Creeps, but no crawling, in the YMCA Creepy Crawl 5K

PALMER LAKE - It’s not the weight – though running a 5K in a bulky costume is hardly an ideal fitness routine – that makes it tough.

“The hardest part is the visibility,” said Kirk Skidmore, aka “the tooth.” He simply set a pace and plodded through the race course, with his partner “the tooth fairy” to make sure he didn’t trample any kids.

Skidmore was among the nearly 300 mostly-costumed runners and walkers, who came to Palmer Lake to run in the fourth YMCA Creepy Crawl 5K. In its fourth year, the event raises money to help families take part in YMCA programs.

See a photo gallery from the race.

Due to a mistake in placement of a turn-around marker, the course wound up being shorter than it should have been, resulting in some pretty quick times.

Daniel Castaneda, 28, won with a time of 15:03. Tanner Norman, 13, came in second at 16:22 and Mike Stephens, 29, was third with 16:39.

Nobody was complaining about the course being too short. After all, it’s nearly Halloween and it’s just for run.

“It’s really fun just coming out here and seeing everybody’s costumes,” Castaneda said.

Just for fun, that is, for most people. Castaneda had no costume.

“I guess I’m a little more serious about it.”

Skidmore, who came in 70th among males with a time of 27:30, had a serious message to go with his costume. After all, he is a dentist.

“Kids, brush your teeth,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of candy circulating in this town in the next few days.”