The Dead Last 5K Run/Walk took place on Saturday, Oct. 8, as a charity event to benefit The Oasis Grayslake Youth Center.
Many zombies and runners attended. The way to become a zombie or a runner is to use the website to get to the sign-up page.
For Superintendent Dr. Catherine Finger, she chose zombies because they are popular with the students. Dr. Finger was influenced by the kids to go with zombies as the theme to fundraise for The Oasis.
“At first, I wasn’t a big zombie fan, but the kids love to read about shape shifters, vampires, and zombies. [They] also write about shape shifters, vampires, and zombies, and so the kids got me excited about it,” she said.
This year’s event wasn’t the first, however. This started last year, and from last year it has gained a lot of support.
“So, about four years ago, I made a notion for a zombie run. It took a while, however, to get a lot of people interested, but that’s how it all got started,” Finger said.
Because of the influence from the kids, Finger made the motion to start this zombie event. Of course, not everyone would be up to the idea of a bloody and disturbingly interesting fundraiser, but as the zombie fandom grew, the supporters grew as well.
At the start of the race, the runners would have flags that zombies would try to take, and if they did, that would mean a runner lost a life. If a runner finished the race with no flags, he or she came out dead, but if a runner made it out of the race with one or more flags, then he or she came out alive with the few other survivors.
During the fun run, young children, along with the people participating in the actual 5K run, have some time to walk the course and get a feel for the race without being worried about getting their flags taken. This was basically a kid’s version of the actual event. The fun run was a part of the real event, of course, but the zombies do not have to look dead. This is a practice portion of the race. It was both a practice for the runners and the zombies.
“There were a lot of little kids running through during the fun run, and the zombies looked a lot happier too,” said junior Angela Zmuda.
Jake Linck was the winner of the fun run, and his brother was in the top for the normal 5K run. He had positive things to say about his experience.
“This was my first time doing this, and I honestly had a great time,” said runner Jake Linck.
Lots of people left feedback on the page for the zombie run, and it was enough for it to continue another year.
“There were lots of great comments on Facebook, and the main page saying it was unique, fun, funny,” Finger said.