50 + 9 points
Journey to the End of the Night: Chicago/DC 2009 by Michael Schirf
May 4th, 2009 3:19 PM
Ok this is copied from another BB where I had to actually explain what was going on. Not as exciting as some stories but was still fun.
I found the first chaser of the night right after we set out from Dupont to the White House, as a guy with a sign got me to start running past him, the idea being to get me to blindly run into another chaser about 50' away. Good thing the second guy showed his hand early or it would have been a short night.
The second checkpoint was just north of the Capital Building. Having hopped on the metro (metros are safe points) I met a small group of girls who said they worked in the area. So thinking that safety was in numbers I started to follow them to the second checkpoint. Apparently women really are horrible with directions because we ended up so far off the path it wasn't funny. After talking to several locals and more than half a dozen cops to get my bearings back I made it to the second checkpoint by myself, without incident. At this point I was in the top 277 people to make it to #2.
Between the second and third checkpoints was a bonus checkpoint, which in hindsight I should have skipped. The idea was that they had useful info for you. The only good thing they had was water. Though I did have to draw a mustache on to get a stamp to prove I had been there. The rest of the journey to 3 was an uneventful walk. Once there I was made to draw a picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I drew a cowboy.
Checkpoint 4 in Howard University wasn't that far away and looked as though it should have been an easy straight shot, However by now enough people had been turned into zombies.... er, chasers that the checkpoint was going to be surrounded. My walk to the campus was uneventful and once there I fell in with a guy who had gotten separated from his group and had been chased all over Howard (and been yelled at by locals) already. After ducking through alleys for 15 minutes we ran into a couple more guys and were on our way into the checkpoint when a chaser who was hiding his orange armband snuck up to us. I bolted and scaled a 10' chain-link fence to get away and on the way over and down cut up my hand, torn my shorts and snagged my jacket sleeve. But I was safe. I managed to slip by 2 more slow chasers hiding in bushes to get deeper into the campus. Then as I was chased through the campus by 2 more guys who I hid from in a small alley. Eventually I slipped back out and made it to checkpoint and was forced to sing a campfire song to get my stamp.
From here I was to walk from 7th all the way to 19th street. I slipped onto U st nearly stopping to ask what turned out to be a chaser for directions on the way. On the walk there I fell in with someone whom I had met on the way to the 2nd stop earlier in the night. Apparently the next stop was right in front of his house. I would never make it. As we passed 17th street, almost to our destination I allowed myself to be distracted (texting an update) hoping my walking partner would keep his eyes open. But he walked us right into a group of Zomb...chasers walking the other direction. We would have slipped right passed them if one hadn't recognized my Woot! zombie shirt from earlier in the night. As I saw them it was too late. However my nameless walking partner managed to escape while they were dealing with me.
In all it was an incredibly fun night but today I am super sore from walking and running all over DC for 4 and a half hours.. Next year when I have more than 12 hours notice that I'll be doing this I will definitely be able to plan better and won't go out the night before.
I found the first chaser of the night right after we set out from Dupont to the White House, as a guy with a sign got me to start running past him, the idea being to get me to blindly run into another chaser about 50' away. Good thing the second guy showed his hand early or it would have been a short night.
The second checkpoint was just north of the Capital Building. Having hopped on the metro (metros are safe points) I met a small group of girls who said they worked in the area. So thinking that safety was in numbers I started to follow them to the second checkpoint. Apparently women really are horrible with directions because we ended up so far off the path it wasn't funny. After talking to several locals and more than half a dozen cops to get my bearings back I made it to the second checkpoint by myself, without incident. At this point I was in the top 277 people to make it to #2.
Between the second and third checkpoints was a bonus checkpoint, which in hindsight I should have skipped. The idea was that they had useful info for you. The only good thing they had was water. Though I did have to draw a mustache on to get a stamp to prove I had been there. The rest of the journey to 3 was an uneventful walk. Once there I was made to draw a picture of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I drew a cowboy.
Checkpoint 4 in Howard University wasn't that far away and looked as though it should have been an easy straight shot, However by now enough people had been turned into zombies.... er, chasers that the checkpoint was going to be surrounded. My walk to the campus was uneventful and once there I fell in with a guy who had gotten separated from his group and had been chased all over Howard (and been yelled at by locals) already. After ducking through alleys for 15 minutes we ran into a couple more guys and were on our way into the checkpoint when a chaser who was hiding his orange armband snuck up to us. I bolted and scaled a 10' chain-link fence to get away and on the way over and down cut up my hand, torn my shorts and snagged my jacket sleeve. But I was safe. I managed to slip by 2 more slow chasers hiding in bushes to get deeper into the campus. Then as I was chased through the campus by 2 more guys who I hid from in a small alley. Eventually I slipped back out and made it to checkpoint and was forced to sing a campfire song to get my stamp.
From here I was to walk from 7th all the way to 19th street. I slipped onto U st nearly stopping to ask what turned out to be a chaser for directions on the way. On the walk there I fell in with someone whom I had met on the way to the 2nd stop earlier in the night. Apparently the next stop was right in front of his house. I would never make it. As we passed 17th street, almost to our destination I allowed myself to be distracted (texting an update) hoping my walking partner would keep his eyes open. But he walked us right into a group of Zomb...chasers walking the other direction. We would have slipped right passed them if one hadn't recognized my Woot! zombie shirt from earlier in the night. As I saw them it was too late. However my nameless walking partner managed to escape while they were dealing with me.
In all it was an incredibly fun night but today I am super sore from walking and running all over DC for 4 and a half hours.. Next year when I have more than 12 hours notice that I'll be doing this I will definitely be able to plan better and won't go out the night before.
I bolted and scaled a 10' chain-link fence to get away and on the way over and down cut up my hand, torn my shorts and snagged my jacket sleeve. But I was safe.
Hooray!