Zombie Gerbil

by chaotic-color at deviant art

Sunday afternoon Dave noticed Mario (or was it Luigi?) one of Holden's two gerbils looked...unwell. Ever the optimist I thought maybe it was groggy because it had just woken up. Yeah, not so much. The next morning, I peeked in the cage and sure enough, the poor thing had shuffled loose the mortal coil. As if that was not disturbing enough on a Monday morning, it seemed to also be missing most of its face. I suspected maybe a wild mouse or maybe even our cat had gotten into the cage, but sadly, no. The bloody evidence was upon the the face and tiny paws of his companion. His all white, gerbil companion. Who looked himself, not all that well. Just picture that if you will.

So I have a Zombie Gerbil on my hands.

Which is good training I suppose for the Run for Your Life/Zombie/Obstacle Race 5K coming up in a few weeks. Several friends have been planning for this race since the spring. I really hope it meets their expectations. I've heard mixed reviews. It'll be fun from an Obstacle Race perspective I'm sure. I'm expecting it to be on par with the Warrior Dash in terms of difficulty.(ie: very do-able) But I think the talent of the Zombies in performance and make-up really depends upon location. What with Orlando's service/entertainment industry, I am hopeful the Zombies will put on a good show. My friends are making plans and strategies that I predict will all go out the window once we get out there. I'm planning on hanging back with all of them (none of them are runners) and helping some of them through the obstacles if needed. However, if the Zombies are really good and I get freaked out (which is entirely possible) it is every man for himself and I'm hoofing it. I wish I was kidding but I am such a kitty-cat when it comes to scary stuff. If this was held at night, there is no way I could/would do it. The only Zombie movies I can watch are ones like Zombieland and  Shaun of the Dead (one of my fave movies ever) because they are funny. And I still can only watch them in the middle of the day. 

And that exact expression of pants-pooping fear and glee and is exactly what you should expect to see on me at the race.

All that said, why not use my weenie-ness to fuel my runs? I just downloaded "Zombies, Run!" It's a running app that integrates with your music and puts you into a Zombie Apocalypse story. Supposedly it tells you when the Zombies are after you and then you sprint. A friend of mine who is notoriously thrifty shelled out the $8 for it, so it must be good. As soon as the weather, gets a bit cooler mid-day I'd like to do some more mid-day runs to supplement the evening Crossfit. I think Zombies should be fairly decent motivation.

**So this is a conversation that just happened:

Patron - Do you have 'The Day My Butt Went Psycho'?

Me - No, I'm sorry we don't. But I do have 'Zombie Butts from Uranus.'

I love my job.