Bloomsday Perennial: He missed his daughter’s graduation from college, but gave her plenty of warning

Running Bloomsday every year has been so important for Perennial Dennis Doyle that when one of his daughters announced that she wanted to attend the University of Portland, he told her immediately that he would not be attending her graduation because the university always holds its graduation ceremony on the first Sunday in May.

When she graduated, Doyle was true to his word and stayed home to participate in Bloomsday.

“I still get a little flack for that,” he acknowledged.

He did attend the Washington State University graduation of his other daughter, which was held the day before Bloomsday. “We got back at 1:40 in the morning with a truck full of stuff and of course Bloomsday was at 9,” he said.

Doyle, who grew up in Spokane, signed up for the inaugural Bloomsday at the behest of his karate instructor, Teruo Chinen, who was a firm believer in conditioning. “He wanted everyone in his school to go down and race,” Doyle said.

McDavis followed his own advice and also did the race, though Doyle said he never went through the formalities of registering and getting a number. “He ran it for the first 10 years,” he said. “He ran it in his gi, barefoot.”

Doyle hadn’t been much of a runner, even though he ran cross country his sophomore year of high school. “When I was at school, I was terrible at all sports,” he said.

Doyle kept running to stay in shape for karate, but also wanted to keep doing Bloomsday.

“I wanted to do it every year,” he said. “I looked forward to it and planned on it.”

Most years, his wife, Patty, also did Bloomsday. She has missed three, including the first one, Doyle said. That first year she was on the overpass over the north end of the Maple Street Bridge watching the runners cross underneath her.

Doyle has carefully saved all his shirts.

“At first I just wore them,” he said. “I didn’t think about them being so special. Some I haven’t worn at all. I just put them away.”

There was a time, however, when Doyle couldn’t find his 1977 finisher shirt. At one point he kept a change of clothes in a box in the trunk of his car, then brought the box in the house and it was simply pushed to the side. “It turns out, it was in that box,” he said.

He also has a Bloomsday perennial hat that a fellow perennial had made one year. A few years ago his friends made him a small scrapbook that includes a picture of each finisher shirt paired with the postcard Bloomsday sends out after the race each year listing each runner’s time and placement.

Doyle said he never set any speed records and his fastest time was one hour and one minute. “I never made it under an hour,” he said. “I was never very fast.”

In recent years Doyle, now 78, has slowed even more. A few years ago he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, and had a procedure to shock it back into the proper rhythm. He’s been on blood thinners, which came into play two years ago when Doyle was running downhill during Bloomsday and slipped on the wet pavement, taking a tumble.

He had the good fortune to fall directly in front of a first aid tent, and volunteers rushed over to help him. He was dizzy and had scraped his hand, but was determined to keep going. “They were going to give me a ride, but I said no,” he said.

He let them bandage his bleeding hand and continued the race, though slightly more carefully.

Last year an old back injury caused by a scaffolding collapse decades ago when he worked as a plaster contractor flared up during the race. “I had a terrible time getting up Doomsday Hill because of my back,” he said. “Sometimes my lower back hurts so bad I can barely stand up.”

A woman offered to help support him and accompanied him for part of the race.

After a brief rest at his grandchildren’s house along the race course, another woman offered to help him to the finish line.

Doyle has also been having problems with his right knee and right hip, though he’s been getting walks in on his good days. He’s scheduled for a right knee replacement in December so he’ll have plenty of time to recover before the 50th Bloomsday in May.

“I was happy to get it by the end of the year,” he said. “Patty has done both knees, so I know how the rehab goes. I’ll be ready.”

Editor’s note: This reported was changed on Nov. 17, 2025 to correct the name of the karate instructor who encouraged Doyle to sign up for the first Bloomsday. The instructor was Teruo Chinen.