Run For Your Lives Zombie 5K 2013

Not sure if there is a forum going, but this event was cancelled without warning/​reason/​or advanced notice. The email they sent everyone indicated that you should ‘contact your bank for a refund’. They did not refund anyone’s money.
Here is the exact email:
RFYL Participants,
It is with great sadness that we are notifying you that the Run For Your Lives event you have purchased a ticket for has been cancelled. This was a tough decision and something we desperately tried to avoid. We understand the frustration this will cause you, as well as inconvenience. For that, we are deeply sorry.
At this point, all events are postponed indefinitely and you should contact your bank for a full refund.
Regretfully,
RFYL
ALL races were cancelled, around the country, their website
no longer works to look up locations, and their facebook page Run For Your Lives Zombie 5K got shut down when people were asking how to get their money back, what was going on, etc.
Should this event begin again, I will never support it. At the very least, all money that they took should have been refunded. It was their responsibility to refund, not the banks.

Signed up to be a Chaser Zombie and had SO MUCH FUN! The event was pretty well organized. The «Zombification Zone» was really cool. They had 4 stations, each station was a step closer to your zombification. You wear your own clothes that you want shredded, then there was 3 different station just for makeup! Then the last station, they splash you with blood. It was totally awesome. Bring the clothes you want shredded, don’t wear it. Unless you don’t mind stripping down and standing there in your undies while they are shredding your clothes. There is an area to check your bags in, you retrieve it at the end of your call time. You also get a beer ticket, t-​shirt, and a medal.
Once on the course, we were in first zone, right when the runners first begin. They come in hoards and about every 30min. I suppose if you’re in the later zones, the runners are all scattered by then so you’re constantly chasing/​stumbling. For us, we got breaks in between.
The only thing this event could have done better is have better instructions and signs on where to go. When we first arrived, we had no idea where we’re supposed to go and to which stations. Other than that, bring your camera and prepare to have lots of fun!

I was a zombie, and I had a blast!
I loved the idea of a Zombie Run. Unfortunately, zombie tickets were sold out by the time I heard about it last year.
This year, I got the tickets, I cam dressed in my Silent Hill nurse costume with bandaged face and all. They decked me out with makeup and blood. It was fun walking around LA after the run, without the bandages and costume, and watching civilians freak out at the blood.
The runners were into it. Some were scared. Some had a sense of humor. One young lady ran straight into my thumb, and took off half the nail, and sprained my thumb. Another gentleman almost knocked me over, and bruised my side. They say zombies are violent! Beware of the humans!
I loved how everyone wanted to take a photo of me, and how easy it was to scare the little kids. It felt good to watch the underdogs triumph at the end.
I can’t wait until next year, when the venue is closer to home in lovely Pasadena. Since most Run For Your Lives fans come from Los Angeles, it makes sense to hold it close to LA!

I participated on 9÷28÷13, this was my first time doing the Run For Your Lives event, and I have to say that this event was extremely unorganized. I was a Zombie while my friend and sister were runners, and we all did the very first night run they’ve ever offered. I’ll first start by saying every time I tried to contact the RFYL company, the response was not immediate and they usually did not answer my questions if I had any. There were no email updates until just about a week before the race. If you’re going to be in charge of a race in a remote location, you better be on your email answering game.
If it were not for the 3 mile line of cars of people LEAVING Glen Helen Raceway, I would not have found this event easily. Maybe consider putting 1 or 2 signs out posting where the event might be? Maybe? People had to pay $ 10/​car for parking while Zombies got free parking passes. Now I found this to be confusing because runners had to pay $ 85 (RIP OFF) to register, while zombies have to pay only $ 35. (Oh, and another complaint was my friend had originally signed up for the day run, and it cost him an extra $ 10 to switch to the night run. Why did RFYL have to tack on additional money?!)
When I got to the registration tents, I couldn’t find anyone to answer any of my questions. There were volunteers in shirts that read «Have a question? Ask me, I don’t bite» and NONE OF THEM COULD HELP ME! They just kept referring me to other people with the non-​helping shirts on. I eventually found a security guard who wasn’t even working for RFYL and he gave me more answers than anyone. Thanks nice security guy!
At this event, there was a lot more beer than food, which really made for rowdy zombies and testy runners. It looked as though there was a backdrop for «official photos for the race» kind of thing, but by the time I had arrived (which was 4 hours before my race) it appeared they had already gone home. I stood in a line for my make up to be done, and it wasn’t for very long, although I was 3^rd in line. They had a pretty good system of how to transform you in a zombie: 1) give your outfit to the guy who’ll shred it up, 2) if you’re a Chaser, you get a prosthetic wound next, 3) then they airbrush the highlights of a zombie, and 4) they add some blood and details.
The make up process was done like an assembly line, which made for fast make up, but my prosthetic piece started to come off early, well before the race even started. They were kind enough to let me have someone put it back on, making sure it would stick.
When you were done with make up, eventually there would be «the blood guy» who’d tire himself out by throwing handful scoops of «blood» on your front and back. I give this guy major props for doing what he did for however long he did it.
When they rounded all the bloodied zombies up, they led us to snacks and water, thankfully I decided to grab 2 bottles of water and I TOTALLY needed them on the track. They split us into our zone groups, I was zone 11 out of 12 zones. On the track, you could hear (from my point, you could kind of see it too) the stage and DJ getting the runners pumped for the race. Everyone during this run had to wear glowsticks (zombie are red, and the runners get other colors). The waves were supposed to be 7pm, 7:20pm, 7:40pm and 8pm. They all started late and this made for cold waiting weather.
The track had lots of loose gravel, and it was really dusty in the air. The type of slope they had myself and my zone 11 buddies on was pretty intense, and probably a good 10% grade of a slope. The loose dirt on the track made it VERY easy for slipping and falling, which is what I did quite often. Runners were pretty aggressive. I got punched in the chest by some guy who thought that would be funny, and shoulder checked by people I wasn’t even chasing.
Runners got pretty protective of their flags, and there were quite a few awkward moments. If you put your flag in front of your crotch, I will grab there. That’s your own fault if you your gems jangled around. I did notice it was a lot harder to grab flags that were behind the runner. A suggestion would be to have glowing flags for the night runs, it’s a lot easier to see, rather than squinting in the dark. OH YEAH, the track couldn’t have been lit any less. It was still really difficult to see, which brings excitement for a runner, and strain to a zombie. I tried my best to keep in character, and I found myself actually groaning when I was resting to catch my breath. Runners were especially protective of their purple flag, which adds another life to your run. «No, zombie! I paid $ 10 for this! You can’t take it!»
The make up was super difficult to get off, there weren’t any course officials out there, if you needed help, you were out of luck, and also I didn’t even get a tshirt or medal. I feel like I got beat up and I definitely won’t do this one again.

Another race, another night slathering myself in Barbasol getting the blood and alcohol-​based make-​up off my face, neck, and chest.
Yup, I was a zombie again this year.
And I proudly «killed» lots of people. So did Brandon D. and Lee A. We were in a later zone with a few dozen flags among us.
We got a night shift this year, putting us in the dark. While it made things creepier with no risk of sunburns this time, they had us wearing red glowing necklaces and bracelets and it was really difficult to see who still had flags.
I just want to re-​iterate from last year’s review that the zombies at these races are living, breathing people, just like the racers, and they paid good money to have their faces made up and have gallons of blood dumped on themselves, just to stumble about the course to steal your flags. It’s all part of the game. This was sometimes forgotten by racers who flat-​out punched or shoulder-​charged me even when I wasn’t coming after them. We’re not employees of the race, and we’re also not padded or protected. I know it’s easy to forget this when you have a horde of the undead coming after you and you get caught up in the moment, but just something to keep in mind (Not that I think anyone here got violent).
The ground was pretty unstable, dust got kicked up easily, and I ended up on the ground several times (only a couple times from people shoving). I just tried to remain in character and just crawl around and groan ’til the runners passed. At least this time, unlike last year, I didn’t leave with an ungodly amount of bruises or jammed fingers. Just very tired feet.
I again salute those runners who managed to out-​maneuver us without getting violent. Racers were much, much better this time around. THANK YOU!
Once again, we were in a zone without a race official monitoring the area (he left early last year, never encountered one at all this time ’round) to make sure people were following the rules, guide runners, or radio in when someone was injured, and once again we were grouped with zombies who didn’t understand that they were supposed to remain in character. These guys, without the glowing red necklaces or wristbands that signify that someone is an official zombie, just showed up and started crowding us, shouting at racers, propositioning them for high-​fives, and then just sitting down, declaring whenever racers came by, «I stopped giving a shit a long time ago!» Great attitude, gentlemen.
Still, we did have several zombies with us who were great team players and who stayed in character when runners came through, and being around these people kept it fun.
I’d like to thank the two make-​up artists who stuck it out to finish up the last straggling zombies, trying to make it to their shifts in time. We were a bit late due to traffic (and, as other reviewers have mentioned, this venue wasn’t exactly easy to find), and by the time we got through registration, most of the make-​up people were packing up. There were two ladies who hung around to bloody us up some and air brush in some contours. It was well appreciated.
And to speak of participants getting lost, I’m glad we kept our make-​up on instead of piling in for the removing resources they still had at the make-​up tent, because we were coming across folks who had tickets to run but didn’t get to because they couldn’t find the place and ended up missing their heat. Serious bummer for these people who paid $ 90 and didn’t get anything. Anyway, they wanted to take pictures with us and we were more than happy to oblige.
We were promised a free beer apiece from RFYL, but were never given tickets. Registration was packed up, the folks at the prize table didn’t have them, and so we were just out that. On our way to the car, though, one of the officials gave us a couple boxes of snacks since they were just going to get tossed anyway and not used for the next race, in Maryland.
Some of the pluses this year were that they implemented showers for washing off after (huge advantage compared to last year having only the muddy lake for cleaning), the parking was closer to the event, the apocalypse party lasted longer, spectators got free admission, camping was more accessible, and the shift was shorter. I’m also happy we got «INFECTED» medals this year and that the free T-​shirts were black. Glorious black!

3 ½ stars.
After watching and getting hooked on Walking Dead I had to sign up for this and invite my friends! This was my first run so glad it was only 5k. I’m usually scared of these kinda of things but since we ran during the day thought I’d be okay. It’s a bit far and when we got there parking was not set up to well. It said $ 20 for vip but they sold out. Funny thing we parked right next to the entrance so I don’t know what vip parking would have been.
They have different waves (times). Our wave was at 3:30 and it was pretty hot. The run is same concept of flag football. You have 3 flags around your waist and the zombies try to get all your flags. At the end if you have any flags left you «survived» the zombie apocalypse and if you have no flags well then your «infected». I was told you can also grab a flag «life* from the zombies.
There were a few obstacles but they were pretty easy. I won’t spoil it you will have to find out for yourself muhahaha. It was pretty dusty and dry so good thing there were huge amounts of water being sprayed on you and in the obstacles. There is also 2 or 3 water stops. So I hear the zombie don’t really chase you but that was BS! As soon as the race started I ran for my life! some of them take it to the next level a little too seriously. Which was fun but towards the end I had 2 that were being a little too aggressive.
Towards the end you get a medal of either being infected or survived and a free tshirt. You get a free beer and more if you’d like. And some food and live music. There’s also a public shower to rinse off. Make sure to bring extra clothes to change into. Overall it was a great and fun experience. I did not expect to sprint that much. I wish they had a bit more obstacles.

This was my first Run for your Lives and I had a blast. Some zombies would read you and tone down if you were having a hard time which made it fun for all ages. VERY DUSTY! I did not care for the venue. Dirt everywhere and blazing hot, and not much to do afterwards. I’ve heard that after the race in Temecula there were things to do, such as a corn field maze and a pumpkin patch.. Also there was NO MAZE or SLIDE in the course this time. Overall it was a blast and I want to be a Zombie next year! ALSO AT REGISTRATION, the different lines for your last name were un-​even. They need to balance that out, ie break up S-​U as there were waaaayy too many people with last names that start with those letters. Also food sucked this year. Mostly 7 – 11 food and beer. How about hiring a BBQ RIBS place. MEAAAT. It seems that it was a bit dis-organized…but I digress… IT WAS FUN AND AWESOME!!!

Need more drinking water stations!!! Like 5 more! Totally dusty so bring a mask. Train like a football player and watch your ankles. The ground is all crazy.

Lack of directions, signs or any staff to show the way. It’s very hard to find and I am still lost… lots of traffic, people making u turns, lots of lost ppl. Since they are disallowing is to use the entrance from the Glenn Helen parkway exit, you have to swing around the park to the 215.
Will update review once I find the place!

Awesomeness! My whole team survived but it didn’t come easy! We crawled, jumped, and maneuvered our way thru. This was my first obstacle course 5k and I’ll do it again. Getting there was a hassle, lots of cars, long time to get in. Registration was ok, they do it by last name and there were a lot of F’s! Bf had to pay $ 100 to run last min where our other friend didn’t! Grr. But overall a great time. Lots and lots of zombies. Be smart, go in a large group and stick with large groups of ppl esp towards the end. Lots of hills, some huge some not. I did eat it a few times. Obstacles were definitely challenging but not impossible. Be prepared to sprint!

Very hidden and almost no directions! Someone stood by the Glen Helen exit telling us to go around to the Palm exit… But no one was at the Palm exit telling us where to go! Cars were everywhere, circling back and forth trying to figure things out…
Hopefully it will be better next year! I would love to camp out. Looks fun!