I just finished Zombies, Run! 5k, and honestly? Sam Yao my beloved.

Redraw of that piece where Five thought Sam was dead 😌

The old one has always been one of my faves but there were just so many mistakes in it that I had started cringing every time I looked at it, so I thought it was time for an update.

Old piece under the cut:

Week 8 Day 2 complete!😃

Omg, I can't believe I've actually made it this far. The run today was very exhausting, especially since there were several parts that went uphill. The last 5 minutes I totally lost any form I might have had and could feel my body flopping around, there was no strength left.

But I fought through it. I'm honestly so proud of myself for doing this.

Anyway, can't wait for the 5k. I'll probably run it Monday or Tuesday. And on wednesday I have some huge exams coming up so I should probably study some more for those.

Hopefully I'l be able to report back here when I've done the final run.😊

I walked on the treadmill on July 21 and listened to ZR 5K for week 4 workout 2. Loved the sassy note from runner five at the end. Yeah, Sam, very funny 🤣

Week 1, Workout 2

The fifteen second sprints got easier, this time around. Especially seeing as it's no longer 35°C around here.

Nicole really does like Jody. She's tempted to pick up crochet again to join Jody in crafting for Abel.

started up 5k training again. I forgot water so i stopped at starbucks to buy some, went to the park. ran through some woods, once it was done i got my mom starbucks and walked home where i had a post run snack. Just a few pieces of dark chocolate(more than pictured), I really like this brand bc different chocolate flavours go to different endangered species, i like the almond sea salt which donates to owls!

also ik this is a small post run snack buuut I had a very carb heavy breakfast (a crepe w/ goat cheese, mushroom, asparagus, spinach) AND a large raspberry scone.. plus an oolong iced tea with a splash of almond milk and shot of caramel so I am not hungry

In regards to your headcannons list:

Sam Yao 16

HIII THANKS FOR SENDING AN ASK ehem okay here goes (this got long sorry)

16. Dark secrets/‘skeletons in the closet’

I have 4 things I think of in here so I’ll expand them >:) Some zrs2 and zr5k spoilers!

1. Sam gets attached to Runner Five because of his ties to the old Runner Five, Alice Dempsey. I feel like it starts like that at least. But the seasons and missions in it stretch out for months, so by the time the middle of s2 swings around I feel like Sam has worked that out (specially before the Little Lies mission in the s2 finale—his anger feels different there because it somehow really feels like it’s reserved for love and protectiveness of OUR Runner Five, and not just their number.) Don’t get me wrong though, he’s not the type to take rebounds and other people as replacement for his loss, and in zr5k i know he takes the time to heal and grieve (it’s heavily implied in there lol)—but Sam is a really emotionally driven character and I feel like him feeling affection for our runner five will be overshadowed by him losing Alice.

He’s also the type to not notice this until someone points it out. After that, he’ll think about it a lot. He won’t tell ANYBODY though. Not even whoever points it out for him (I’m thinking Maxine). He won’t elaborate and he’d rather fix it on his own instead of asking someone else and sounding like a fucking asshole since there’s really no nice way to say Hey, I think I’m starting to like this person but I keep seeing my ex in them bc of their designation so what do i do?

2. Feelings. Really deep feelings. I guess it’s not really dark but I think Sam would also hold off on telling Runner Five what he feels as long as he thinks he’s only infatuated because of Alice. Even after that—he takes a long time to show the mere tip of its iceberg. In my personal headcanon of events, Sam gets an inkling of “oh shit maybe I do like Runner Five and this isn’t just a silly infatuation anymore” when they get kidnapped in the Tightrope mission in s2. The Athena mission was honestly a shit end of that little arc bc the tone is ODD and Sam threw a fit in A Voice in the Dark but he’s knitting all chill and cool after they got tortured by Van Ark?? LMAO?? Also I was told the knitting is a reference to Odysseus’s wife waiting for him to come home and I’m just here like Hahaha s2s are you Saying he is the malewife YOU AINT SLICK

Anyway. That. And then he gets the scare of his life in the s2 finale when Sara is revealed to be the traitor—like, you can HEAR him sound so angry but also so so worried. He’d been friends with Eight longer than he knew Runner Five so Sam is well-versed with what Sara is capable of. He’d also seen it in the moments prior to this event. I personally think that when Sara cut him off of comms, his brain just went wild with worst case scenarios (haha here’s a song that makes me think of this) and it’s when he gets this dawning realization that he DOES have feelings. It’s real and oh so horrifying because it’s not that Sam doesn’t want to lose them, it’s that he can’t. He can’t afford to. Because god knows he’s hanging on a thin thread and if he loses another person he loves, he doesn’t know if he can keep going.

But he can’t say that for a million reasons; he can’t let Five know he depends on them that much, can’t let anyone know he originally started feeling this way because of their number, can’t let anyone know he’s not as optimistic and strong as he likes to seem. Apart from his affection for Runner Five, Sam keeps most of his emotions hidden under wraps because there’s rly no time to feel things in the apocalypse. I think he’d lie about it even if his actions and words betray him all the time. He doesn’t want to be seen as soft either and has somehow fooled himself into thinking that not outwardly showing his feelings equates to bravery or strength.

3. He feels alive as a Radio Operator and feels useless otherwise. I know he mentions this in AVITD but I wanted to expand on it! Sam forces himself to operate in the comms shack even when he was sick (this was a side mission in s2) and I think it’s because he sees this as his only purpose. Y’know how people say Everyone in Abel pulls their weight? And how some runners probably resent radio operators because of how they’re guiding them in safety while runners are out endanger their lives in the field? Yyyyeah. This guy probably overworks just to prove he’s pulling his own weight.

Basically; that thing that Sara said about feeling the most alive when running away from zombies, and that’s probably horrible or something? I think Sam is like that too, as a Radio Operator. He feels pride and confidence when his runners get home safely. He feels euphoric when he manages to help them evade a horde or an obstacle. And when he fucks up, he takes it twice as hard because it proves that he sucks at his job and isn’t doing enough. But he’s also afraid that if anyone knew that he feels this—like he said to Runner Five, that he loves what he does—everyone would think he’s a psychopath playing video game dolls with real people’s lives whatsoever and likes it.

4. Lastly, he would kill if it meant he could keep his loved ones safe. Sam is generally a kind-hearted person but he goes ruthless and CRUEL when it comes to people who betray his own. Y’all remember Ephraim? Yeah? He told Eight and Five to dump his ass to die since he betrayed them before. He was especially fucking cruel to Nadia for trying to kill Five. Yeah. I deadass think this guy would stab someone a billion times if it means his friends would make it. And catch this; the someone also includes himself.

SAM YAO: Hey! Well, maybe we can play a bit of Portal 2 co-op together sometime, Five.

MAXINE MYERS: Weren't we going to play it together?

SAM YAO: Well, it's - it's just that you never seem to have time.

MAXINE MYERS: I'll make some time.

SAM YAO: I'll hold you to that.

finished zr5k AND beat my personal best by 3 minutes! (the last pb was from the last time I finished the 5k, there's magic in that mission.)

Is it still Janine de Luca loving hours? 🥺

I've been shipping Janine/Five since their first meeting in the ZR5K app when she sends you on that first mission not realizing you're unarmed and then immediately gives you her own axe for protection. My head canon is that Janine made that axe herself and it has her initials etched in the handle and it kind of becomes a good luck charm for 5. 5 gets used to resting their hand at the bottom of the handle and rubbing their thumb over the intials when thinking or for comfort. When it's falling apart, 5 is really reluctant to replace it and Janine lectures 5 about pointless sentimentality until she sees the initials and realizes it's the same axe 5 has been carrying around all this time. She doesn't say anything, just replaces the old axe with a new one that's been perfectly balanced for 5. At the bottom of the handle the designation runner 5 has been etched just above Janines initials. 🥰

Janine De Luca loving hours is 24/7 and hello I am crying over that headcanon!!! 🥺 gifting weapons to people is absolutely Janine’s love language, everything about this is *chefs kiss* and also the potential for angst after (-season 3 spoilers-) moonchild when five almost killed sam with an axe and Janine is there to help five learn to be okay using an axe again and Janine notices five rubbing their thumb over the initials so much more after that ahhh

my fave Janine gifting things to five headcanon is (-season five spoilers-) in s5 that mission when five pulls Janine’s jacket off tom, I like to imagine five kept that jacket because it was a comfort to them when they were away from everyone, alone and undercover at abel and when five gets back to noah base, five tries to give the jacket back to Janine and Janine is just like ‘no keep it five…it suits you 😏’ and it becomes five’s favorite jacket 🥰

I made it back to running 5k without stopping! The Zombies Run 5k app gets a big thumbs up from me since it got me to this point right on schedule in 8 weeks.

Weather today was somewhat cold and very windy, but also with full sun, so I wasn’t sure what to dress for. I ended up taking my long sleeve layer off around a mile in, at which point the wind felt great. The trail I did the middle section on was kind of wet but not too muddy, so I just got to feel more rugged than I usually do :)

I courageously attempted to get back out there today and who would’ve thought that all of the paths leading through the park would still be completely frozen - I didn’t! I thought running on snow wouldn’t be so bad. I thought, I’d actually enjoy it. After all, I love the crunching of fresh snow under my feet! Except, what you see right there?! That’s not snow - it’s 3cm of ice hidden underneath a blanket of snow just thick enough to lure you in. 😬

By the time I was ready to admit defeat I’d already made it too far in to turn back and carefully walked along the side until I got to the closest exit - good thing W4 has a lot of walking 😅 

W4W2 is one of my favourite ZR5K episodes because it’s the one where Sam starts relying on Five, calls Five his buddy and then there is this bit:

“I’ll look after you, Runner Five. I won’t send you anywhere you can’t manage.”

😭😭😭

I have been working on this for far too long! So I give up lmao!

Enjoy some post run domestic life. I draw Janine’s farmhouse looking pristine and the rest of Abel looking like the inside of a bin lmao

I did it!

It was so difficult but I did the 5k. And like an idiot of course I immediately clicked the stop button, meaning the run didn't register as finished in the app.😂🤦🏽‍♀️

41 min. That's probably a really shit time but I'm so happy. Even in my teenage years I never managed to run longer than 30 min. But those last 10 were gruelling.

Anyway, I'm excited to continue my running journey and hopefully one day 5k will seem like an easy distance for me.

Now, have a sweaty happy pic from me. I don't usually share pics on social media but nobody knows my name here anyway so whatever.

Week 3 Day 2 - Completed!

I got 5km in, only a few minutes more than the Zombies Run audio so not bad, just over 45min. Pace felt good, no pain and got my breath back after each jogging bit. Yay me 😁

Guys, I am not a runner. I don’t even remember the last time I went faster than a walk. I’m strong, and good at lifting weights, and I thought that would be enough. But my cardiovascular health is terrible. My resting heart rate is in the 90’s. So, I decided to try Zombies, Run, and hopefully I’ll stick with it. 👍🏻🏃🏻‍♀️