They dressed up, they ran, they had fun

Are you a friend of Tim Carroll?

Maybe you can give him a call this morning just to make sure he's doing okay.

Carroll was chased by five people for 6.2 miles up and down Monument Avenue yesterday. And, really, he had a blast.

Dressed as the banana of Ms. Pacman fame (one of the fruits Ms. Pacman tried to devour), Carroll led a procession of his acquaintances throughout the Monument Avenue 10k. In tow were Ms. Pacman, Indy, Blinky, Pinky and Sue. For their troubles they split the $500 first-place prize in the group portion of the Richmond Times-Dispatch Dress Up and Run contest. There were 128 participants in the contest.

"Everywhere we went, people were yelling 'wocka, wocka, wocka,' " Carroll said.

The group not only stayed in order, but they were tethered together by cardboard cutouts, which looked like the dots of the famous arcade game.

Aaron Roth, yesterday known to Richmonders as Ms. Pacman, was the recruiting leader for the assembly.

"I just asked them 'Do you want to run in a frame that's kind of heavy?' " he said. "What's not to like about that?"

Roth also accidentally brought out the competitive fire in some runners yesterday.

"There were a lot of people who were around us that said 'I can't let Ms. Pacman beat me,' he said. "They just took off [running ahead of us]."

Carroll, the banana, said the toughest part of his day involved finding a path for his group to navigate.

"I was just trying to clear a path the whole time," he said.

The Ninja Turtles placed second in the group category and "Simply Irresistible" was third.

Perhaps you saw Dr. J. Wayne Mancari yesterday. Didn't recognize the pastor at Cornerstone Assembly of God in Chester? Perhaps you'll remember him with his 12-foot high rock behind him as he recreated the boulder chase scene from the Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Said Mancari, who took home first place in the individual bracket: "My three loves are Richmond, running and having fun . . . they all came together."

Mancari's plan was to have a rope drag the boulder behind him. He said he even practiced running with it at a local high school, a scene which no doubt drew a few puzzled looks. But the plan failed.

"The rope came loose, so I had to run with the rope in my hand," he said. "It made it worth it that fans were screaming and yelling."

Gary Hearn, otherwise known as "Resume Man" was second in the individual or duo category and Mathieu Rogez was third as "Achilles."

Contact Shawn Fenner at (804) 649-6412 or .