‘I never intended to be the last person standing’: Bloomsday Perennial Pete Thompson started the race on a whim, but it’s turned into something much more

Pete Thompson has done everything for the past 49 years to make sure he’s in downtown Spokane on the first Sunday in May.

That includes special permission to leave his Air National Guard drill weekends and leaving his daughter’s baptismal party early. One year, one of his doctors even pushed him through the route in a wheelchair after he broke his leg and had a rod and 15 screws holding it together.

“I juggled things around to do it,” he said. “It’s just been on my calendar.”

His one regret is no longer having the T-shirt from the inaugural Bloomsday run in 1977. He loaned it out for a display and never got it back.

“That’s the last time I ever saw it,” he said. “The first one was my favorite of all of them, because it was so simple.”

Thompson was a casual runner in 1977 when a neighbor suggested they run Bloomsday together.

“I’ve never been very fast,” he said.

He liked the experience so much, however, that he kept coming back. He loves the community feel of the event, particularly after families began participating.

“That’s what has kept me going, largely,” he said. “One year led to the next and the next.”

Eventually his children would begin participating with him as they became old enough. Thompson recalls attending the baptism of his oldest daughter, who would grow up to be a runner herself, but ducking out of the post-baptism party early to go do Bloomsday.

Thompson’s life, like his Bloomsday history, has been interesting. He grew up near Portland and joined the U.S. Navy between his junior and senior years at Gonzaga University, where he was studying psychology. He did underwater demolition work during his time in the Navy. He did two tours in Vietnam and was part of a team that would become Seal Team 3.

“I know how to blow things up and stuff,” he said.

He worked in commercial real estate for many years, and at one time his office was right next to an Air National Guard recruiting office on Spokane’s North Side. When he was 43, about 10 Bloomsdays in, the recruiter stopped him in the parking lot one day and told him he should sign up for the Air National Guard.

Thompson gave the matter serious thought.

“I missed the military connection,” he said.

But there was one problem.

The unit’s drill weekend was held the first weekend of every month, which would conflict with Bloomsday. He explained his issue to the recruiter, who assured him it would not be a problem. And it wasn’t. Thompson was always able to make arrangements to leave his unit, participate in Bloomsday, and then go back . And he always made sure to make up the time.

“I’d go out and do a half-day of drill ahead of time,” he said.

There was even one year when Bloomsday conflicted with his unit’s annual two-week training period, which was in Deer Park.

“I worked from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., jumped in the car, came home, and put my Bloomsday stuff on and went and did Bloomsday,” he said. “They didn’t even miss me.”

As Thompson has gotten older, health issues have begun to crop up. Doctors found he had an irregular heartbeat, and he had a pacemaker put in last year. But that doesn’t compare to February 2018, when he broke his left leg in a skiing accident.

Thompson recalls being awake in the hospital late one night after he had surgery to install a rod and 15 screws when he was visited by his plastic surgeon, who had repaired the exterior damage to his leg. As the two chatted, Thompson mentioned that he was upset that he would have to miss Bloomsday. She volunteered on the spot to push him through the Bloomsday course in a wheelchair, and she did – helped by Thompson’s family and friends.

Thompson is now 81 and will turn 82 a few days before the 50th Bloomsday. He said completing the 50th race has been his focus as it becomes more difficult to finish. He said he doesn’t mind being passed by people decades younger than himself, but he finds it takes longer each year to cross the finish line.

“It was not easy,” he said of his 49th race. “It took two and a half hours.”

He admits he has not been preparing for the 50th race.

“I don’t train for Bloomsday because I don’t want to injure myself before the gun goes off,” he said. “I can gut it out.”

Thompson admits that he doesn’t know if he’ll continue after the 50th Bloomsday.

“I never intended to be the last person standing,” he said.

Whether Thompson keeps participating or not, he said he’s happy the community will continue to have Bloomsday.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” he said. “I hope it goes on forever. What Don Kardong has done for the community in a very kind, lighthearted way is wonderful.”