Abstract
This article examines the relationship between running and the figure of the zombie, drawing from the author’s experience of mobile augmented reality application Zombies Run! (2012). Acting as a combination of a mobile phone fitness application and radio play, Zombies Run! encourages the player to find a new reason to exercise, by aurally layering a zombie apocalypse over the real world. Beginning with a review of the evolutionary paradoxes that make running largely a biologically inefficient act for humans, the author explores the contentious figure of the running zombie (Zombie 2.0) and how it complicates humanity’s ability to ‘other’ itself from the undead. Zombies Run! creates a space between fact and fiction that facilitates a mythogeographic perception of place and instances of paraludism. Here, the player is able to accept the rules of the fictional play world and the act of running lessens the ability to objectify the undead. To outrun the Zombie 2.0, humanity invariably runs towards the very thing they are fleeing from.
Published Version
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