Zombies roamed campus as the 5K Zombie Run limped off at the West Gym Friday. The University of Northern Iowa Supporters of the United States Army hosted the first annual Zombie Run to support UNI’s ROTC program.  

During the 5K, runners had two balloons attached to them. When they would pass through certain areas, zombies would chase runners down and attempt to pop the balloons. 

“How is it not cool to run around and have zombies chase you?” said AJ Houseman, Lutheran Student Center campus minister said.

If the zombies popped both of a runner’s balloons then they were killed off.      

Lots of work was put into the Zombie 5K race. 

“I ran a 5K last weekend and this was way harder, that’s for sure, when somebody’s chasing you,” Houseman said.

UNISUSA planned the race route, publicity, budgets and sponsorships said Tyrei Lofton, junior criminology major.

“We had to budget our money, like how much funds we had, so buying shirts, food, stuff like that,” Lofton said. “We also had to figure out what kind of sponsorship we would need, so the radio station and where we were going to get money from supporters.” 

Even the identification tags runners wore were donated.

Since it was the first year, the run didn’t have the big turnout Lofton had expected, but there was still a good amount of participants. 

“With it being its first year, a lot of people aren’t really aware of what it was. Also, we didn’t have a lot of time to plan. We just had a month so there wasn’t a lot of time to get information out,” Lofton said. “We publicized it as much as we could but the turnout wasn’t as big. As the years progress, so will the numbers.”

Pierce Ames, senior psychology major, came in first place with a time of 20:32.  His favorite part of the run was when the zombies chased him. 

Both Ames and Houseman would do the run again if it were to be held again.

“I hope to do it again because it was fun,” Houseman said.

The proceeds raised by the organization will be going towards UNI’s ROTC program. 

“We support the ROTC program so we help pay for them when they go to the ranger challenge: to travel, stay there, food, stuff like that,” Lofton said.