What is The Zombie Mud Run And Will You Survive it?

If you’ve ever “fantasied” about surviving in a post apocalyptic world or have always wondered how you’d do if the undead ran a muck, and you posses good sprinting skills, you may want to try out a zombie mud run.

What is it?

Well it’s basically a regular mud run (sometimes in a city environment), except, there’s zombies and a lot of them. This new take on the popular world of obstacle races makes it a lot of fun and something worth trying, but unlike the other types of races where you don’t have this twist on it, you need to be especially prepared if you’re going to survive these kinds of events.

There are many versions of this race:

There are about 5-10 different races like this all across the United States, that have different names such as the “Run of The Dead” but simulate the same challenges (not getting eaten and beating the obstacles) and all of them have you wearing flags that represent your life. If you lose all your flags, you technically lose the race.

Here is a page where you can see the different kinds and pick one out based on the nearest event near you. 

4 awesome things that make these events more fun than regular mud runs:

1) Obviously, the zombies! What could be more fun than actually getting chased by these things!?

2) You can actually sign up to be the one of the undead! If you enjoy Halloween, scaring people, and are good at catching them, you should really try to be on the other team! 

3) All of the courses are 5k long and for people who have done regular 5k’s events or even longer challenges, don’t let this distance fool you.

A shorter distance does not mean an easier race. In most other events, many people take breaks and walk on the course when they are tired or just sit and relax. On these ones however, you’ve always got to be ready for “something” to pop out or start chasing you! You really won’t get too many chances to rest!

4) It already mixes in many cool challenges along the course. If you’ve done mud runs before, you’ll encounter many familiar obstacles. Many of them are new too, including one where you basically walk through a short maze with little rooms inside it, but as you try to make your way through it, you will always wonder if opening the next door will have an unwelcome friend scaring you.

Other challenges are built around the idea that you’re trying to dodge the monsters as you try to complete the course, but I have never seen a single site with this event actually list them! 

5 tips to improve your survival odds!  

1) If you love football, you should practice it a lot before this race. Many exercises you do in football mimic the kind of activity you’ll do in a zombie run. Being able to dodge tacklers, being able to be loose and agile on your feet are key to finishing this race and not having your flags taken away! 

2) Love tag? Practice that too. Tag is also a lot like football and also very much like this race is going to be. Have one person act as the zombie and you or however many people there are avoid them in an open field or in a backyard if there’s enough space and see how you do. 

3) Tire hops or other tire drills are also a great exercise to get ready for this! They are going to help improve your agility and strengthen your legs to be much faster when you start using it to get away from the enemy. 

Since most of this race involves dodging, you need to work on stamina, cardio and agility.

4) The decoy strategy! Many may consider this a mean strategy, but if you don’t want to get your flags stolen, this will work. In these races, especially in the beginning and many difficult obstacle areas, people tend to huddle together often as they go through the courses.

When the zombies start coming at you and in large numbers, most people might freak out and break from that huddle, some will get chased, some people will turn and go in a completely different direction and it’ll get crazy, but if you want to decrease your chances of being spotted by the enemy, stay in the middle of the huddle so when they come, they’ll come to the people who are closer to the outside of that huddle and if that huddle breaks, let people in front of you get the attention of the enemy while you maneuver and escape through the craziness! If you want to have a perfect finish, with all your flags intact, this will definitely help!

You are not, by the way allowed to hurt (push, tackle, punch or fight) other competitors or the zombies. 

5) Know which race you’re running and wear the appropriate footwear. These kinds of races can either be in nature or in/around stadiums. Both represent a common survival environment but you need to know where the race you’re running is going to be held at.

If it’s in the city, near a stadium, you’re going to be jogging through flat floors, concrete and other man made surfaces. For those, you will be fine with regular sneakers. 

If you’re doing this in the woods, wear something like this. There’s less chances you’re slip on things like wet grass! 

Also, try not to wear dresses or anything that has a “cape”. Those things make it easier for the zombies to grab onto you and though they won’t pull so hard that you’ll fall, it can slow you down enough so they can catch you. Try to wear tight clothing like this

While some people enjoy doing the very difficult mud runs to challenge themselves physically, these ones are are more on the medium of difficulty, but they are A LOT more fun than any of the other truly tough challenges there are like the Spartan Race.

If you’re not a super athlete, enjoy a nice twist on the concept of tag, like outdoor jogging, then you’re going to have a ton of fun doing a zombie mud run! 

6 thoughts on “What is The Zombie Mud Run And Will You Survive it?”

  1. Is it easier to get injured in a mud run? The rule that you cannot deliberately injure anyone makes good sense. But with everyone running around to chase or escape, I imagine it will be quite a mess to get out of.

    Which is the biggest mud run in the U.S.? I’m guessing the more competitors, the merrier?

    Reply
    • Yeah injuries like these are definitely likely to happen if a person isn’t flexible or at least at some decent physical level Regina. But it is also true that there’s more chances in a zombie run that with so many people getting chased and chasing others, it can increase the odds someone can bump or crash into someone else.

      There are 2 popular runs in the U.S. which get the most attention: Tough Mudder and the Spartan Race.

      Reply
  2. So there isn’t a muddy course at every zombie mud run…or the ones without mud are just called zombie runs right. This is the first I’ve heard of this and am wondering that it must be a tough race to finish as compared to a 5k jog. Definitely sounds like fun for a younger crowd. I’ll send this to my son, I’m sure he’ll love zombie mud runs. Thanks.

    Reply
    • If it’s anywhere where there’s a lot of nature, it’s going to get muddy Pete and if it’s in a local city, then odds are it won’t be as much, but there’s always going to be some sort of obstacles on ALL zombie runs that are going to get you dirty.

      It’s definitely tougher than a regular 5k jog because you’re doing more than just keeping at one pace, you’re constantly changing your speed because of all the chasing going on.

      Reply
  3. Hey there, the zombie run sounds like a great one to do. I have done a couple of “mud” runs in the UK and they were very challenging. They were 10K with army obstacles and lots of steep hills that required a decent level of fitness to complete them. I agree walking is not really a good option on mud runs as the terrain makes it very difficult to maintain your grip and walking increases the effort. Depending on the muddiness it may be a good idea to wear football boots to give you some extra grip.

    Reply
    • Actually what I meant when I talked about the walking was that it wasn’t good for this particular run Manny, with the others, you will have to stop to rest sometimes and do some challenges such as carrying weights and it won’t be possible or safe to do unless you walk.

      Reply

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