Race's name a novel idea
No tiptoe through tulips, Bloomsday mirrors epic odyssey of 'Ulysses'

By Michael Guilfoil
Staff writer

Michael Guilfoil - The Spokesman-Review 52-year-old former Olympic hero Don Kardong continues his running odyssey, accompanying Spokesman-Review reporter Michael Guilfoil through the downtown portion of the 7.5-mile Bloomsday route.

In Greek mythology, King Odysseus returns home after two decades disguised as an old beggar. But when the moment of truth arrives, he tears off his rags, easily strings his mighty bow and overwhelms his opponents.

I recall this cautionary tale about underestimating old warriors while standing on Main Avenue, two blocks west of Division - the exact spot where Bloomsday began 24 years ago.

Next to me, clad in skimpy nylon shorts, is Don Kardong, the legendary race's founder.

It's been a quarter-century since Kardong took fourth place in the Montreal Olympics marathon. Back then he ran 120 miles a week and carried a wispy 150 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame. Sportswriters referred to him as ``Donny Long-Legs.''

Now 52, graying and 30 pounds heavier, Kardong still looks like he could go the distance - any distance.

Today, Kardong has offered me an insider's perspective of the familiar 7.5-mile Bloomsday route. My quest is to learn as much as I can about the race's origins ... and keep up.

I hold a tape recorder in one hand, a small camera in the other. The sun warms our bare legs as the temperature heads toward 50.

With an exchange of nods instead of a starter's pistol, we begin our odyssey.

Many people assume the name ``Bloomsday'' was inspired by flowers and springtime. Its true origin, though, is the book ``Ulysses'' by Irish writer James Joyce.

The novel focuses on Leopold Bloom, a newspaper ad salesman. Joycean scholars affectionately refer to the day he spends wandering the streets of Dublin - June 16, 1904 - as ``Bloomsday.''

Kardong first encountered ``Ulysses'' while studying and running at Stanford University in the late 1960s.

``The book is very, very dense going,'' Kardong says as we enter the downtown core at a comfortable pace. ``It's almost as much a puzzle as it is a novel, with lots of parallels to Homer's `Odyssey.' But for English majors who love talking about symbolism and word choice and style, it's heaven.''

Kardong and a Stanford training partner discussed ``Ulysses'' and ``The Odyssey'' to pass the time while eating up mile after mile of Palo Alto pavement.

``That's when it first occurred to me that a running event is like an odyssey,'' says Kardong, ``and that it would be fun to do what Joyce had done with `Ulysses,' but as a race course.

``I'd never really intended to start a world-class running event,'' he says as we stride pass the Greek-inspired Masonic Temple. ``But when we first got started, what popped in my mind was, `Why not name it Bloomsday?''' Kardong proposed Spokane get behind a ``big-league'' road race in 1976, two years after moving here to train and teach sixth grade. ``It could be part of the Lilac Festival Week,'' he told a reporter. ``There'd be at least 100 runners.''

As Jaycees, the mayor and others bought into his vision in early 1977, Kardong began searching for a route worthy of the name Bloomsday and the Greek legend that influenced Joyce.

Homer's ``Odyssey'' is populated with monsters and supernatural beings. There's Scylla, a six-headed beast, and Charybdis, who creates whirlpools by swallowing great volumes of water. Cyclops is a lawless one-eyed giant, and Aeolus is master of the winds.

``The Odyssey'' also has temptations, in the form of sirens, sacred cattle, lotus-eaters and Calypso, a sea nymph.

At the end of Odysseus' 20-year adventure awaits Penelope, his faithful wife.

Kardong sought parallels to both books, but he wasn't slavishly devoted to the idea.

``I would describe my use of `Ulysses' and `The Odyssey' as Joyce Lite,'' he says as we wind our way into Browne's Addition, past the Lilac Bloomsday Association headquarters. ``I looked for things that worked, but I didn't worry about it that much.''

Kardong's monster that first year was formidable Meenach Drive hill. He compared a seedy part of downtown to the land of the laid-back lotus-eaters. An exposed stretch of Summit Boulevard provided wind, and a business along Northwest Boulevard bore a convenient logo: a single eye.

The only sirens that year blared from police cars. But the race ended on an island in Riverfront Park, just as Odysseus concluded his journey on the Greek island of Ithaca. And waiting in the park were scores of loyal Penelopes - spouses, family and friends who cheered the runners home.

Kardong says The Spokesman-Review's sports editor at the time, Bob Payne, was aware of the ``Ulysses'' connection, ``but he under-played it. He knew no one would ever be totally into it except a few English freaks.''

Ironically, over the years it has been those ``English freaks'' who have complained that a race called Bloomsday should be held on June 16, not the first Sunday in May. But that wasn't possible, Kardong notes, because June 16 is a different day of the week each year, causing too many logistical problems.

And Bloomsday already had a major logistical problem: instant popularity.

Instead of the anticipated 100 or so entries that first year, almost 1,200 runners competed. The next year, more than 5,000 runners were forced to squeeze through a single finishline chute. By the third year, a bottleneck at the Maple Street Bridge on-ramp backed up more than 10,000 runners, and pounding feet caused bridge lampposts to sway.

Kardong was forced to find a roomier route for Bloomsday. Luckily, the new course has provided him with even more literary parallels.

For instance, Leopold Bloom attends a funeral in ``Ulysses,'' and Odysseus crosses the River Styx on his way to the Land of the Dead. Now, Bloomsday runners cross Latah Creek on their way to a stretch of Government Way flanked by three cemeteries.

Pettet Drive replaced Meenach Drive as ``Doomsday Hill,'' so Bloomsday still has its monster. And runners who look left as they cross Meenach Bridge see a standing dead tree with six or so ``heads'' - a sight that always reminds Kardong of Scylla.

As for sirens, Bloomsday now boasts a number of bands performing along the route. ``If someone gets too caught up in the music,'' Kardong warns facetiously as we crest Pettet Drive, ``their Bloomsday time will suffer.''

Kardong, who took third place in 1979 running under 38 minutes, has gradually seen his own Bloomsday times suffer. Last year he labored 52 minutes on the course, placing 592nd out of 45,523 finishers. ``I was dragging a pulled hamstring around,'' he explains. This year he's hoping to break 50 minutes.

After running close to 100,000 miles, though, Kardong still enjoys the pleasure of lacing up his ``waffles'' and setting out on another journey. He averages 40 to 50 miles a week, and last year completed a Herculean feat, scrambling around the rugged base of Mount St. Helens - 32 miles - in 12 hours.

As we head east on Broadway and the County Courthouse comes into view, Kardong acknowledges that some similarities between Bloomsday and ``Ulysses'' are obscure, at best.

For instance, the Courthouse tower could represent the Martello Tower where Joyce begins his tale. And Martello Tower is seven miles south of Dublin - almost the same distance as the Bloomsday race itself.

Leopold Bloom stops by his newspaper's office, and Bloomsday runners pass The Spokesman-Review's headquarters - another tower.

In ``Ulysses,'' restaurant patrons display piggish manners. Odysseus' men are transformed into swine by the sorceress Circe. And everyone who runs Bloomsday ``becomes kind of a pig'' as they work up a sweat, Kardong jokes as our adventure nears its end.

Obscurities aside, the central theme of both books and Bloomsday is clearly heroism.

``I've always thought the main point of `Ulysses' is that we're all normal, but that we have these heroic journeys we're involved in all the time,'' says Kardong.

I get it - like trying to match a not-so-ancient road warrior stride for stride.

``The book's theme fits Bloomsday really well,'' he observes as we arrive at the Courthouse. ``We encourage people to get out and train, and then run 7.5 miles. For most people, that's a heroic act.''

Maybe it's no coincidence, then, that the word shouted by thousands of Bloomsday participants as they cross the finish line also happens to be the last word in Joyce's marathon epic: ``Yes.''

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