’t know how I’d fare having them chase me – I’d probably lose all my flags in 5 minutes. HAHA
That clown zombie is terrifying! And that nurse’s stare… oh geez!
Yeah, I didn’t like that clown very much!
What a crazy event, although I guess I’d run faster if a zombie was chasing me! 😀
Right?? That would definitely be good motivation.
Those zombie costumes are legit! I did a zombie run once and all of my guy friends dressed up as zombies. Well, they all ganged up on me and all of my flags were gone before the first mile was over! It was still a lot of fun!
Some of them were seriously awesome! That’s so funny they ganged up on you!
Hahaha, that’s awesome! I don’t really get all the zombie fanatics. They go so overboard. I’ve made a zombie movie and one PSA, but I just have fun with it. Looks like you had fun!
I’m a huge Walking Dead fan, but other than that I could take it or leave zombie movies. It was definitely a lot of fun to watch!
I would love to do a zombie run, but always end up paranoid, thinking “what if the real zompoc happens when I’m at a zombie run and I don’t know and then end up as zombie chow because I don’t think that the guy trying to eat my skull is a real zombie?” Yep, that’s what life is like in my brain.
OMG that’s amazing. And yeah…thanks for putting that thought in my head now! Geez!