By: Vinny Sottile
There is nothing better than a healthy dose of the undead to liven a person’s night. That is just what over 900 students encountered on March 13. This day marked the second Zombie Knights 5k run that took place at the center of the University of Central Florida Campus. The Campus Activity Board was responsible for putting it all together.
According to the CAB informational page on the run, “it happened again: A chemistry experiment gone wrong has resulted in the virus that is beginning the Zombie Apocalypse, and it is beginning at UCF.”
The registration for students was free, but only the most daring 900 some were subjected to the horrors of the Zombie Apocalypse this time around. The race began at the Teaching Academy on campus, and paralleled Gemini Blvd before twisting and turning, eventually making its way around the Student Union, and ending at Memory Mall.
“A friend told me about it [the event] and that it was fun, so I decided to run,” Julio Gomez, a senior criminal justice major said. “I like doing 5k’s so I thought it was a good idea.”
Each potential survivor is given a belt at registration with two flags attached to it by Velcro straps. These flags represent their lives. There is no time kept during this event, because the only goal is to cross the finish line with at least one of your lives intact, thus declaring you a survivor.
“Your peers, intuition and agility are all that can help you now,” the CAB page went on to say. “Make it to the safe zone with at least one flag intact and you have survived – if not, you’ll be missed.”
There were numerous obstacles that the runners had to cross in their race to survive, including tires that they had to run through boot camp style (although some of them decided to bypass them entirely), a maze that had zombies jumping out at every corner, and hay bales that the runners were supposed to jump over in order to escape the zombie infection.
“I’ve done the mud and obstacle runs before, but never a zombie run,” said Paula Rizo, a senior mechanical engineering major. “I just wanted to try something different.”
Besides the obstacles, there were the stars of the night, the zombies, whose task was simple. Grab the runner’s ‘lives’ at any cost. They were strategically placed throughout the running course, some in the middle of the sidewalk in groups, others hiding behind objects ready to ambush unsuspecting runners. However, the idea to volunteer as a zombie instead of a runner seemed to be universal.
“It’s more fun to chase people than to get chased,” said Christen Ram, a freshman zombie volunteer.
Her friend, Taylor Moore agreed.
“I can’t run, and also it sounded really cool.” Moore said.
Whatever their reasoning for being a part of the race, whether it be to chase hapless survivor hopefuls or to have a hope of surviving themselves, it seems that the people who participated in the zombie infested event were more than happy with its outcome.
“I’ve done worse I think, this one wasn’t too bad last year, I hope that it gets a little more intense,” said Gomez.
