Notebook

Well-dressed doggy

Some dogs have all the luck.

When Jake Hughes finished Bloomsday on Sunday, he asked for a medium-sized T-shirt and quickly found his girlfriend, who was waiting for him at the Carrousel in Riverfront Park.

With her was Hughes’ black Labrador, Fred.

“Here you go, doggy,” Krystee Clark said to the canine, presenting the maroon Bloomsday T-shirt to him. The couple put the shirt on the dog and started walking to the car.

Fred could have been smiling.

“I give it to him every year,” Hughes said. “It’s like tradition. He has six now.”

Teenage tailgaters

Three teenage girls exchanged tips for a successful Bloomsday just before the race:

“If you see any cute guys,” said one, “you can jog up behind them and look at their runner tag - their phone number’s on there!”

Giggling, they were off.

Transylvania transvestites?

Chad McDougall got some funny looks for his wardrobe: fishnet stockings, garter belts, red bustier, gold-sequined gloves and a mangy fox stole with beady, glass eyes.

The 21-year-old actor, along with seven other members of the Spokane acting troupe Absolute Pleasure, were walking advertisements for the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” For his third straight Bloomsday, McDougall ran in drag as his favorite “Picture Show” character, Dr. Frank ‘n Furter. “This year it’s a lot easier,” explained McDougall. “I decided to wear walking shoes this time instead of heels.”

Offering inspiration

At the Dominican Center, the nuns sat on lawn chairs, waving multicolored ribbons, shouting encouragement.

“We decided we couldn’t clap for two hours, but we could wave for two,” said Sister Ellen.

Every now and then, a runner darted from the crowd to hug one of the sisters.

“Her third-grade pupil stopped and gave her a big kiss,” Sister Ellen said, pointing to Sister Xavier. “He’s probably 35 now.”

Deadheads share feeling

Near Post and Broadway, about 20 people banged drums, metal cans, a metal trash can and a frying pan against a “No Parking” sign. Several madcaps danced in front of the band - one wearing a number tag reading “Doomsday #666.” Her face was ashen. A fake human head perched atop a denim shirt on a station wagon in front of the band.

It wasn’t the Grateful Dead. It was the Gratingly Loud Dead.

Sidelined by injuries

Medical volunteer Sandra Shelton ran out of Ace bandages just 45 minutes into the race.

“We’ve had a lot fewer people than last year, but everyone seems to have more serious injuries. Knees and ankles are really getting torn up out there,” said Shelton, who supervised the station at the three-mile marker.

In addition to one broken ankle, eight sprained ankles and a plethora of blown-out knees, Shelton was treating two people for exhaustion, one woman with heart palpitations, two asthmatic runners, a pregnant woman who wanted to check her blood pressure and a cut-up kid who had done a face-plant into a ditch.

At the first aid station near the top of Doomsday Hill, Dr. Randy Volk saw a few blisters, some scrapes, a couple of sprained ankles - and a tick.

“That would have to be the first tick I’ve removed on the course,” Volk said with a grin.