We're Bloomies!

Joyce (my mom), Kelly, Tabitha and I participated in our first ever Bloomsday this weekend in Spokane, Wash. Our start time was an hour or two behind the elite athletes and the staging area for our group was several blocks away from the starting line. We arrived a bit early to secure a place in the crowd.
It is a 12K or 7.2 mile course. We treked down the street, throught the valley, across the river and up DOOMSDAY Hill amidst a sea of 1,000s. It isn't the incline of this hill that gets you, it is the length of the hill. My grandparents once had their home along the bluff directly behind where we were standing, they had a great view of Bloomsday activities.

The top of Doomsday Hill is the 5 mile mark - in other words you are on the downhill side of the race/walk.
In just a hair over two hours the four of us crossed the finish line downtown. No one told us it was another mile walk to our t-shirts and a suitable restroom! Then we hoofed it at least another mile through downtown to the car. We took a little break at Auntie's Bookstore, one of our favorite places.