Bloomsday: It’s a love & hate relationship

I hate Bloomsday. You can ask anyone. I really don’t like it. Last year we broke up and I didn't run it. It felt great. J

This year I am running Bloomsday a week after Eugene. I have a feeling it will hurt…A LOT. The course isn’t friendly. Doomsday Hill is a b*tch. I have cursed it every year I have run it.

My coach gave me a strict no running for 2 weeks post Eugene mandate. However, Bloomsday is his only exception to this rule. He seems to think I can still beat a lot of chicks even 7 days post marathon (we shall see about that). Since I will have not run at all during the week I am hoping that my legs will feel somewhat fresh come Sunday morning.  I have ZERO goals for this race other than to finish with a SMILE on my face. If I walk, I walk. Considering that it is only 7 days post marathon I will take anything!

They have a contest as part of Bloomsday called “corporate cup” where companies can compete against each other by forming employee teams. I ran for two years on EWU’s team when I worked there and this year I will be running for Deaconess Hospital. I believe our team is called the “Drug Runners”.

It is difficult to run a decent time at Bloomsday. Over the years, my times have varied A LOT! Seriously- check out this evaluation chart!

2004  1:05:19                    

Sophomore at EWU, ran Bloomsday after running an 800 and 1500 at a collegiate track meet the day before. This was the last year where Bloomsday didn’t use timing chips so this time isn’t accurate. It includes the time it took me to get across the start line and then run the 12K. Since I was in the middle of the “yellow” group it probably took me 5 + minutes to run across the starting line.

2006  1:20:52

Senior year at EWU. Clearly I was not in shape and probably hadn’t ran for months before.

2007 1:17:56

Still hadn’t gotten the running bug back post college.

2008  58:38

This was the year I started running in January. My goal was to finish in under 60min. If I accomplished that I would register for my first ½ marathon at the end of May in CDA.  I ran on EWU’s corporate cup team this year.

2009  54:31

This was the first year I can say I actually put in some effort towards training, however, I died on Doomsday Hill. I struggled for the last 2 miles to finish.  This was the last year I ran on EWU’s all female corporate cup team and WE WON!!! I got a shiny medal J

2010  1:05:01

This was right after my disastrous Boston Marathon experience. I walked multiple times and really didn’t care. J

I have waffled back and forth as to deciding whether or not to run this year. It is a HUGE event for Spokane. You get to run with around 60,000 of your closest friends. The crowds are insane and at times annoying, but it can be fun.  Luckily, I will get to start at the front (Wheel chair racers, elites, corporate cup (ME!!!!)/second seed, yellow corral, green corral, etc.). Even if I wasn’t in corporate cup I would still be in front because I had second seed qualifying time from Rapid Rabbit last month. To qualify for second seed females have to run a designated 5 mile race in 37:00 or a 5K in 22:30. I ran Rapid Rabbit in 33:12.

Mr. Healthy Diva was disappointed when I told him I might not run this year. He was really disappointed that I didn’t run last year. Apparently he likes to use my finishing time as his bragging rights for the year. J

At this point I am planning on running Sunday, but if I am not feeling it come race time I will bag it.

Is anyone else running Bloomsday this year?

--Tasha