This weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day by attending the Zombie Race in Riverhead, NY.  Yes Zombies chasing Humans in a race to the finish line.  The race took place over 5 miles of rough terrain, steep inclines, obstacles, and even a slide into a pool full of zombies waiting for lunch.

The race ran in waves of up to 15 runners, each holding 2 life flags attached to belts. The idea of the game was to make it through the entire race with at least one flag.

Runner and Zombies alike ranged in age from kids to adults and everyone seemed to be having a blast.  Throughout the 5 miles there were stations set up with water and staff members to help.  The trail clearly marked was difficult to say the least although we didn’t run it, we did walk most of the trail and the inclines and steep muddy pools were insane. But that didn’t stop anyone from going on even after losing flags runners continued to course.

Walking through the woods took us into the adventurous world of zombies and we even began to keep and eye out for them ourselves.

Aside from all the fun and excitement there was a true purpose for the race and that was to raise money for various charities.  The last leg of the race runners climbed a wall, jumped over mud puddles, and crawled through a mud pit.

As they exited the race they were asked not to thrash their muddy sneakers but to put them into a pile  The sneakers where being collected, cleaned, and donated to a pediatric cancer organization. In the end it was a great charity event and there is still time to participate in a future run.

There are three more races coming up:

• 7/26/15-New York/New Jersey
• 8/30/15-Long Island II
• 10/11/15-Massachusetts

To get more information and register for an upcoming event visit www.zombierace.co

To see more photos visit Robert Velasco Photography

~Cecilia Carde – Assistant Editor/Staff Contributor