Bloomsday Perennial: Stop that plane! Roger Aldrich nearly missed the big race twice

Bloomsday Perennial Roger Aldrich once sprinted across the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, shouting and waving his hands as airline personnel prepared to shut the doors on his connecting flight back to Spokane the night before Bloomsday. Weather had delayed his first flight from Washington, D.C.

He and his friend barely made it on board, panting and drenched in sweat.

“We got on and everyone was clapping,” he said. As it turned out, a few other passengers were also heading back for Bloomsday.

Another year, he was trying to fly back to Spokane the Friday before Bloomsday.

“There was a big winter storm on the East Coast,” he said.

His flight was delayed to Saturday, and again Aldrich had to dash through an airport, this time in Salt Lake City, to make his connecting flight so he could get back in time. He made it, but thereafter he refused to travel for work the week before Bloomsday.

“I would always send someone else that week,” he said.

Aldrich got into running as a way to stay in shape. He played a variety of sports in high school, and during his freshman year at Washington State University, he played baseball until he quit to focus on his studies. Aldrich, who loved to eat, started gaining weight, so he grabbed his Converse basketball shoes and began to go jogging on the golf course several nights a week. He decided he liked it.

“I’ve run ever since,” he said.

After completing the WSU Air Force ROTC program as a second lieutenant, he joined the Air Force and was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, where he became an instructor at the Survival School. Aldrich left the Air Force after six years, but continued working with the survival school as a civilian for more than 30 years.

Aldrich was stationed at Fairchild when Bloomsday began in 1977.

“It was pure luck that I entered into this,” he said.

He’d never run 8 miles before, but thought he was in good enough shape to finish.

“It was a challenging run,” he said. “Still is.”

He recalls being about a mile from the finish line when he found himself running next to a runner who, according to encouraging shouts from the crowd, was on track to finish third among the women. The two ran together for a few minutes, then Aldrich said his competitive instincts kicked in, as did hers.

“We sprinted the last 100 yards,” he said. “I finished just ahead of her.”

He kept coming back to Bloomsday, and by the time he’d completed his seventh race, he was determined to see it through.

“It was a big hit by then,” he said. “I wanted to be able to do every one of these as long as it lasted.”

In recent years, health issues have threatened to throw his perennial status out the window. Aldrich, now 77, was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic when he was 69, a disease typically diagnosed in childhood. Aldrich said his doctor believes his overall fitness and healthy diet were able to keep his symptoms at bay for many years.

He began taking medications for his diabetes and kept running. More recently, he was diagnosed with a type of bone marrow cancer. Aldrich said he’s had COVID-19 three times and thought he had long COVID.

“I had no energy,” he said. “I was out there trying to jog. Then I was walking.”

He started an oral chemotherapy drug last year and it’s been effective, Aldrich said. He goes in every three months for a checkup and is able to walk an hour a day.

“I feel good,” he said.

Aldrich, who now walks Bloomsday instead of running it, finished the race in 2 hours and 24 minutes in 2025. It’s a far cry from his previous finishes of under an hour, and Aldrich had to learn to put his competitive spirit aside. He has been doing the race virtually the past few years, but plans to be downtown in the thick of things for the 50th running in May.

He admits that he doesn’t know how many more Bloomsdays he has in him.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I have said this might be my last one. It depends on how I feel. I want to be able to quit when I feel good about what I’m doing.”