Bloomin' Good Fun

Just got back to Plains from Spokane - beautiful drive over the Thompson Pass Road.

Bloomsday was a blast. Weather was great - mid-40's during the race. Some wind; but, nothing severe and never enough to really affect pace or effort.

I hadn't been to Bloomsday in 10 years; and, I forgot what a blast it was to hit a mega-event. The whole carnival atmosphere really makes the whole racing experience that much more enjoyable.

My race went okay. Didn't quite hit my goal of a sub-45:00 race. Was just off with a 45:15 or so (still waiting to see the official results). Never felt in a really good rythm and didn't feel "fast". But, at the same time, never really felt bad either. And, never had any real bad patches. Just kind of a bland day. On the up side, was happy that I stayed within about 15 - 20 seconds of pace (relative to the overall race pace) on the hill at 2 miles and on Doomsday.

The rest of the family had pretty good days. Zoe ran the farthest that she ever has and hit about 1:08:30 for her race. Just a bit over 9:00 pace for her. And Erin hit 9:35's in her 1:11:30+-. They both enjoyed the event immensely. Who knows, I may even convert Erin into a true runner yet. It's taken me 25 years; but, I'm still working on it.

Not sure who all was there from Montana - but, here is who I saw.

Nicole Hunt and Mary Thane both ran in the elite women's race. Nicole was around 44:30 and was in the top-10 American women and probably in the top-30 overall. And, likely in the top-5 of 1st year mommies :-) Mary ran around 49:00; but, wasn't sure where that place her.

Casey Jermyn was in the elite men's start. Didn't see him after; so, not sure how he made out.

Rye Palen and Jenny Newton of Missoula were on the front line of the 2nd seed field and both had to have been in the high 40's low 50's.

Mark and Jennifer Burke of Frenchtown were also in the front of the 2nd Seed, together with the Neal twins of Bozeman.

Tim Dumas of Bozeman was close behind me at the finish and must have been in the 46's.

Tim Brooker of Missoula had to have been around 50:00 as a 58-year old. Pretty impressive considering Boston was only 3 weeks ago.

Also saw Don Kardong (founder of Bloomsday and 4th place in the 1976 Olympic Marathon) (tsk tsk to you if youd didn't already know that piece of running history) at the start of the 2nd Seed area. He had on a cool Bloomsday singlet that read "I've Run Them All" on the back.

Will have to wait a day or two to get the full results; but, they can be found at www.bloomsdayrun.org for those that are interested. I'll try to list the highlights here by mid week.

The Muddy Buzzard