Would you race in a cemetery?

Many runners find cemeteries to be peaceful, plowed and generally pretty safe places to run. Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, for example, has grown quite a reputation as great running route. It’s connected with the Beltline trail and and extensive network in the Don Valley. It’s also one of the few plowed places to run in the city during winter.

But running through a cemetery and racing through a cemetery are two very different activities. The first can be a respectful and calming practice that may involve a moment or two in thoughts of those resting there. The second seems like a distasteful trampling of people’s final resting place.

Yet, the Illinois Springdale Cemetery held two road races within the grounds this month. Earlier in October, the JDRF Ron Santo Walk to Cure Diabetes and 5K Run took place in the cemetery. The Screaming Pumpkin Marathon on Oct. 25 started at 6 p.m. Participants ran the cemetery grounds in the dark, trying to complete a marathon before the clock struck midnight. Those who made it back before that time received a wand and tiara, while those who finished after midnight received a pumpkin. Costumes were encouraged.

The cemetery is hoping that participants, upon seeing the beauty of the cemetery, will keep the grounds in mind when the time to make their final arrangements arrives.

While Halloween is an undeniably fun celebration, is this taking things too far? Are costumes and competition at home on cemetery grounds? I’m not so sure I’d be signing up.