Monsters and spooky characters raced to the finish line in Valencia Heritage Park on Sunday morning for the Jeepers Creepers Run.   This year, runners could participate in a 5k, 10k or half marathon run. The half marathon runners started at 8 a.m., followed by the 10k runners and finally by the 5k runners. The race was hosted by Elite Sports CA. The company is also scheduled to host the Santa Clarita Marathon on Nov. 10, which it lists as a Boston Marathon qualifier.  In Sunday’s event, runners were encouraged to wear costumes in the spirit of Halloween and got to participate in a costume contest.   Tyler Askins (center) wins the fastest time for the female category during the 5k and takes a photo with second and third place on Sunday morning at the closing of the Jeepers Creepers Half Marathon 5k and 10k hosted by Elite Sports at Valencia Heritage Park. 101324 Katherine Quezada/The Signal Tyler Askins, a local student at California Institute of the Arts, said she agreed to dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 when her friend Ayvan Williams, also a CalArts student, asked if she wanted to join her in running the 5k just a couple days prior to Sunday.  “This is my first 5k, so we kind of signed up on a whim,” said Askins.   Askins was the first-place female winner for the 5k run. She said she couldn’t believe when she crossed the finish line, and they called out that she was the first-place runner.  “Totally unexpected, can I just say that,” said Askins. “When I ran by, they were, like, ‘First female finisher!’ I was like, ‘What? No way!’ I yelled that and it was so totally unexpected and very flattering, definitely a confidence booster. I’m proud of it.”  Askins and Williams added they thought the run was a lot of fun because of the friendly environment and people. For them the run was a fun way to get active and leave everything else behind for a short while.   The post Jeepers Creepers, let’s run  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.