Z6. December 1, 2013. Day 61

A very distinct memory occurs to you, as you gaze, bored, from your position in the lookout.  In front of you is a small sea of rot that extended in the lowland area along the eastern edge of the zombie refuge. You were young, riding in the backseat of the car. Drowsy. Your eyes opened and shut and the rhythm of the road bounced your head gently against the cloth interior wall of the vehicle as it drove down the unknown road.  You don't know where you were, and have only a rough guess of how old... but you do remember the smell. Horrid. Who knew that the tense fear of being chased and eaten, or worse, converted to a zombie by zombies would become irrelevant next to the smell of them permeating the air, day after day. If you never smell zombie again, it will be too soon.

The zombies wander along the plain in little groups, moving in the distance like clumps of algae floating across a pool, parted by an oar in water.  You stand and jump up and down to stay awake. The zombies are luckily lacking the brains that they had when still human, so they are not much of a nuisance. Well.  If you ignore the never-ending smell. And the inability to get fresh supplies.

A sound crackles across the radio, “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” The forest service camp had somehow become overrun, and the people were trapped in kitchen. Overrun? What had they been doing, exactly? The voice over the radio was non-specific as to the events. A rescue group might be able to reach them from the adjoin ridgelines; it was possible that they could find a route out for the trapped people.

You decide to:

Join the rescue crew. You hike 2 miles with a 40 lb pack of supplies.

Join the rescue crew.  There is a small lake (2 large pool lengths) between you and the boat and southern edge of the forest service camp.  You swim to the boat and row it back to the rescue group. (swim + row machine).

You help prepare the camp for the new members.  Unfortunately, extra supplies are located in a rail car a quarter mile away, on the zombie plain.  You move across vehicles, trees and tool sheds to get to the rail car. (use playground toys to create an obstacle course getting to the rail car and back. Sprint all times you are on the ground).

Z5. Nov 17, 2013. Day 48.

You wake up on the couch of the 'resort' (your little joke to yourself) after a nice nap. Other than chores, you have really caught up on sleep here. Your neck is twisted in an awkward position,  and unfortunate trail of drool has dried across the corner of your chin.  You feel thick and foggy and crinkled in the brain, and your neck is aching. The tv is playing some infomercial, too loudly. Your clothes are wrinkled into the shape of your body and have the greasy feeling of human oils. You want a shower.

It is then that a vile scent hits you.  You realize that you were awaken by a waft of this scent to begin with. Your body goes rigid. The scent is like… rotten broccoli… mixed with rotten eggs… mixed with a leather factory.  You brain reels trying to define the odor.

You focus on barely breathing, moving your head slowly, and just slightly, tense to run. In the dim light of the infomercial flashing you see it standing there. One of the infected. It rocks slightly. Bad eyesight. You remind yourself that the news claims they have bad eyesight at this phase of the infection.

You (either):

You jump up, screaming “ZOMBIE!!!” to alert the rest of the camp.  You sprint 0.25 mile at your fastest pace, to get away.

The zombie turns slightly. You have to get to the alarm bell 200 feet away. Sneak as quietly as you can, crawling if you have to, to get to the alarm bell.

You have 24 hours from when you read this email to complete this challenge.

Z4. Nov 1, 2013. Day 32.

This evening an alert went across all channels.  There was an outbreak this afternoon at the Miami-Dade Quarantine Facility. A second outbreak at a nightclub in downtown Miami at 8pm EST. Miami was placed under quarantine by the CDC and Homeland Security 10 minutes later.  Traffic has been streaming out of Florida toward Alabama and Georgia. A third outbreak occurred at 9pm EST in one of the traffic lines going into Alabama; the quarantine is currently throughout Florida and Alabama, and a state of emergency was declared. Martial law has been implemented. Louisiana and Georgia are under high alert, and also under martial law.   The most terrifying reports are that Homeland Security has started shooting infected Americans to hold the quarantine line.  Holy…

The news makes you feel like something is pressing on your chest. The anxiety crawls up your throat. You have to leave and protect your family and friends.  Several of your buddies have started a ‘fort’ out in the wilderness a couple weeks ago. At that time news reporters were making fun of them, and the EPA tried to arrest them using their SWOT team, until Congress told them to back off. The Forest Service made public statements to request the group, who called themselves “the Renegades” (sigh), leave. But the rumor has spread that the local forest service rangers started a second camp about two miles away, over the ridgeline.  You quietly pack up the survival gear that you have been pulling out of the garage and dusting off over the last few weeks.  You tell your family, your friends, your dog and your cat to pack up. Ok, you pack up the dog and cat. And you head up to spend the zombie apocalypse with the rest of the crazies.

In your head you are totally prepared to be camping until this whole thing is over. God bless engineers and construction guys. There is a running toilet and shower set up.  There’s even a television.    The camp is quite a lot larger than the number of people present; you are guessing it can hold 50, and there are about 30 people there. An eclectic mix of engineers, educators, medical professionals and artists.

As part of the camp, you are allotted certain activities to assist with building the camp up properly. You assist the group by doing at least one of the following (no injuries!):

·         Carry 10 gallons of water 100 feet.

·         Practice zombie defense/killing: You will need a medium weight rock about the size of a baseball. Get out to a hilly area and practice throwing the rock at an object about the height of a zombie head, attempting to hit the head. Do this until your arm is tired.  Try to increase your distance so that you wouldn’t be too close to the zombie.

·         Practice zombie responsiveness: be quick on your feet. Do 30 burpees as fast as you can, at least under 5 minutes.

·         Injured/sick: purify 10 gallons of water.

·         It is ok to do a selection from the October list.

Z3. Oct 23, 2013. Day 23

Outbreak at New Ellis Island Quarantine Contained

By Anther Banghart - October 23, 2013 9:10 AM EDT. Online Edition

An outbreak at the New Ellis Island Quarantine Facility was contained Tuesday at 7:00 pm EST. The New Ellis Island facility is sectioned off by entry dates; the Day 14 section was affected. Officials have not released any official numbers, but approximately 20 individuals are believed to have survived; 200 are believed dead. Survivors have been placed in isolated quarantine.

The list of individuals affected will not be released until families have been notified.

This is the first outbreak in an American quarantine facility and the fifth in-quarantine outbreak internationally. Outbreaks in facilities in London, Madrid, Bombay and Tokyo have caused the deaths of 16,178 in last 5 days. This does not include the devastation along the equatorial region of Africa.  Early estimates of several million dead are considered low. 

An international state of emergency was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 19th during the first outbreak in quarantine (Madrid). All international travel to the continent of Africa has been halted except aide, medical advisers and peacekeeping forces.

Please note that this is another fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. Hey- you! Yes, you. Only 8 more days until the end of October. Several people have the zombie challenge done! Do you?

Montana Logger- Zombie Challenge Complete!

City people are going to be amazed we had more than one "chop a cord of wood" as the selected zombie challenge. Go team!

Legacy, Zombie Killer! Zombie Challenge Complete!

This photo is fantastic! Good preparedness to start killing zombies straight away!

Oct Fitness!!

Got my challenge done this am, I hope everyone else is getting it done as well!

z2. Oct 11, 2013. Day 11.

This morning you opened the news on the web and were not surprised to see budget discussions dominating. As you were about to close the news in disgust, this report crossed the wire and caught your attention:

 

Travel Quarantine and Delays for Parts of Western Africa

CDC Responds to Illness, Deaths in Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Anther Banghart - October 11, 2013 11:30 AM PT

At 10 am EDT Friday the U.S. State Department, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), initiated a full quarantine for the nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).   All international travel to the area has been halted. Neighboring countries, including Zambia and Tanzania, will have highly restricted travel.

Individuals planning to travel to West Africa should check the state department web page before attempting to enter or exit the region.  Extreme delays are anticipated and travelers should be prepared to provide detailed itineraries.  Individuals who cannot prove travel routes will be subject to quarantine prior to reentry to the United States.

Quarantine areas are being expanded at all international ports. Several thousand federal employees have been called back from furlough in order to assist with the efforts.

The illness may be related to the Ebola hemorrhagic virus, including a high mortality rate and bleeding from the eyes and mouth.  Unlike Ebola, the hemorrhaging is reported to occur while the infected person is still mobile.  Ebola first presents as flu-like symptoms, before affecting the nervous and respiratory systems. 

 

Aide efforts to the area have been severely limited by the ongoing civil unrest.  Air drops of food and other supplies have occurred in a few targeted areas.

The Ebola hemorrhagic fever was first discovered in the DRC in 1976, with an outbreak of what was later called the Zaire strain.  The Zaire strain has the highest fatality rate, 83% in small outbreaks, and 90% during epidemics.  The last outbreak was in 2008; however experts in the field believe that small unrecorded events occur frequently. 

Please note that this is a fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. However research was done to add an air of authenticity to this report, so some of the facts presented here may be accurate.

Z1. Oct 1, 2013. Day1.

Last night you had what had to be the worst dream of your life. Never have you been so gripped by terror. Never. You awoke in a cold sweat, frozen almost to the point of pain.  As your stomach relaxed and your jaw unclenched, you walked over to the bathroom and stared into the mirror at your own reflection. Haggard, burned by the exhaustion of work and not enough sleep, you want the dream- the nightmare- to do what all others do. Fade. But it does not. It hangs on you like an albatross.

Running.  You were running in the high desert. Your lungs burned and stomach clenched to vomit but you couldn't stop running long enough to gag. The driving thirst. In the dream the word 'water’ had a solidity that you had never understood before. Your knee, your other ankle, they wanted to fail. They screamed at you. But you wanted to live more.  You focused. You ran to the large rock 100 feet away.  You reached it. You saw a post ahead. You reached it. And so it was, for miles.  A run measured in moments of survival. A stubby root seems to reach up to trip you. You fell, gagging out yellow, dry bile.  You ran again.

You realized that the dream made you feel that you didn't have a single skill that mattered. Not today. And the feeling of doom.  A sick, unshakeable feeling. You look at yourself in the mirror. You shake yourself. God you feel like an ass. It's just a dream, right? Wake up, you tell yourself.  What, I get the heebie jeebies from a dream?

You start getting ready for work. But you know. In the deepest part of your heart, you know it’s coming. Today you re-dedicate yourself to your health and fitness.  Your instincts are screaming at you that you are going to need it to survive.

You decide to test yourself. You complete any one of the following (no injuries!):

·         One max work out (push yourself to your limit)

·         Chop one cord of wood and stack

·         Hike a steep trail of at least 1000 foot elevation gain in 2 miles with extra weight in your pack, or stair-step the equivalent. Elko area participants, think Island Lake trail. Oregon participants think Coffin Mountain lookout trail near Detroit Lake. (***Elko open invite Oct. 19 at Island Lake, weather dependent)

·         Start a campfire without matches or a lighter. If you have done this before, do a different method than your previous experience.

Z. Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program

Survival Fitness

You are invited to embark on a survival fitness program for the winter.  It is designed to provide you training to survive in apocalypse conditions. If you are already in good condition and have a training regime, this should dovetail nicely.  If you are a bit out of shape, time to start training to avoid tasting good to zombies.

Because they want your brains, man.

I, nor anyone else involved, are physical trainers, doctors, etc.  You participate in this program at your own risk.  It is also not sponsored in any way by any business organization; we are just doing this for fun. Go to the doctor as needed (ie: you should consult a physician before starting this or any exercise program).

Bottom line: I'm not your momma, whine to someone else about it.

Take some time to design your personalized baseline fitness program. Aim to push yourself and yet make it do-able in a workweek. IE Cardio (3X30 min? or 6 hr per week min?), strength work (weight machines, bells, calisthenics), and stretching work (yoga?). 
Self evaluate, weekly:

Best: Met all goals and really pushed yourself &/or went above and beyond. (Or, goals too easy?)

Good. Met all goals. (For me, this is doing great!)

Poor: Time to rethink goals to better help build a base for health.

Sick/Didn’t play this week: Two of these for the year, then you are a zombie.  You can restart the program in a modified form, to recover. This is about being healthy overall over winter! Not punishing those who get sick.

At the beginning of the month I will post the zombie survival activities you have to complete by the end of that month.  The intent is to give options that do not aggravate injuries etc., so if I fail to give you enough options, please make suggestions and we can work out new alternatives.
 

There will be a “z” at the start of the subject line.

It is recommended that you get some gear for outdoor winter exercise, and a pack that will carry weight. For example, last year a good option might have been 'walk outside today' (in -30F).  For me, that would have been an effort! My instinct was certainly to curl up in a ball and pray the power wouldn't go out, which is precisely what I did!! But obviously if you don’t have gear for that, you shouldn’t select it. In better weather, a mile with weight in your pack might be another option. You will want shoes that won't slip in ice and snow, and enough cushion that the shoe is taking the impact, not your knees.

You know, Unis!  Be prepared, be healthy!

There are an inordinate number of engineers in this program (I’m sorry everyone else.) If you really, really, really just have to engineer your way through a survival option, and not do it manually, ok. Just remember this is supposed to be a fitness program, so you need to offset that with a fitness activity.  No, drinking beer does not count.

Thank you & enjoy. First day is October 1.

PS: I realize that grammatically ”Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program” implies that we are helping Zombies survive. (Although, maybe we are zombies from work!) ‘Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: A Fitness Program’ just doesn’t flow well. 

PSS: . If you feel an obsessive need to track your diet/ fitness in great detail- myfitnesspal is a good option. It seems to have a greater selection of foods and exercise options than many programs.