Group shot of zombies and humans.
Last Sunday, Centennial Park in Clarksville, MD came under attack.
I started thinking about what to do for Greg’s birthday a while back. I knew he was training for a race. I thought about what had been on his mind a lot this past year (Zombies and surviving apocalypse). And I wanted to bring all of Greg’s friends together.
Thus the hairbrained scheme of a race involving runners getting attacked by zombies, and a point-based system which gave both sides the opportunity of ultimately winning the race.
I wish I could have seen what was happening on the trail. All I know is that once I set the runners loose it took about 23 minutes total before the first runner came back around, with the rest of the pack not that far behind. I had just finished moving the finish line over! Apparently, races are run much faster when you are actually being chased, not when you just think you are.
The highlights that I heard about secondhand:
• Ambush at the boathouse, when the zombies mercilessly took down almost all of the 10.5 runners who had to run down a bottleneck in the trail. Greg said that my brother Dean was well ahead of the pack, but he caught up with him at the boathouse, where Dean was staring down Zombie Duke, who said, “I’m not here for you, dude.” My brother’s reply, “how can I trust you.” Oh, the drama! I also heard about multiple accounts of people jumping down some sort of ledge to avoid the bloodshed, unsuccessfully.
• “Shortcut through the woods” where two runners tried to cut across the woods, only to realize they were running through a thorn patch. Lots of blood, and not fake.
• Zombies being slightly more merciful to the runner with the baby.
• Course manager Stef being asked if we were doing this for a church group.
• Zombie Jesus, “the Original Zombie.”
I think all in all, Greg (Emperor Lo) had a great birthday. Thanks to all that helped make the race possible and braving the super cold weather. Hopefully those who were there can post highlights that I missed in the comments section!
The runners take off!
Zombie Jesus shares a foot.
Sookie's survival plan is the hide in a box and hopefully get the panda to protect her.
It was so much fun! You guys reign as the most creative couple I know, this was such a great idea and very well executed! But, I have to say, I was amazed at how warm and comfy it was getting into my car at the end of the day.
Feel like sharing the recipe for the Milky Way cake?
I can’t take credit for the cake, as it is Greg’s stepmom’s recipe, and Greg’s favorite cake. She says it’s an “old Southern recipe” also listed under Better than Sex if you do a search in All Recipes.
But it’s basically this: Prepare a box of Devil’s Food cake according to box directions. Once cooled, poke holes all over it. (She uses one of the beaters on an electric mixer, I used a chopstick.) Spread one can of sweetened condensed milk all over it. Spread one can of caramel ice cream topping all over it. Spread a layer of crushed heath bars over that. Frost with Cool Whip topping. Drizzle crushed heath bar over that for decoration. Decadent!