Man will run in 31st Bloomsday on Sunday
SPOKANE, Wash. -- There have been 30 annual Bloomsday road races in Spokane, and John Howard has run in all of them.
The 31st edition of what is billed as the world's largest road race in which all the participants are timed is this Sunday. Howard, 79, is one of just 122 "perennial" runners who have competed in every single Bloomsday.
Before his first Bloomsday in 1977, Howard had never run such a long distance.
"Well, I think one time I struggled through 4½ miles, but then that first Bloomsday was more than eight miles," Howard said.
It was tough to cover that distance. At one point, he stopped at a friend's tavern and got a beer.
A World War II veteran, he built a business making glue-laminated beams in Spokane. Now he lives near Sandpoint, Idaho, where he retired on land on the Pend Oreille River.
Why does he run Bloomsday every year? His wife calls it a fun habit. Howard said it's simply a way to mark another year of running.
The race grew from a field of about a thousand the first year to more than 60,000 participants at its height. It drew about 45,000 runners last year.
What is his best time? "Oh, I don't know. I've always done it more for the experience than the competition," he said.
He said running clears his head.
"I used to come home at night saying you got this problem and this problem, and I would get up the next morning and run for an hour or so, and things would just kinda straighten out," Howard said.
Howard isn't thinking of retiring from the race. After he turns 80 in July, Howard said he looked forward to being in a new age bracket for the 2008 race.
Former Olympic marathoner Don Kardong founded the race as a "Run With the Stars" fun run in 1977. That year, Olympic gold and silver medalist Frank Shorter crossed the line first.
The race continued to grow in popularity over the years, peaking at 61,298 registrants in 1996.
The race starts in downtown Spokane, then winds through streets west of town before climbing "Doomsday Hill" and finishes downtown near the Monroe Street Bridge and Spokane River falls.
Top runners and wheelchair racers began competing for prize money in 1982.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
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