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Bloomsday regular readies for 31st

WWII veteran among 122 'perennials' signed up to race

Cate Huisman  •  Correspondent
Published May 3, 2007

John Howard, 79, talks on Tuesday about running in every Bloomsday since the beginning. Howard, a WWII veteran, painted his 1979 Ford a few years ago to show his patriotism. (Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review ) The 'perennials' List of those who have run every Bloomsday race

SANDPOINT – Thirty years ago, as he neared his 49th birthday, John Howard quit smoking and started running a mile a day. Two weeks later he was running his first race, Bloomsday.

As he prepares for the 31st running in Spokane this Sunday, Howard is one of a dwindling few who can say they have run in every Bloomsday since it began. There are 122 of these "perennial" runners signed up to do it at least one more time.

Before that first Bloomsday in May 1977, Howard had never run more than a mile or two at a time, said his wife, Shirley.

"Well, I think one time I struggled through 4 1/2 miles, but then that first Bloomsday was more than eight miles," Howard responded.

To this day he doesn't know how he made it to the finish line, where his wife waited anxiously for several hours. At one point, he stopped in at a friend's tavern and got a beer.

In the decades since, Howard has run almost every day.

A World War II veteran, he built a business making glue-laminated beams in Spokane, where he ran a five-mile route. Now he runs near Sandpoint, where he retired to a sloping plot on the Pend Oreille River. The couple spends the winter in Arizona, and Howard runs there, too.

Howard has run the half-marathon in Chattaroy, Wash., and a few other events, but said he never needed races as a motivator. So why Bloomsday every year? His wife calls it a fun habit. Howard said it's simply a way to mark another year of running.

As it grew from a race of a thousand or so to one with more than 60,000 participants at its height, the big crowds, famous runners and prize money neither inspired him to run faster nor caused him to feel it has lost its luster. Bloomsday has been well-managed as it has grown, he said, and he credits founder Don Kardong's ability to promote the race.

Howard marvels at the ankle bracelet he and other Bloomies wore last year to record exact finish times.

But asked what his best time is, he answers, "Oh, I don't know. I've always done it more for the experience than the competition."

Howard thinks he ran Bloomsday in close to an hour years ago. Although his time has been growing for several years now, he no longer doubts, as he did the first year, that he'll make it to the finish line.

Recently he shortened his running route on the Pend Oreille River to four miles, but little else has changed in his routine. He rises early year-round and heads out. He said he likes to see the deer at that hour.

"I used to go out about 5 o'clock in the morning," he said. Shirley Howard pinpointed the time at 5:18 a.m.

In Arizona, he gets up at dawn daily to circumnavigate the island where they winter on Lake Havasu.

"It's pretty dark for the first mile or so. It's nice to be out there to watch the sun come up," Howard said.

He doesn't mind the repetition, and he's clear about the benefits: Besides the scenery, 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.

His running career has been remarkably free of injuries. He said he hasn't had the knee, hip, ankle or foot problems that plague many runners half his age. Howard emphasizes the importance of using good running shoes and replacing them frequently, although it has left him with far more retired running shoes than he can use for mowing the lawn and working around the house.

Only one injury comes to mind: "One morning it was icy and I slipped and hit a curb. … When I came in to take my shower, I discovered blood all over my leg." The cut required 28 stitches.

He also has had a bout of cancer and surgeries for a few other problems, but none of them stopped his running. After one surgery, his doctor told him when he could return to running a mile a day. Howard asked, "Can I run a mile more than once?"

A few of his 30 Bloomsdays stand out for Howard, like the one in which he ran 7 1/2-minute miles for quite a while before fading at the end. He also recalls, with amusement, running up behind a couple of his son's friends near the cemetery and hearing them exclaim, "Oh my god, it's Jeff's dad!" just before they took off.

This year, as he approaches his 80th birthday in July, Howard will be joined in the race by his daughter and granddaughter from Seattle and his daughter-in-law and grandson from Spokane.

And next year, he said, he looks forward to being in a new age bracket.