O’Reilly heads for Carlsbad

Shocking as it may be to the local running community I have followed in every sense of the word, I am the first winner of Bloomsday 2005.

I’m also the first loser.

Either way, I’m not complaining because my loss is a gain for a standout local athlete, not to mention Spokane’s image.

But let me digress.

The annual Lilac Bloomsday Run is like family to me. It goes to my roots in Spokane.

When I was hired in 1977 as the outdoors and “lifesports” writer for The Spokesman-Review, my first story was part of a package unveiling the dream event conjured up by Spokane Olympian Don Kardong.

Bob Payne, the sports editor at the time, wrote about Kardong’s plan to bring marathon master Frank Shorter to Spokane in hopes of filling the streets with runners of every size and shape to chase the two world-class athletes for 7 miles.

I wrote about the surge of interest in running by the masses, a stampede I was just beginning to appreciate. Among other things, I learned that runners could get high without drugs, eat pizza with abandon and drink six-packs without putting them on their waistlines.

A funny thing happened on the way to the finish line of that first Bloomsday.

I learned that a lifestyle of regular exercise improved my performance and enjoyment of just about everything, including the consumption of beer and pizza.

I’m not a champion at anything, and I wither at yard work. But the Bloomsday training ethic helped me become a better hiker, cyclist, skier, mountaineer, hunter and – indeed, there’s some incredible fishing to be had when you can walk away from the crowds.

Someday I’ll tell you about Cutthroat Creek.

Bloomsday piques our appetite for fitness, which makes difficult outdoor adventures possible, and even enjoyable.

The first Sunday in May has become sacred, a term that seemed strained only one year, when a size triple D bra fell out of a tree and onto my head at the start. I can bike or travel anytime. Bloomsday comes only once a year.

I’ve never missed a Bloomsday, and I think the 100-some of us in that group should ante up a dollar and hold the kitty in trust for a Sole Survivor cup and champagne. It could be awarded at the bittersweet Bloomsday when there’s only one of us remaining.

Meanwhile, the 29th Bloomsday is coming up in 72 days, and, as always, I registered early. I really didn’t need any incentive, but I noticed that Bloomsday was going to draw a name from the registrations that came in before Jan. 31 and give the winner an expense-paid VIP trip to the prestigious Carlsbad 5,000 run near San Diego.

Kardong himself called last week to tell me I was the winner.

I was delighted and so was my wife when she learned the trip was for two.

Neither of us is opposed to being treated like big shots at a great event full of beautiful people near sunny beaches with a fabled beer garden on the first weekend in April.

But our family schedules said no.

Kardong said the trip was mine to give away, and I did not take that privilege lightly.

The Carlsbad 5,000, one of the best-known road races in the United States, is also one of the fastest, with 14 world records set on the course during its 20-year history, Kardong said.

I flashed back to an autumn newspaper story about Spokane’s top young runners, and in particular about Megan O’Reilly, a Mt. Spokane High School junior who pumps a lot of heart into the school’s impressive running culture.

O’Reilly is one of Washington’s best distance runners, but an injury kept her, and subsequently her team, from going to the state cross country championships in November.

She’s no quitter, though, and she’s battling her way back into form by running and cross training, kicking a little butt in the regional cross country ski race in Leavenworth, Wash., last month just to prove it.

She said she’s ready for a test like Carlsbad, and her coach agrees. You go, girl. This ‘Bad’s for you.

So stand proud, Spokane. Your representative at one of the nation’s highest-profile runs will be a gazelle instead of a geezer.

But I’m not going to sit and sulk about what I’ll be missing.

While Megan and her mom are in the seaside town cooling off from the Carlsbad 5,000 with a little splash in the surf, I plan to eek out enough time in the schedule to go fishing – some place that requires at least a 5K hike.

A nose for top dog: Give the Westminster Kennel Club credit for sniffing through the hype of useless fancy dogs.

The Best of Show among 2,500 champions from 165 breeds at the 129th annual event held this week at Madison Square Garden was a German shorthair pointer, a bird-finding breed that never needs a curling iron.