Bloomsday is one of the largest races in the US, with an average of over 38,000 participants annually (and record numbers in the 50,000s, since you can sign up until the day before). It is also Washington State´s largest race! In 2023 participation was down to 25,882, a downward trend of participation has been seen in road races since 2019 plus the slow return after covid has really effected races. 2023 was the perfect year to run Bloomsday, I had no big races on the calendar and I was actually in Washington State to finally run Bloomsday and get this classic experience checked off!

I´ve always wanted to run Bloomsday, ever since I started running (many years ago). Signing up for Bloomsday started a splurge of race registrations for me therefore it is the first of multiple exciting race adventures I registered for so far this year! I decided to chase the 3 biggest 10k/12k races in the US, read about Peachtree 10k and Bolder Boulder 10k. Plus I coupled this Bloomsday trip with a cycling adventure over to Cour d´Alene days before the race.

Bloomsday as you may know takes place in the City of Spokane on the Eastern side of the state. Spokane is the state´s second largest city, with a metro area of just over 450,000 residents. Bloomsday is the first Sunday of May and it sets the stage for the Lilac Festival the following week which is Spokane´s namesake, the Lilac City. It is also my favorite flower, yet another reason this race has been on the list…that oh so sweet smelling flower I love, Lilacs…unfortunately it was not quite in full bloom yet for this years race!

Bloomsday has a distance of 12km or 7.46 miles, a very irregular distance to race. Not your average 10k nor a 15k but a 12k. It is almost a complete loop that leaves downtown Spokane and goes around the Spokane River only to end on the opposite side of a bridge that crosses back into downtown again. This final part, crossing the bridge, is after you finish so you walk it while taking in Spokane Falls and finally make your way over to grab your reward. The reward is a finisher´s t-shirt. That is right, no medal in this race but instead a cool finishers T that is always a surprise to participants. The T-shirt design is selected by a public competition the race holds every year. In the 47th running of the race the 2023 finishers shirt was black, apparently it is the first time it has ever been this color. I was told the schools in Spokane each year have kids try to guess what the color will be and the closest to guessing gets a reward for their class! By the way, my coworker´s dad has run all 47 editions, he is 77 years old! That is a lot of t-shirts ;)! Another great surprise are the free downloadable finishline photos that come a month later – don´t forget to smile :D.

For Bloomsday I was second seed, generally meaning you have a fast time and can be placed ahead of thousands of runners (but behind the sponsored runners: elite and race sponsors/corporate VIPs). You can get this by racing the previous year with a time below 48 minutes for men/58 minutes for women (or top 5 in age group) or by submitting a 10k race with a qualifying time. Given that 10s of thousands participate in Bloomsday everyone I spoke to said I should apply to get second seed so I don´t have so many runners in the way. A friend who was in a later wave said she started in the front of their wave and were okay for a few miles until they caught up to the previous wave and then it was a maze of runners they had to finagle through. I enjoyed being second seed because there was a lot of space but also felt I missed something by being one of the first ones.

The race was nice overall but for most of the race many of the roads were not accessible to others, aka less cheering but still plenty made it out to cheer even in these areas. There was a lot of unique music along the way; an accordion, bagpipe, Christian band and of course doomsday rock leading up to the doomsday hill (aka the huge hill we ran up). The race starts out flat then you go down a hill which is followed by plenty of small hills with long flat portions after each until you get past the College where the descent to the bridge is and then it is the infamous Doomsday hill everyone will be speaking about. If you have not seen this hill before racing know that it does seem quite scary. Doomsday hill is so important in the race that it gets a separate time split just for this segment which you can potentially brag about later if you are the champion of the hill and if not at least you can tell your story of how it went for you to anyone. The hill is about 3/4 of a mile long with 120 ft of elevation gain. I did try to pick up pace but again it is a hill, it took me 2 minutes and 39 seconds. After the hill there is a tad bit more hill then flat and finally downhill to the bridge over Spokane Falls which marks the finishline. Ending the race here is great because you literally have the whole bridge just for runners who get to enjoy views of the Falls as you saunter over to grab your finisher tee!

During the whole race I followed a chicken, well a costume that was a chicken. He was simply the best, very fast and had a shirt that said you just got chicked. He also played his part well the whole race…every time someone would make a chicken noise he would respond by flapping the wings, boking, gobble gobbling, etc and he received plenty of cheers! I enjoyed his company so much I got a photo with him at the finish…which made the race´s social media page…definitely not a first but still cool to be race famous for a minute! The chicken was one of two I had my eyes on the whole race with intentions to pass.

Once I passed the chicken I focused on a girl ahead of me who was also there the whole time. In order to reach her though I really had to lower my pace in the last mile and a half. I wasn´t sure I had it in me without giving myself a side stitch/cramp from over exerting myself…aka going faster than my body might be used to or is prepared for…but I pushed hard and passed her with a few blocks to spare all was side stitch free! It felt good, though I am pretty sure time wise she still beat me…ha ha.

I am happy to finally have experienced Bloomsday, ran the time I was training for which was around 50 minutes 😀 and got to enjoy the experience with my parents who drove over to cheer me on as well as with some coworkers originally from Spokane who were in town for the race weekend. Adding on the bike ride made for a very active trip and overall lovely experience in Spokane. I am super happy I was able to do both successfully and extra grateful to my coworker who drove me back to Seattle so I didn´t have to suffer the 4 am Amtrak train home…eek!

Onwards to the next set of races: BolderBoulder 10k and Peachtree 10k

Pre Race

Given I was with my bike I explored quite a bit and even stayed in two different locations while in town.

I stayed one night camping at Riverside State Park (highly recommend this area to cycle or run). This area was somewhat hilly yet fun and seemed to attract many outdoor enthusiasts. To arrive I went down a huge hill, which was the Doomsday Hill for the race. As I cycled down it I thought, ¨woah, where did this steep hill come from…, wait, is thisss the hill they speak ooooof?¨, maybe not the best news but at least I saw it before hand. Riverside State Park had great but basic amenities and had tons of hiking trails across the Bowl and Pitcher bridge. I must say the river was moving very fast under that bridge…you would not want to have fallen/jumped in! The only downside staying here was that if you wanted food it was up the hill in a small neighborhood. The neighborhood was cute and options though few were really good but on bike it was 20 minutes away. Lastly, before leaving Riverside State Park and heading to my next accommodation a friend met up with me here in the morning to share some miles on the trails at an easy pace.

Finally packed up, I biked over to the race´s Expo right in downtown where I would check in and get my bib number. The expo was big but felt very community ran. In other words it felt homey and comfortable. Everything was locally designed, many local businesses had stands there in addition to big brands and it seemed almost entirely volunteer run.

The night before the race I had an airbnb over in North Monroe. Being from Washington I have been to Spokane many times but in reality I have mostly been there in passing, maybe staying a night on my way somewhere else. Since it is right off I-90 and is about a 5 hour drive from Seattle it is the perfect stop. This trip felt like the first time I really was staying there so I made a point to get to know it better by staying in various areas and exploring other neighborhoods on bike. North Monroe was more run down but had an up and coming vibe with a couple of cool bars and restaurants sprinkled in among antique shops. On my way to the airbnb I also cycled the opposite direction along the Centennial Trail´s Northwest bank along the river to check out that area too. This West side of Spokane was very residential with a lot of new modern builds…the path over here had really nice views. For reference, once you pass Doomsday hill you run in this area but a few streets over, so no views.

My suggestions for a visit to Spokane:

This was the first time I actually got to know Spokane, Washington besides the usual passing through/overnight on I-90 or for a work conference so this time I had a chance to explore a bit more and this is what I suggest.

• Don´t miss Riverfront Park, built for World´s Fair in 1974 and be sure to search for the runners sculpture, the Radioflyer, the early 1900s carousel, the garbage goat and of course the Falls with it´s many view points at the park´s center
• Kendall Yards area and beyond
• Davenport Hotel
• Manito Park
• North Monroe or just Monroe (for antiques or a different vibe)
• Riverside State Park!
• …Next time I would like to hike up Mount Spokane
• Food/Beverage favorites this trip were Elliotts (unique food and brews), Hello, Sugar!, (yummy mini donuts) and Method Juice (smoothies and acai) and I wish I went to For the Love of God for pizza instead of The Flying Goat. Click here for more.

Also, if you have a car and some extra days, I do recommend a drive over to Cour d´Alene, Idaho, quite the cute city on a lake!

Registration for Bloomsday opens – Click here

Riverside State Park (Spokane)

Spokane To Do Options

Bike Rentals in Spokane

Cycling to Coeur d´Alene, Idaho