Bloomsday!

Bloomsday is one of the largest footraces in the whole world.  It is 50,000 people running, walking, and everything in between.  

*Matching head-to-toe.  In the words of George Bush, "Mission accomplished."  

In early April Sports Authority was running a promotion (pun intended) that extended free Bloomsday entry to customers purchasing footwear.  I decided at the checkout register that I was going to make a return to run Bloomsday. I feel so lucky because I have the health to say, "Yes, I can go run 7.5 miles as part of a training weekend, for fun, at the spur of the moment."  So many people wish, and wish, and wish for health like I have.  I don't take that for granted. 

I haven't run in Bloomsday since 2006.  That's a long time.  I decided that I would do something I rarely ever do, run it "for fun."  I trained right through it with hard workouts on Friday night and Saturday.  On top of that there wasn't a lot I could do anyways because I haven't run a qualifier time in over 5 years so I get put waaaayyy back in the back groups lining up behind 30,000 people who have run qualifying times in the last few years. My two goals for the run were to 

1. Have Fun.

2.  Look Good 

*I will give you one guess as to which one was more important to me. If you said "look good" then shame on you, you don't know me at all...or maybe you know me too well. ha ha ha.

I also wanted to "wing it" a little bit. I am a planner and when it comes to triathlon I am a schedule-machine, I didn't want to plan for this, I wanted to relax and run.  No watch, no splits, just moving legs and breathing lungs.

I showed up 10 minutes before the start of my wave, which in a huge race seems nuts, so I started at the back. I ran fast when I felt good and tried to pass as many people as I could.  I think 10,000 is a reasonable estimate of the number people I passed over the nearly hour long race.  That's about 3 people a second, that's how packed it was.  

*The epic start of over 50,000 people. 

The start is flippin' nuts, it's shoulder to shoulder, no passing, no escape.  It took me nearly 10 minutes just to get to the start line after the gun went off...and I relaxed and enjoyed it.  Starting in the back groups made my run full of constant weaving through foot traffic, drafting, and changing of speeds.  I am glad I watched Nascar the morning of.  I am a big Nascar fan and this was just like Nascar on shoes.  If you see a line that is moving you jump in and ride it through, you work the draft, and use accelerations to pass literally hundreds of people when the gaps open up.  At times you have to weave in and  out with stutter steps, take to the sidewalks, and other times you have to [respectfully and gently] move people out of your own line when you get squeezed.  I actually enjoyed the crowd very much.    

*Other than the start, the feared Doomsday Hill is the other famous part of the course.

The race was fun, period.  I had a good time doing something I don't usually do.  I even enjoyed the relaxing moments when I couldn't pass and just surrendered to becoming part of the massive moving pack that snaked the streets as far as I could see.  It's not always about going as fast as you can, sometimes you have to enjoy things.  I also found it very fun to pass so many people, it's not usually like that.  It was literally Nascar on our feet, and it was awesome. 

It was nice to be a "Bloomie."  Congratulations to everyone.