Bloomsday Perennial: Inspired by her sons, Dianne Bruhn is looking forward to 50th Bloomsday

Dianne Bruhn started running because her four sons were cross country runners in school.

When she signed up for Bloomsday in 1977, she never considered she would still be running the same race 50 years later.

“I went to all the cross-country meets and the track meets,” she said of her sons. “I got into running. I started jogging around the neighborhood. When Bloomsday came up, I thought wouldn’t it be fun to run with my friends.”

Despite her preparation, Bruhn did not know what she was signing up for.

“I started training for it,” she said. “I was up to two miles, thinking it was enough.”

Her sons ran ahead during the first Bloomsday, but they waited for her at the finish line.

“I was exhausted but elated, because I had no idea how long it was,” she said.

Once she started, she never stopped. She would go on to run the Portland and Coeur d’Alene marathons several times.

“I just got interested in it,” she said. “It was very beneficial for the health.”

Bruhn often ran through her North Side neighborhood as she trained for Bloomsday and other races. One day, a neighbor asked if he could run with her and she said yes. The two, who bonded during their many training runs, would later marry.

“Bloomsday kind of brought us together,” she said.

Bruhn, now 85, is one of only a handful of women Bloomsday Perennials left. When Bloomsday first started, there were not very many female participants, but Bruhn said she is glad to see a lot more women on the course now.

As a Perennial, Bruhn is allowed to line up near the front of the starting line. It is a perk she enjoys. “I see all my old Perennial friends,” she said.

She said she has never had a problem making sure the first Sunday in May was available on her calendar.

“It’s just something you really want to do,” she said.

Her sons have scattered and don’t participate in Bloomsday as much anymore, but they played a role in one of Bruhn’s favorite Bloomsday memories. During the 2025 race, as she headed down the hill near Spokane Falls Community College, she got some unexpected company.

“At the bottom of the hill, all the sudden I felt people beside me, behind me,” she said. “I looked, and it was my boys.”

Three of her four sons had waited alongside the course until they saw her go by, then jumped in to accompany her. They had not signed up for the race, but walked with her until she got to the top of Doomsday Hill.

Over the years, Bruhn saved the newspapers that listed the finishing times of every Bloomsday participant. She also saved all her T-shirts, though not all of them are still in her closet. Instead, she sent a bunch of them to a woman who makes quilts. “She made four quilts out of the T-shirts, and I gave one to each of my boys,” she said. “I still have enough T-shirts.”

Though Bruhn is no longer as fast as she was, she has remained healthy.

“I don’t have any pain except my back,” she said. “It was never unbearable. It never stopped me.”

Still, she is starting to feel her age.

“I think this is the first year I felt like I got old,” she said.

Her husband of 38 years, Gary, has run every Bloomsday except the first one. Now 90 years old, he has developed neuropathy in his feet. He plans to compete in the 50th Bloomsday with his two daughters, Bruhn said.

Bruhn said she anticipates doing more walking in the next Bloomsday.

“Last year I got caught up in it and ran all the downhills,” she said.

She never considered that Bloomsday would make it 50 years.

“People didn’t realize what it was going to become,” she said. “Don Kardong was a miracle worker.”

In recent years, Bruhn had a firm goal of competing in 50 races. But she considered stopping after 50 and even told a few friends about how she might stop after 50. However, they unanimously told her to keep going, Bruhn said, and she’s reconsidering.

“I hadn’t thought about it before,” she said. “If I still feel this good, I can keep going.”