Zombies! Run for your Life!

My 14 year old and I trained all summer to participate in the Run For Your Lives "zombie run" earlier this month and it was a blast!  Imagine an obstacle course with zombies out to "kill" you throughout and you get the idea.

We spent the week before the race making our team shirts using ordinary printer paper.  We printed out some phrases from the movie Zombieland and cut out the letters using an x acto knife then applied Aleene's Tacky Spray to the back of the paper.

 

 We let the spray dry for a few minutes first then pressed it on the shirts and applied acrylic paint using a sponge brush in a tapping motion: 

(I've washed our t-shirts multiple times and the graphic is staying on, so acrylic paint that we "set" by putting in a hot dryer is a good thing!)

We created a layered design with  a "heart beat" graphic by letting the red paint dry, then applied the second layer over top to paint in a contrasting color.

(I guess this "duck face" is supposed to look bad ass...not so much.)

"Double Tap" on the back and a bloody hand print on the front were the finishing touches.

Here we are nice and clean with some other competitors before the race:

I converted my t-shirt to a tank using my T-shirt to Tank Tutorial

It was all fun and games until they counted us down to start...

We ran and climbed and mucked through the mud...then we saw this:

And we ran past this:

And we came around the corner and saw this:

Then crawled under this:

Then we got hosed off and looked like this:

 And this:

(I had a whole plan about wearing red shorts so that my "flags" blended in and could only find boy's shorts in that color.  My theory didn't work, AND I looked like a boy.  Lose. Lose.)

We were "infected" and exhausted!

Already looking forward to next year!  In the meantime, I'll be running in the Gladiator Rock 'n Run on Sunday, Sept. 8th.  Are you in the Pittsburgh area?  Let's meet up there and get muddy!