Creatures line up for Sunday’s Spooky Sprint

By Kendra Simpson

Forrest Gump, a super hero and a toilet. What do all of these characters have in common? They were all runners in the Bodies Race Company’s Spooky Sprint.

Sunday morning, Krug Park had all kinds of personalities and costumes running in the Spooky Sprint. While the costumes added incentive to join the race, one spooky sprinter chose to run not for the tricks or the treats, but to teach his children a valuable lesson.

“I’m just letting my kids know that being physically active is very important,” Spooky Sprint participant, dressed as Forrest Gump, Williams Jones said. “Being, all around, being out there and running is very important, too, so that’s why I do it, it’s for them.”

Jones has participated in over a dozen Bodies Race Company’s races, but only started his running journey a year and a half ago, after he lost a close friend to suicide.

“I actually lost a friend of mine, very close friend, to suicide,” he said. “Suicide awareness is very important to me, so I take that very seriously. Losing my friend was probably the biggest reason why I started running.”

Whatever the reasoning, St. Joseph runners by the dozens bounded from the starting line at 8 a.m. Sunday morning, donned in costumes, sweat and the autumn morning air.

The Spooky Sprint included five races: the half marathon, 10k, 5k, one mile and the kids dash. The next Bodies race in St. Joseph will be the Time to Paddy 5k, 10k and Lucky 13.1 half marathon March 23, 2025.

To see the results of the Sunday’s Spooky Sprint, visit Bodies Race Company’s website at https://bodiesracecompany.com/.