Bloomsday Perennial: Ron Douglas laced up the first time for a six-pack

Ron Douglas was not a runner when one of his friends recruited him to sign up for the first Bloomsday together in 1977, but he went along with it for one important reason: a promised six-pack of beer at the finish line.

“That was my incentive,” he said.

Douglas, a University High School graduate, came back to Spokane after attending college and law school at the University of Idaho. He and several friends played basketball in the Spokane County Rec League. One friend was convinced to sign up for Bloomsday by a local track coach, who in turn convinced Douglas and one other to sign up with him.

“The three of us thought we were in pretty dang good shape,” he said.

Two weeks before the race, the trio tried doing a training run. “We made it 2 miles,” he said. “Basically we laced up the high-top canvas basketball shoes on race day and did it.”

Shortly after the race was over, Douglas went out and bought proper running shoes.

“I decided I really liked it,” he said. “Let’s say I was hooked.”

Douglas was not only hooked, he was a man on a mission.

“If I didn’t get at least 100 miles in a month, I thought I had failed,” he said.

Douglas is now one of dozens of Perennials, those who have completed every Bloomsday race since the annual event began.

He married wife Barb in 1979, and the two would have four children together. His wife has completed around 40 Bloomsdays, including one when she was eight months pregnant. His oldest son was 5 when he did his first Bloomsday, and Douglas continued the tradition of offering a bribe for the first finish.

“We promised him ice cream when he finished,” he said.

While Douglas was dedicated, he was not a particularly fast runner.

“I think I only broke an hour once,” he said.

As time went on, it became important for Douglas to be in downtown Spokane on the first Sunday in May. There were three times, however, when Bloomsday almost did not happen. One year, their 1-year-old child came down with a fever the night before Bloomsday and they took him to the emergency room. They were there nearly all night.

“We got out of there shortly before race time,” he said.

His oldest and youngest children both elected to attend the University of Portland, which always holds its graduation ceremony on the first Sunday in May. They graduated five years apart. When the oldest graduated, Douglas went online and checked flight times to see if he could do Bloomsday and then immediately fly to Portland. He found one Horizon Air flight.

That year, Douglas finished Bloomsday, ran home for a quick shower, then sped to the airport.

“Thank goodness Horizon Air was on time for once,” he said.

Both years, he was unable to get to the college before the graduation ceremony began, but he got there while the ceremony was underway in time to see his children get their diplomas. He always jumped up and down and cheered so that they could see that he had made it.

“Both times I got there in time to see them walk across the stage,” he said.

Bloomsday also helped Douglas find his current home in Browne’s Addition on the race course. His wife, Barb, saw the “For sale” sign on the condo building as she went by during the race, and the couple arranged for a showing, eventually purchasing it.

Douglas has a complete collection of finisher T-shirts, though the one he earned based on the promise of a six-pack of beer is now much too small to wear.

“It got washed and it shrank, and it was already small,” he said.

He had a lengthy career in Spokane as an estate planning attorney. He still has clients, but plans to finally retire at the end of this year.

Like the other perennials, Douglas, who will turn 80 on Thanksgiving Day, has slowed down in recent years. He completed the 2025 race in two hours and 50 minutes, but Douglas said he was just happy to finish.

One of his knees had been troubling him, and he was scheduled for a full knee replacement surgery only 10 days after Bloomsday.

“I just reconciled to the fact that I would hobble around the course,” he said.

However, he had a pretty good day that day, and some ibuprofen before the race helped keep the pain at bay.

“I was slow, but not embarrassingly slow,” he said.

He is looking forward to testing out his new knee during the 50th Bloomsday in May, but acknowledges he does not know how many more Bloomsdays he has in him.

“I have intentionally not projected past the 50th,” he said. “The 50th is a benchmark for a lot of us. After the 50th, the rest is just icing on the cake.”