Coon Family Hiking Club

Bloomsday - Info

General
     # of Participants:   49,674
     Our Official Time:   2:26:57
     Our Average Pace: 19:41 per mile

Temperatures
     5:30 am:   33° Morning Coffee
     8:30 am:   45° Waiting for bus
     9:45 am:   47° Start of Race
     11:30 am: 53° At Doomsday Hill

Wind
     Start of Race: 10 mph - sunny
     End of Race:   20 mph - overcast


Entire Course		Elevation Changes
COURSE MAPS


Dotti and I wanted to wear DWLZ T-shirts this year during the Bloomsday Race. Unfortunately, much of our free time for the week was taken up by a fall my mother had taken on the Sunday before Race Day, where she broke her hip. Mom had a bar placed in her hip bone that was screwed into place and then they had her up and walking with it. She was out of the hospital and into rehab before Friday, and that freed us up to prepare for the race. However, that didn't give us a lot of time to get T-shirts made up. On the morning of Friday, April 30th, two days before the race, we started hunting around on the Internet and we found a store in the mall that prints up T-shirts the same day. So, we dropped in there first and put in our order. The girl at the counter was very helpful in creating our desired design and told us that we could pick them up sometime before 9 pm for sure. She said she would give us a call on our cell phone when they were ready. We were all set. This was our first Bloomsday without our friends Jim and Tammy joining us. In fact to be more accurate, it has always been us joining them, because Tammy introduced us to the race in the first place. Unfortunately, Tammy was having some back issues that kept her out of the race this year. We really missed them throughout the entire process! It started on Friday, after we left the T-shirt store, when Dotti and I headed downtown to get our racing packets. In the past, we have gone with our friends, riding in their van as a group. This time Dotti and I drove down by ourselves, found a parking spot, and walked over to the Spokane Convention Center. We first headed over to where we checked in in 2006, the last time we were in the race. There is a breezeway that we had to walk through, down towards the Spokane River, and then we turned right and came in from the back of the Spokane Arena. Fortunately, there was a gentleman there who caught us as we first got to the breezeway and he told us that the Bloomsday check-in was "at the building by the Double Tree." We didn't even realize that there was a Double-Tree Hotel around there, so that wasn't too helpful, but he also pointed at the Spokane Convention Center. Since that was "the building by the Double Tree" we were all set. We had been there before. We picked up our racing packets, which included our racing "bibs" with our "bib numbers" on them. We also got our electronic keys that would trigger a timer as we passed the start and finish lines, so we would get an "official time." There were booths where running gear, and other health related products were on sale. We wandered through the booths and finally headed out to get something to eat. We walked to the car and dropped off our packets and then walked to Red Robin for lunch, and during our meal, my cell phone rang. It was the girl telling me that our T-shirts were ready. Excellent! After lunch, we walked over to a really nice bookstore we spotted on the way to Red Robin, and it was called "Auntie's." It looked like a small version of Powell's Bookstore in Portland. We picked up a number of books before heading back to our car. It was a fun little outing. Fortunately, Bloomsday check-in was a little less crowded on Friday afternoon than it would have been on Saturday, so that was nice. Still, it wasn't the same without our friends with us to share the experience. When we got to the mall we picked up our shirts and we were very happy with the way they turned out.
	I woke up around 5:30 am on race day. The weather for Sunday turned out to be a nice change from what we had on Saturday (rain, rain, rain) and what we were scheduled to have on Monday (rain and lots of wind). We had a nice sunny morning right off. As you can see by our thermometer on our deck, it was a bit cold (down in the 30's), but that was due to the radiant cooling overnight with the clear sky. The sun started warming things up a bit as soon as it cleared the horizon.
Here's Dotti in her new DWLZ T-shirt. We both wore long-sleeved shirts under the T-shirts because the temperature was not supposed to get very high during the race, and we wanted to keep warm. Dotti looks ready to go!
	Here's yours truly in my new shirt. We put our names on the shirts, just to make sure we remembered them.
On the back we wanted to let people know that DWLZ stood for Dotti's Weight Loss Zone.
	Next came the race specific items. The race timing electronic key was embedded into this plastic strip. When we picked it up, before we left the area, they had us test them to make sure the machine could pick up our keys and associate our names with our individual keys. We were instructed to put the plastic strip through our shoelaces as is shown in the photo.
I had on my boots, because I had found that the tennis shoes I have right now have left my feet hurting after I have done one of my 8.1 mile walks around the area by our home. The boots on the other hand have been very easy on my feet during my long walks. Since I knew we wouldn't be pushing it too hard, I figured that the extra couple of pounds that I would be carrying because of the boots shouldn't cause a problem.
Next came the racing "bibs." Here's Dotti with hers pinned to her shirt. We were able to get the bibs on without blocking out any of the lettering on our shirts.As always, Dotti's beautiful smile is radiant! She looks ready to go. If you sum all the digits in Dotti's bib number, they come to 19, which is how old she was when she married me.
	Somehow this old guy has been lucky enough to be married to Dotti for over 33 years. (On June 10, it will be 34 years!) I liked by bib number, because my high school graduating class was the class of 70. So, it helped me to easily remember my number.
Also, If you sum up all the digits they come to 19, which is the same total as Dotti's bib number. We are a matched set! We knew our group (Lilac) would be starting out around 9:44 am. They wanted us there 30 minutes before that. The buses would be running from early until 8:30 am. So, we decided to catch one around 8 am, to avoid the last minute rush, but also not get down there too early and have to stand around waiting in the crowd that would be there. We got down to the mall parking lot, where we would be leaving our van, a little later than we originally planned, but just a few minutes. However, the line was far longer than we had ever seen it before! It formed a horseshoe that seemed impossibly long at first. It ran from the busses, up the road to the entrance to the parking garage, all the way across the garage, and then back along the road along the stores of the mall itself, back to where it was even with where the busses were loading. Wow! We got in line and just hoped that we were going to get there in time. I mentioned to Dotti that I was glad that we were Lilac group this time, instead of Orange like our previous races, because we would be starting two groups later, and have more time. I said, "I would be upset about this line if we were Orange." The lady in front of us said, "I'm Orange." She smiled. I said, "Sorry," feeling sheepish. We talked with the gentleman and this lady all the way up to the buses and it was fun. As we got up into the parking garage, nearly 1/3 of the way to the bus loading area, the guy asked Dotti about her T-shirt. He could only see the front. He wondered what DWLZ stood for. So, Dotti turned around and showed him the back. "Dotti's Weight Loss Zone," she said. All at once a light went on, for the lady and she said, "Are you Dotti? I go to your site all the time!" The conversation went over to weight loss for a bit and then on to other topics. It was great having such nice people to visit with as we waited. The time went by really quickly, and the line moved in a hurry as well. They were running lots of busses and as soon as one arrived, it filled right up and was on its way.
At this point, we were on the right side of the garage and were heading towards the actual loading zone. It was nearly 8:30, but we still had plenty of time, since we were in the next to the last starting group. I had on a flannel shirt that was fairly warm, but it was a color that I didn't really care for very much.
There is a Bloomsday tradition where many of the racers wear some extra clothing to keep warm, and then toss the extra item or items into the trees at the start of the course. Later the clothes are collected and handed out to people who could use them. I had decided that was where my shirt was going to end up. In the meantime I would be warmer. A couple people in line were in shorts and tank-tops already. If they were not cold, they were missing a really great chance to be.
	Looking through the garage back to where we started our waiting, you can see that the line still hasn't gotten any shorter!
When we got up to the loading area, we thought about waiting for the next bus, because this one was loaded to standing room only, but then we had a change of mind and decided to go ahead and stand. So, we ended up at the very front of the bus, where we could converse with the driver without having to raise our voices.
I stuck my camera out in front of us and turned it back to take our picture. If you look in my glasses, you can see the reflection of the driver, a bit of the blue sky, and the brightly lit road ahead of us. On the right, without using my sunglasses, you can see my lovely Dotti and her beautiful smile.
	I next put the camera up over my head and shot down the length of the bus. We had plenty of people onboard!
We are downtown now. On the right is the Spokane Convention Center where we registered for the race on Friday. Look at the blue sky and all the sunshine! It was a great day for a race.
	As we walked down to the corner of Bernard and Riverside avenues, where our Lilac group was forming up, I noticed that we were walking right past the parking lot where we had left our car when we were checking in on Friday for the race.
We parked right up against the building with the stairs running up the side of it, just under the landing in the middle of the stairs. A little detail came to mind, when I saw the orange box that the group of people are walking past in that parking lot, where I put in one piece of paper, printed up by the US Treasury, a $5 bill, to get another printed piece of paper back saying we could park there until 4:22 pm. (It is amazing how many abstractions we rely on in our lives to make things work.)
But all eyes are heading north in this photo, because Riverside Avenue is where the race was going to start, and it was the next road, just north of where we were standing. We could feel the excitement in the air. This was Bloomsday, and the people were crowding in to get started.
Looking north towards Riverside Avenue. I was standing in line to use the restroom, and you can see how long the line was. It was moving very slowly too. But we had arrived in plenty of time, and it was only a question of where we were going to wait: here or in the crowd.
Dotti waited down by the fence, watching the crowd. It wasn't like I was desperate, but I knew it would be a few hours before I would see another restroom that I would be willing to wait for (I hate to stop during the race, and the lines are prohibitively long anywhere along the course. If you stop for a restroom break, you will add a whole lot of minutes to your final time. That is a no-no. ) Later, Dotti pulled a fast one on me. When they released our group to start, Dotti spotted a group of porta-potties between where we were walking and the starting line. She slipped into a very short line, and by the time she had finished we had only fallen back from the early part of our group to the rear part of our group. Our official time didn't start until we hit the Start Line, and so it didn't cost us anything in our official time. That's my Dotti!
	It was nearly 9:30 am, and here we were, standing on Riverside Avenue, looking west, and hoping for the start of the race to come. The scheduled starting time for our group was 9:45, so it was getting close. The camera caught one of the many beach balls that were bouncing around above the crowd, hanging in space near the corner of Washington and Riverside.
In our last race (2006) we were standing and waiting just on the other side of, almost directly beneath, the black covered walking path visible in the distance, enjoying the company of our son LeRoy, our best friends Jim & Tammy, and our nieces Caudy, Misty, & Jamie. We sure missed them all this year! Also, that location is for the Orange group, which is for people who are supposed to be in better shape. We have gone through a very tough time, the past two years, and we are just getting back into the exercise swing of things. So, our goal this year was to simply finish the race. Next year, hopefully we can do a lot better, but one step at a time. I hope one day to be in the Yellow group and maybe run the entire course. That would be cool! Dotti's trainer is talking about getting her jogging, and perhaps she'll do it. So, maybe we both will be in the Yellow group one day. It is something to shoot for anyway. Jim was a runner in school, so maybe he'll be up for it too! (He'll probably be ready before I will. ) But that is all speculation. For now, we focused upon getting to the finish line walking.
Once again, I lifted my camera up and pointed it back over my head. The crowd was filling in behind us.
The way they work it is, each group is assigned one block along Riverside Avenue. (See Course Map "Starting Areas".) The early members of a group line up on their block on Riverside Avenue, until the block is entirely filled with "Bloomies." The later arrivals overflow to the south, onto the intersecting street behind their group block. Bernard was the Lilac group's overflow street, and our group was backing up along Bernard now. When I had been waiting for the restroom, Bernard looked empty, but not any more. On the other side of Bernard's streetlight the Red group was forming up. The Red group was for wheeled vehicles that were being pushed by a racer. Families with strollers, and anyone pushing a wheelchair, etc. would be in the Red group. The rule was that anyone in the Red group was forbidden to run, in the name of safety. Those wheels could cause some real problems if they got tangled up with a racer's feet, or if the vehicle simply ran into someone. In spite of the rule, we saw a couple of inconsiderate members of that group jogging their strollers through pedestrian traffic. One of them unaccountably called out, "I'm not running," as she ran by. Alas, when you get nearly 50,000 people together in a group, it is difficult to get them all to act civilized. Still, the problems were small, considering the size of the group, and generally, the participants were thoughtful, very courteous, and were there to have fun. You can go out and do 7.46 miles anytime you want to, all by yourself. And that is fun. I have been doing an 8.1-mile loop near our house lately to get ready for Bloomsday, and it has been enjoyable. But what makes this particular 7.46-mile course fun are the people! It is the laughing, the beach balls, the costumes, the cheers of the onlookers, and the high spirits of the participants that makes Bloomsday a very special event. You don't have to be in great shape, or make the finish in a really good time in order to have a great time. You just have to be there!
	We were standing right beside The Onion restaurant, and on its sign, there is a "WELCOME BLOOMIES" message to cheer us on our way. That is the spirit we saw over and over again all along the course, shown by the people of Spokane. This city really gets behind this race and that makes it great!
Our group started moving pretty close to 9:45, as scheduled. We were near the start of the group. Dotti made her restroom stop as I mentioned above, and when we got back into the race we were at the point you see in this picture at 9:58 am.
We were coming up to Post Street, with a fairly new Banner Bank building on the right. On the side of the road, hanging from the trees, there are discarded clothes that would be collected either by, or for, those who could use them. I left my flannel shirt with others' discarded garments, where we had waited for our group to start. I had enjoyed the shirt's warmth while we waited for the sun to cut the chill from the morning air, or at least until we got moving to create our own heat. It wasn't until the very end of the race, when clouds came over and a cold wind came whipping along the Spokane River that I missed that shirt. But it wasn't too bad, and I didn't get a serious chill. (In 2006 I recall being a lot colder after the race was over. On the other hand, I was much too warm in 2004.) The BLOOMSDAY START line was clearly marked with a banner, and purple—or Lilac if you will—balloons. The “race” was about to begin for us. The sky was blue and there was no hint that things were going to cloud up later and threaten to rain.
	When we got up to Post Street, I turned to the right and looked down the street. There was River Park Square. Since we have moved here, I am slowly learning the area of Spokane. But I get little surprises sometimes like this.
It is funny how memory can overwhelm a moment. Suddenly I had a flashback to the Christmas Season in 2009, when Dotti and I came down to the River Park Square on Sunday December 6. There was an incredibly large Christmas tree that stood right behind that glass wall, and it nearly ran from floor to ceiling! I took a photo of Dotti standing very near the top of that tree, right after we had lunch at Subway inside. We were trying to warm up after our walk down by the Spokane River in brutally cold temperatures, coupled with a big wind chill. I remember that it was much warmer inside than it was out, and suddenly, it felt much warmer outside on race day too.
At 2 minutes after 10 am, I snapped this picture. The crowd was surging forward towards the BLOOMSDAY START line, and a man was on a platform to the right urging us on, backed by a microphone connected to a really good amp and speaker set up. The 7.46 miles would begin at the line.
	The time was 10:03 am, and as you can tell from the balloons at the top of this picture, we were at the START LINE. Our race had begun.
Of course there was no way we would have been able to run at this point, even if we had desired to do so. I learned back in 2004 that moving quickly through this herd is no mean feat, even if you are in the Orange group. If you want to run, you have to get over to the side of the road and work your way past the group, but even that won't work at the start of the race. If you truly want a good time, you have to be in one of the front groups: preferably the White or the Yellow. Then you can take right off running. In Lilac, you are a walker, whether you want to be or not, at least for the early part of the course. Fortunately, Dotti and I had every intention of being walkers for this time. However, the first couple of miles, we found that we couldn't even walk at a fast enough pace. I had been doing longer walks lately, so I let Dotti set the pace for us. She surprised me early on, when she suddenly took off on a jog to move forward past a slower group. For nearly the first 2 miles of the race it is either level or downhill. During this time, Dotti worked her way left and right with short bursts of speed to find clear walking paths for us. Each time she took off, I worked my way through to catch up with her. We were moving a lot faster than I had expected to be before the race started. I was concerned with how we would be doing at the end, after getting such a brisk start.
It was 10:09 am, and the crowd was thinning just slightly. Along the left side of the road, a bit of an opening was starting to form, and a lime green clad young lady has her pony tail flaring out behind her her as she is jogging past our group.
On the balcony to the left there is a group of people leaning over the railing and they were calling out encouraging words, suggesting that we all stay the course and congratulating us on participating. All along the parts of the course, where it ran through residential areas, we found people like this cheering us on. It added a very special something, which heightened our excitement. How could we not be happy that we were at this very place, and at this very time? You can get a pretty good feel for what the temperature was by the way all the people are dressed. There aren't a lot of bare arms out in the air. As we were walking along this part of the course, a thin young lady came jogging up from behind us and asked, "Are you Dotti?" She is a Weight Watchers leader and wanted to say hi. She was really nice and Dotti and I were glad for the opportunity to meet her. It made an already great day even better!
	It was 10:24 am when we approached the end of the first mile. The crowd was still thick, and there weren't many clear walking paths, but the group was moving along at a pretty good clip.
Looking off in the distance you can get a feel for the area of Spokane. There is a valley, with hills and mountains around it. A lot of pines, and other trees, are to be seen. The deciduous trees and shrubs have put new leaves in place of the ones they dropped last autumn, and spring is in the chilly air. Soon, we will be baking in the summer oven, but not today.
It is 10:43 am, and we have hit mile marker 2. The line of Porta-Potties has a line of its own: a queued-up string of people waiting to use them.
The crowd has thinned just a bit by this point in the race, in part because we have started to go uphill finally, and the paces naturally change for people, based upon their fitness level. Some people slow down, but they are passed, and that leaves gaps. That makes walking easier, with less concern over bumping into someone, or having to slow down because the way ahead is completely blocked by slower walkers.
	You can see why they call this "Cemetery Hill." The sky is still mostly blue, but some wispy clouds are starting to creep in. They were just the "scouts" for the "army" that was just behind.
As we continued up Cemetery Hill, the sign ahead was flashing that walking "Bloomies" should bear to the right and runners could then get by on the left.
I didn't see much of an effect that the sign had on the actual behavior of the walkers, but, after fighting through the crowd in 2004, I felt that it was at least a nice sentiment. One little boy asked his father, "Is this Doomsday Hill?" His daddy told him, "No, you will know when we get to the big hill."
	At 11:02 am we hit the 3rd mile marker. Since we started at 10:03, it took us just under 20 minutes per mile to get this far. We continued to improve that slightly as we went along. By the end of the race, we had averaged 19:41 per mile.
We turned off Government Way and were following Fort George Wright Drive as we went past the Spokane Falls Community College.
This was very close to the midpoint of the course. Also, Doomsday Hill, which is a 0.72-mile long upgrade that climbs 145 feet, was not far ahead of us, and the fire department had staked out the area as its base of operations for emergencies it seemed. There was a helicopter as well as some emergency vehicles—standing and waiting.
	At 11:21, we hit mile marker 4. There were restrooms and a water station here. As always there was a long line for the restrooms, and the tell-tail paper cups on the road let us know that participants have grabbed a cup of water and then let the container drop to the ground where it becomes flattened by the passing "Bloomies." On a hot day, those water stations are a life saver.
And there it is, Doomsday Hill off in the distance, as we are making our final descent of the course, and head down towards the T. J. Meenach Bridge.
Off in the distance lies Pettet Drive, more commonly known to Bloomsday participants as Doomsday Hill. The road, which runs up the side of that hill, would not be so noticeable, if it were not for all those people walking up it. Very soon it would be our turn!
Notice the open walking path ahead of us. Once again, the change in elevation had spread out the walkers. We actually had some elbow room!
	The T. J. Meenach Bridge I believe is named for a 1943 State Senator from Spokane named Thomas J. Meenach. It replaced a previously built structure that wasn't all that old, built around 1970.
However, the old bridge had been inspected in 1990, and it got a "sufficiency rating" of only 32 out of 100, and it had a number of serious hits from the inspection team. Even in 1990 there were about 15,900 vehicles running over the, at the time, shaky bridge. Fortunately it was replaced with this very sound structure in 1994. The entire bridge is 681 feet across, and that is about all that stands between us and Doomsday Hill! The time was 12:29 pm.
Crossing the T.J. Meenach Bridge brought to us not only the excitement created by the racers, and the expectation of facing Doomsday Hill, but, looking east, it provided a wonderful view of the beautiful Spokane River flowing by, unconcerned with all the people making such a fuss as they walked over it.
Soon the water here would be flowing into the Columbia River to the west, and then it would be making a trek down past our old home in Vancouver, and then on out into the Pacific Ocean. The green of spring surrounds this lovely river and reminds us that it is good to be alive. It was about here that a coworker of our niece Jamie came running by with her young son. He was in a basketball camp with our little grandson Hunter. She called out "Hi Dotti," and she waved, as the two of them passed us. (I think they went back to walking soon, because we saw them again a little later on. But they were moving along briskly across the bridge!) You see the nicest people out on the Bloomsday Course!
	I turned my camera to the rear once more and looked back from where we came. The temperature was up about 10° from when we started, into the mid 50's, and we had been exercising. So, all the people looked a lot warmer here than they had at the start of the race.
We are just leaving the T.J. Meenach Bridge, and turning onto Pettet Drive, and about to ascend Doomsday Hill. We knew that up there somewhere there was a giant vulture waiting for us and we had already walked over 4 miles. Dotti looks ready to tackle the challenge, so we are off!
	Looking back once more, down the hill at those who are in our wake. The flow of people seems a lot like the flow of the river that is running under the bridge in the distance. The race empties out across the finish line, as those behind come to fill in the void that the finishers leave. But this "river" is short lived, and about to "dry up" for another season very soon.
We have come a long ways up, but still the hill continues to climb ahead of us. Here is where we most feel our lack of conditioning. We are still moving, but our reserves are running down.
	The time is 11:42 am. Here we are at mile 5, at the top of Doomsday Hill, and we are still under 20 minutes per mile. (Our pace to this point was 19:48 per mile.) We were tired, but the rest of the course was on the level—no more ups and downs—and it allowed us to actually increase our pace, ever so slightly.
Here is our buddy the vulture. I remember the first time I saw him in 2004 and I was pretty tired, having pushed my pace up the hill. I thought at the time he was hanging out at the right place.
	The vulture is always a popular attraction and a lot of the racers stop to have their picture taken beside him.
At 12:01 pm, we hit the mile 6 marker. We have left the riverside and are walking in residential housing. You might have noticed that there is a gray tinge to the scene now. Clouds have come pouring over us to block out the sun.
	It may be darkening and the skies might now be gray, but we are very happy to see the end of mile 7! The time is 12:21 pm.
There are venders here and there along the course. Ice cream, and frozen treats of various types are most popular. Here is a coffee stand, in case you just can't wait another half mile to get your next cup.
I always love it when we hit this corner of Broadway and Monroe. It is a turn that, once completed, will show us the finish line, which is located on Monroe Street. Blaring out of a high powered speaker is the Rocky Theme (Gonna Fly Now), pumping up the adrenaline for that last big push to the end. It is enough to make a walker want to run.
There are a lot of the Red group who have passed us by on their way to the line. Mothers with strollers, fathers with strollers, and kids walking beside them, are moving ahead towards the finish. Good for them! I think it is wonderful all the people who come out and enjoy Bloomsday. Most of them are not going to set any world records. But they are the ones that truly make this a super event! Dotti and I were not at our best this year, but that's okay, we did the race, and for this year, that is good enough. Next year, who knows? I think we will do better.
	Here it is: Monroe Street and the BLOOMSDAY FINISH line! It is still off in the distance a bit, but it is on this end of the Monroe Street Bridge. We'll be there soon!
The good news is that the finish lines is a stone's throw away. The bad news is that the clouds are getting thick and threatening to rain all over us.
The balloons across the finish line are all being pushed up by the stiff breeze running along the Spokane River. It suddenly felt cold, and when we slowed down after the finish, it felt colder still. Would it rain? It really felt like it was going to cut loose!
	It was 12:29 when I took this picture of Dotti with the BLOOMSDAY FINISH line right ahead of us. That was 2 hours and 26 minutes from the start. Our official time was 2:26:57. We did it!
Not only are the balloons blowing around in the breeze, but the racing bib on the guy ahead of Dotti is as well. The temperature felt like it had taken a major drop at this time. After the racing timer keys on our shoes registered our official time at the finish, we walked out across the bridge and I said to Dotti, "I hope we can get our shirts before they get soaked. This really feels like rain." Fortunately, I was wrong, and we didn't feel a drop! But we shivered.
Here she is, the love of my life, my very best friend, and fellow Bloomsdayer, with her well earned Bloomsday Finisher T-shirt for 2010. Can you tell she is happy to get it?
	Okay, I am happy too. We had a really good time, and I am very glad we were able to do the race this year!
We walked through the booths in the park at the end of the race, but we were tired and it was getting cold, and who knew when the rain would come? Also, the buses don't run very late, and we wanted to catch one before they quit. So, we walked back to First Avenue, and walked down to the corner where we were dropped off in the morning, and soon we were sitting in a bus with a lot of other "Bloomies" in a sea of green T-shirts. )
Dotti was smiling but looked tired. She especially enjoyed a baby that was across from us on the bus. There was chatter all around us as people discussed their day, and we watched the roads tick off as we headed back to our car.
	It was nice letting someone else worry about driving as we moved through the busy traffic out of the downtown area. But it was also nice to get back to our car and out of the crowds.
When the bus dropped us off, we had to walk down to the north end of the parking garage and then we had the pleasure of climbing one level of stairs to get to our car. You would think that we were old folks to listen to us complain about that climb. I won't be 60 until next year. I don't know what I was complaining about. )
Back home we decided to take one more set of pictures of our new shirts. As bright as they are, I still think Dotti's smile is brighter!
	And here is the other Bloomsday finisher in our house. This is my fourth finisher T-shirt, but after waiting 4 years since my last one, this is really an important one for me. I hope it marks a change of course towards better things for the future.
Dotti took a close up of the design on my finisher T-shirt.
How did it get to be 2010 already? Remember when Y2K was a big deal? Next time its 2011, and we'll try to be there. How about you? We'll see you there we hope!

BLOOMSDAY WALK

May 2, 2010

The Coon Family Hiking Club
Official 2010 Hike #1

LENGTH OF HIKE 7.46 miles (12K)

Al & Dotti: 2 Hours 27 Minutes

COURSE MAPS

We'll see you there we hope!