Off The Coast of Ballard: BLOOMSDAY

I should have trained.

That thought kept running through my mind as we lined up with some 40,000 runners at the 41st start of Spokane's annual Bloomsday run. It was to be Leigh's 27th time running the race. It was my first. Leigh has come close, but not quite cracked, the top 10% of runners in her age group in her previous races. She hit 11% and 12% but has always finished in the top 20%.

Until today.

Leigh was adjusting her pace to mine. In short bursts, I can run faster than Leigh, but that ability counts for exactly zero for Bloomsday. The race is 12 kilometers long. A 12K. Or 7.45 miles long. With hills. One called 'Doomsday hill'. With a big vulture at the top.

I should have trained.

Leigh's daughter joined us briefly prior to the start but worked her way up to the faster group starting ahead of us. In the end she would finish some 30 minutes ahead of us.

After four decades of running the race, the organizers have developed great ways to manage 40 to 60 thousand runners and walkers. There's one starting line, but people are queued up by speed. The wheel chair racers fire off first, then the elite runners, then the very good runners and so on with the walkers starting last. The start is on one street, Riverside, but sets of side streets are used to access the starting processional on Riverside. As each group starts, the remaining throng shuffle forward, closer to the starting line.

The Bib has a RFID chip and your start is automatically timed when you cross the starting line. Cool technology.

Also after four decades, traditions have set in. One was the beach ball. Despite rules that forbid it, several beach balls appear and the crowd keeps them airborne as we all await the start. Tortillas also fly around like floppy Frisbees. Some runners wear old shirts to ward off the morning chill and as the clock winds down they fling the shirts in the trees lining the street.

The start went well and Leigh and I set into a comfortable pace. We ran most of the first 3 miles, with the exception of a few small hills. Scattered crowds line the streets. There are political messages, religious messages, and several bands along the course. Always something to look at. One band had an annoyingly catchy blues song entitled 'My bi-polar baby'. "She's up, She's down, she's all around, my bi-polar baby...". It stuck with me a while for reasons unknown.

The organization of the race is unbelievable. At the high water mark they had close to 60,000 people racing and today 40,000 had turned out. One example was the water stations every 2 miles. They were staggered, and the first one had a long line of volunteers offering water on the left side for perhaps half a block then more volunteers on the right side offering water for another half a block or so. As you approached, the tendency was to go left and grab the first available water. But a fellow on a loudspeaker was exhorting runners to go the right. 'Our water is cleaner, cheaper, colder on the right side'. The result was a more or less even distribution of people grabbing water.

Leigh's niece graduated from medical school and is currently doing her residency. She and her husband were volunteering on the sidelines just beyond mile 2 offering medical support. Mercifully I didn't require any assistance then or later (but I should have trained!!). We saw them as we passed and waved.

Vulture atop doomsday hill. With Leigh waving.

Doomsday hill was not bad, but we walked it. We walked it quickly, but we walked. Leigh could've run it, but I would have really struggled. The vulture at the top is a nice touch.

One humorous sidelight was a guy on the side of the course in a chair. He had a case of Coors Light beer and some small cups. He was filling them up announcing himself as the 'coors light water station'.

Mile 3 gave way to 4, then 5 and 6. Leigh could have run the entire thing without walking, but I needed to walk a bit then resume running. I really should have trained. This is a race that is both fun and one should take seriously. The Bloomsday run has become part of Spokane's DNA. The school system has programs to get kids fit enough to run Bloomsday. There are a few 'I've run them all' T shirts. We didn't see one but Leigh's daughter did.

Every race has a T shirt specially designed for that year. Each year has a poster.

And back to our race. Every half mile or so there's a band playing. You can vote for the best band at the end of the race and there are incentives and awards given to the best band. Leigh made it a point to cheer and clap for each of the bands, showing appreciation for coming out to the course.