Every October Jason and I mutate into carnivorous corpses for the Night of the Running Dead. It’s always a horribly tasty event but this year it was even more satiating because our friends West and Wendy shambled along with us. Fresh flesh is good.

The Night of the Running Dead is an apocalyptic-themed 5K race where participants can either run to stay alive as a human or run after fast food as a zombie. The humans, AKA refreshments, get a short head-start and then all undead breaks loose.

Jason and I are always dying to be gross so, once again, we festered ourselves fastidiously to fit in with the hordes of foul carcasses. (Warning: If you are the deadly departed, do not attempt to say that sentence five times fast or your tongue is likely to fall out.) Why would we want to be human when we can run humanly any day? Wendy and West also enthusiastically joined the ranks of the rank.

Although Jason and I biked Mill Creek Canyon just hours before this race, with those mouthwatering human-carrots dangling before us, we sprinted it as animatedly as the reanimated can. Jason loped in at 21:42 and I was done at 27:57. West, who was thrilled to be competing in his first race ever, finished about twenty seconds before me and Wendy pushed her nasty corpse over the line just a few minutes later. Nicely done dead people!

Night of the Running Dead might involve a bit more of a workout than the typical zombie welcomes but if you’re already undead then a little exercise can’t kill you. Right? I’d say that if you can do without a limb then you can certainly stand to lose a pound or two. I’m sure Jason and I will be chasing brains again next year. Perhaps you will find yourself of a mind to join us?