Let the Bloomsday adventure begin. I was at the trade show before Sheila and I spent a lot of time by the quilt of the Bloomsday shirts. I could have stayed there a long time. It was a place to stop and remember Bloomsdays past. I listened to so many people tell their Bloomsday story. They pointed to the shirts they had and shared the challenges and successes of their Bloomsday experiences. Young families, groups of friends, individuals and seniors like me! This is my story. I started in 1980. I missed 1992 because of knee surgery. I missed 2000 because I hung out with Mike. We were married about 7 weeks later. This will be my 42nd Bloomsday and I plan to keep on going. My story includes a Bloomsday that I was 8 months pregnant and another with a cast on my leg. I did Bloomsday after a ACL reconstruction 5 months before the race. There is one thing stands out more than any these situations. I was able to do Bloomsday 11 months after a ruptured brain aneurysm. That's another story but let's just say medically I should not be here in the condition I am in and I certainly shouldn't have been able to do Bloomsday. Yet, here I am doing it again. This race will always represent the miracle of life I was given. I thank God every day for fully healing me. It's an emotion race for me!
Here we go! Packet pick up and the trade show.
Sheila and I decided that we have seen pretty much everything the trade show has to offer yet we still keep coming. We wander up and down the rows looking for something unique. We find a way to spend about 2 hours wandering around. It's fun and part of the tradition of Bloomsday.
Sunday morning has come! I am off to Bloomsday number 42! The walk to the start line is beautiful. The Spokane River lines the way to Riverfront Park.
This is new to me. You donate to get a lock engraved and put on fence along the bridge.
I have arrived!! Just typing this I get emotional. I love doing this! It is definitely a tradition I hope to continue for a long time.
We have made it to the start line which is great fun. Talking to people around us, checking the time to see how close we are to starting, seeing the crowd of people and more.
We both sported Team Gleason as we always do at Bloomsday.
You can barely see that start line.
God Bless America!
It was a chilly morning but the sweatshirts still went up into the trees to be donated later. This was the first year we saw pants in the trees.
Right about now I started wondering if I would see the traditional helicopter. I thought I had missed it and it is part of the tradition. This just couldn't be happening, I had to see the helicopter. It is part of Bloomsday.
Hooray!! There it is. I didn't miss it. To tell you the truth I have no idea what the helicopter does or why it is there but I like it. It's pilot is probably keeping an eye on things.
Getting closer!
And closer!
Blast off!!!
There are lots of traditions along the way and the choir at the Catholic Church is one of them.
This year I wanted to get a picture of each mile marker. Why, I don't know. I wasn't about to stop at each one for a picture so random people are in the pictures.
We are getting close to the first hill. It's right around the corner.
Maybe the hay bails have been at Bloomsday in past years but I don't remember seeing them.
Lots of bands along the way.
Hill #2
We are close to Doomsday Hill. You can hear people in the crowd start to talk about the climb up the hill.
There it is from a distance. You can expand the picture to see the crowd climbing up Doomsday Hill
And here we go! We always look forward to seeing the 5 mile marker and the vulture at the top of the hill. It is steep and long.
The orange timing strips record the time it takes you to get up Doomsday Hill.
Done! Whew. We are on the home stretch with 2.46 miles to go. Flat miles.
This is a good sign. The vulture.
We had some licorice at the top of the hill to give us an extra push for the last few miles.
Spectators.
We had never seen this group. Very very unique!
Now we really are almost there.
The finish line and the final push to complete Bloomsday number 42!
This shirt wins the prize for the best shirt we saw. Sheila and I weren't last either.
Finishers. We spent some time in Riverfront Park after the race. Had some food and enjoyed the atmosphere. Praise God for another opportunity to do Bloomsday. Forever thankful.
I decided to get my Bloomsday shirts out and line them up in order. I knew I was missing a couple and wanted to find out which ones. I am missing shirts from 1986 and 1987. I checked to see if I had done both of those races. I did. I have no idea what happened to the shirts.
