Where to run in your Halloween costume | October 31

Donning your Halloween costume is starting to feel about routine as putting on a school uniform, dressing in your work attire, or wearing your favorite race day outfit. Right? With the costume-clad holiday falling on a Monday, chances are you were busy reveling, or running, in your best dress-up idea Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It could have been a costume party, it could have been a pub crawl, or it could have been a race like The Monster Dash, the Halloween Hustle, or the Trick or Treat Trot. But All Hallow’s Eve is today, and you could say that those other costumed events were only the precursors to the big shebang, a chance to work out the wardrobe malfunctions if you will.

So if you’re ready to wear your costume one final time before returning it to the shop, placing it in a box until 2012, or tossing it in the trash, here’s where you can wear it tonight, provided you’re not taking the kiddos trick or treating.

Fleet Feet’s Halloween Fun Run. You can always run with a group from Fleet Feet’s Piper’s Alley store on Monday nights, but only the calendar dictates a Halloween-themed three to six miles. Meet at the store, 1620 N. Wells, in your costume for a run that departs at 6:30pm. You’ll travel through Lincoln Park and regroup back at the store for drinks, tricks and treats. It’s even more encouraging to wear a costume in this non-competitive environment because unlike in a race, if your costume starts to hurt your performance, you won’t have to see it in the race results.

Universal Sole’s Monday Night Run. It might not be labeled as a Halloween run, but Universal Sole isn’t canceling its traditional Monday night jaunt through Lakeview because of trick or treating. Wear your costume or leave it at home, your choice, but know that you’re in for a treat when you meet at the store, 3059 N. Lincoln, at 6:15pm.

Flywheel Sports’ Halloween Rides. Who said you absolutely had to run tonight? You could trade your running shoes for cycling ones and hop aboard a bike at one of the two Halloween indoor cycling rides at Flywheel tonight. Plan on getting sweaty while busting your leg and arm muscles for a 45-minute cardio burst that starts at 5:30pm or 6:30pm, depending on your availability and what classes still have open bikes. Costumes are encouraged, but as I learned from personal experience, a grass skirted hula dancer is not a good one for indoor cycling. Hmm, but Richard Simmons? It’s almost too easy to wear a red tank and shorts for this sweat session.