Early Bloomers Begin Race Training At Weekly Clinics Nearly 600 Attend Kickoff Session For Bloomsday

Don’t believe Bloomsday starts on the first Sunday in May.

For Dick Baker, 57, and hundreds of others, the race has already begun.

Baker, who finished all 19 Bloomsday races, started almost every one at an 8-week training clinic, which kicked off Saturday at West Central Community Center.

Sponsored by Holy Family Hospital and Group Health Northwest, the clinic drew nearly 600 people to the West Central neighborhood Saturday morning.

Many came wearing Bloomsday T-shirts, pushing strollers and with friends. There was a pep talk, music, group stretches and then a mile-long walk or jog.

The distances will gradually increase as the May 7 race approaches. Now in its 18th year, the training clinic is almost as old as Bloomsday itself.

“I’m way behind already,” said Baker whose best time is one hour and 12 minutes. “It’s a year-round thing with me. I have all the T-shirts, even from the first race with only 1,200 finishers.”

“It’s been a long winter,” added Florence Radonich, 61, an arthritis sufferer who cannot walk the Bloomsday course because of the hills and distance, 7.46 miles. But getting out for the clinics does wonders for her spirit.

“I just do the clinics. It’s nice to get out and stretch. I’m not that crazy about T-shirts anyway,” she said.

Lloyd Melcher started running at age 65 and, come May, will run his 12th Bloomsday. Now 76, his best time is one hour, nine minutes. He was at Saturday’s clinic to help reach a goal.

“I want to break an hour,” said the retired carpenter. “I can’t seem to do it, it’s my goal anyway, something to work for.”

Diane Bixby, 39, was at her first clinic, but because of Spokane’s mild winter has been running outside for a month.

“I’d like to hit an hour,” she said. “The weather’s nice, I might as well get an early start.”