Zombies, Run!

Let’s talk about the coolest running app ever invented.

Zombies, Run!!

I am going to do my best to describe how fun this app is. If you run (and even if you don’t), this is the app you need to buy. It’s $8 and worth every cent.

So last weekend, Kelsey and I laced up our shoes and headed for a dusk run. Perfect. We joked that if we ran in the woods, this app could actually be quite scary.

I placed my iPhone in my running armband and started out. There’s a story involved, though due to some wind issues and as I had the phone on speaker so Kelsey could hear, too, I might not have the first part of the story all correct. But it sounded like there was a crash of some sort…and you – or in this case, I – were in the crash but survived. And now I (and Kelsey) was the only survivor with (apparently) a headset connecting me to people who could see me on various cameras. They were going to lead me to the safe zone. But first…I had to outrun the zombies.

This app also has missions for you to accomplish. Granted, you basically have to do the missions, as they only involve running. Run to the hospital. Run get the first aid kit. Run, run, run, zombies are after you!!!

You became Runner 5…because the surviving humans use runners to get supplies. And you find out what happened to the previous Runner 5…

You can actually use your own songs with this app…if you know how to use your iPhone. I’m not an iPhone aficionado. I like my phone just fine, but I do wish my Android had worked better so I could have kept it. Therefore, I do not know how to do too much on my newer phone. I just learned last week how to take a screen shot. And I don’t know yet how to access my iTunes account on my phone. But when I do…oh, this app will change my running life.

At one point during our run, which was around the campus, some poor guy in a car pulled up next to us to ask directions. Unfortunately, it was this time when my contact starts yelling, “Run, run! The zombies are after you! The zombies are after you!” So I had a choice. Let the zombies catch me and eat my brains out or make this dude think I was crazy and run like zombies were after me.

I chose the latter.

The zombies did catch me – twice. The first time, I didn’t even realize it until I checked my stats near the end of the run. I still am not sure how or when that happened. The second time I was running as fast as I could to outrun them. Unfortunately, we had eaten dinner less than 30 minutes before the run, so running at full speed for about a minute quickly took its toll…and I decided the zombies could catch me and eat me.

So what happens if the zombies catch you? Really, not much. You lose some supplies and you hear some very scary zombie noises that get louder and louder. It definitely revs up your adrenaline. But, thankfully, you don’t die in the game. After all, if you got caught at the very beginning, what’s the point in running?

The part that I think gamers will like more than me (because I am not a gamer) is that after your run, you divide your spoils among the townsfolk. Who gets the first aid kit, the military or the hospital or the civilians? Who gets the food packs? The clothes? The technology? And depending on how well you make those choices depends on how many lives you save. Somehow my township went from 60 to 70 people after my first run. Guess the end of the world makes people want to have babies.

You can also do this app if you want to walk – just during the zombie attacks, I guess you need to walk faster. Your speed has to increase for about a minute. And I love the storyline so far and that more missions are being created.

This was my first phone app I’ve purchased, and it was a great decision. If you’re looking for a fun run app, I’d highly suggest this one…and maybe, just for kicks and giggles, you’ll go for a night run. Alone. ;)