Monument 10K is about more than just running

Before the drinking came the pouring.

One hydration station on Monument Avenue included three folding tables. Three levels of about 270 paper cups occupied each table, roughly 810 cups of water per table, or 2,430 cups at this refreshment stop.

Filling these cups, starting at about 7:30 a.m., were volunteers Kimmie Shaub and Martha Samper. Water went from hose, to trash-can-sized container, to pitcher, to cup, to table.

Across Monument and down a block or so was a hydration station featuring a blue concoction, water mixed with energy-drink powder. Volunteers did the blending with canoe paddles before pouring. Runners seemed to prefer the blue potion to water.

"I'm OK with water," Samper said. "That other stuff gets a little sticky."

. . .

The Village Café opens at 8:30 every Saturday morning. Rarely are customers waiting at the door.

But they were yesterday.

Runners, their families, race observers, and others jammed the establishment at the corner of Grace and Harrison, about a block from the race's starting line.

"Not a good time to talk now," said bartender Mary Henry, pouring coffee with one hand and carrying dishes with the other.

One woman, a race number pinned to her pink shirt, and a companion entered The Village Cafe and sat on stools as runners walked by, headed for the Broad Street starting line. The woman looked at her companion, and smiled.

"Let's just stay here and drink," she said.

. . .

Prizes may have gone to the wrong folks. Worthy of recognition were the members of Eat The Center, a band that began setting up at 7:30 a.m. on Monument's grass island at the intersection of Monument and Meadow.

"I didn't want to get out of my bed this morning," said Ethan Johnstone, 18, the group's drummer and a student at Midlothian High School.

But this forum to play original songs for thousands who wandered by was an opportunity Eat The Center doesn't often get. The group volunteered for the gig, was placed by race organizers and sacrificed a few hours of shut-eye to make new fans.

"It's some kind of rock, with some jazziness to it," Johnstone said of the band's music. "We've been described as being difficult to describe."

Rain refreshes runners, but it ruins amplifiers. Under gray skies, Eat The Center spent part of its set-up time formulating a Hit The Road plan in the event of precipitation. The Volvo that transported the instruments was parked several blocks away, and this was a no-cover performance.

As in no tent.

. . .

Someone did a lot of baking.

After the race, volunteers gave the runners bananas, apples and bottles of Powerade -- and bagels. Lots and lots of bagels.

Twenty thousand bagels, to be exact, in wheat, blueberry and cinnamon and raisin.

Ukrop's, the race's sponsor, makes its bagels big, about 5 inches long and 1½ inches high. Twenty thousand of them, laid end to end, would stretch more than a mile and a half. Or in race terms, from the starting line at Harrison and Broad, down Lombardy Street and out Monument Avenue to MacArthur Avenue.

Stacked on top of each other, they would reach 2,500 feet high -- taller than the Sears Tower, taller than Taipei 101, taller than the CN Tower in Toronto, taller, in fact, than any manmade structure anywhere except Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world.

And Burj Dubai doesn't come in blueberry.

. . .

At 8 years old, Jake Ebel ran the First Market Mile. But that shouldn't come as a surprise, because he has been running since he was 5.

He can run 4½ or 5 miles now, he said.

"Daddy cannot," said Jake's long-legged father, Ed. "Daddy cannot even run a mile. I was supposed to run with him. He gave me the kick and the turn."

. . .

It takes a certain mindset to run far, fast.

Judy Anderson, who was cheering on the runners on Franklin Street, said her husband Ed likes to be quiet immediately before a race. But before that, on the drive from Chesterfield County, he's all about the music. To get psyched up, he plays Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run."

"He used to play that 'Chariots of Fire' until my oldest said, 'What is that cheesy music?'

Her friend, Gina Camp -- whose older sons also were running in the race -- added, "My kids like 'We Are the Champions.'"

. . .

A record 32,745 runners and walkers started the race. The 32,744th and 32,745th were Sonia Suri and Kavita Amin, the last of the stragglers, crossing the starting line several minutes after most of their group left.

"Our kids were participating in the kids' run and we thought that was where the starting point was," Suri said.

When they learned the starting point for the main race was several blocks away, they had trouble reaching it because of the closed streets.

Still, they were walking at a good clip and overtook many other walkers -- and the police car that was supposed to bring up the rear but was actually ahead of them for a while.

"Can you mention we're the last ones in and still we [passed] other people?" Suri said.

. . .

Barbara Ellington, a friend of Mike Widener's step-mother, was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer several weeks ago.

So Widener had t-shirts made up with a message to cancer: "You messed with the wrong woman."

He carried that message down Broad Street in the 10K race.

. . .

Sammy the sheltie, 10 1/2 weeks old, watched his first race from the arms of owner Sonya Shelton.

Shelton said Sammy was a little shy -- it was her first public outing -- but seemed to be enjoying the attention being lavished on her.

. . .

Katrina Lauer, 15, and friend Mac Hammond, 16, students at Cosby High School, volunteered to staff the missing children's tent in Monroe Park. They said none had been reported. Nor were there any missing parents, at least no one to fess up.

. . .

Among the runners was Virginia's new Attorney General, Bill Mims.

Mims, who replaced Bob McDonnell in February, said he ran a personal best 46.40 minutes.

His third 10K, he said the event is "my favorite race. It's a real happening."

. . .

For spectators who don't worry about running to stay healthy, there was plenty of food to munch. One could choose among fried oreos, funnel cakes, chicken tenders and barbecued ribs, all offered in Monroe Park.

. . .

Watching the passing parade outside Salon Z, a barber shop at 721 W. Broad St., Marvin Smith explained why the barber shop had Terry McAuliffe signs in the window.

McAuliffe, one of three Democrats seeking the nomination to run for governor, has been trying his hand at various occupations as he campaigns across Virginia.

McAuliffe tried his hand at barbering at the shop about a month ago.

"He was terrible," said Smith. "I told him he should stick with politics."

Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or .

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Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .