Just as the sun started to set on Friday, casting long shadows in the woods around the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds – about 50 people gathered by a side stage.
Many of the adults climbed into costumes, smeared fake blood on their faces or pulled distorted masks on before heading into the woods for the “zombie zone.”
The kids strapped flag-football-style belts around their waists and considered how best to protect their flags while running two loops through and around the fairgrounds for the last middle school cross country run of the season.
Before long, the kids were off, giggling and sprinting around the often slow-moving zombies who gave chase and snatched flags from their belts.
“I wanted to do an end of season run,” said coach Alissa Henry who organized the chaos. “We went to an away meet in Juneau but couldn’t get any other teams here for meets. I wanted something the parents could all come to.”
She also wanted to do something fun, so she decided on zombies. Kids and adults alike seemed to love it. On their first run through the zombie zone, parents yelled “here they come,” as others crouched in the woods – laughing as children screamed and put on bursts of speed to get away from them.
Parents particularly seemed to enjoy teasing their own children.
“You can’t make a zombie laugh, that’s cheating!” shouted Luke Marquardt at his daughter as she laughed and ran away.
“We have a daughter running it and figured what better to do on a Friday night?” said Brian Elliott. “We’ve got to make it fun for the kids, you know?
Cross country season doesn’t have a ton of different courses to run in middle school.”
By the end of the race, many of the adults had handfuls of flags from the children. They laughed with each other as they tallied who still had them and which kids had gamed the system but tucking flags away in hard-to-reach places.
Elliott wore a mask of Game of Thrones’ Night King as he stood in the woods near a speaker blaring Halloween music, spooky laughter and, occasionally, what sounded like a large beast snoring.
He said he’s got a full Night King costume but probably will not wear that for Halloween this year. The race kicked off a month of spooky season holiday activities and Elliott is already thinking about what he’ll wear trick-or-treating.
“I’m feeling Star-Lord,” he said, referring to the Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy universe. “I’ll have a soundtrack [and] have a speaker on my back,” he said.
His daughter, Ivy Elliott, who ran in the zombie race, has a closer-to-home costume in mind this year.
“Ivy and her friend Violet are going to be their dads,” Brian Elliot said. “Sports jerseys, flat bill hats. Maybe some cargo shorts.”