Bloomsday Perennial: The first one was miserable, but that didn’t stop Chuck Murphy

During the first Bloomsday race in 1977, Chuck Murphy swore he’d never run again. It was a vow he didn’t keep.

He didn’t train for the first race, which his friend, Greg Staley, persuaded him to sign up for. It also didn’t help that it was a hot day.

“He’s huffing and puffing, and I’m huffing and puffing,” Murphy said. “I swear I’m never going to run again.”

At the end of Bloomsday, another childhood friend volunteering at the race took his ticket that documented he finished the race. Something about the community feel of the race clicked, and Murphy kept returning.

“He dropped out and I didn’t,” he said of his friend. “I saw something special in this whole Bloomsday thing, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Murphy grew up in Spokane, graduating from Gonzaga Prep. He attended Yakima Junior College and Eastern Washington University, earning a teaching degree. After college, Murphy was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. His father, Thornton Murphy Sr., is the namesake of Spokane’s Thornton Murphy Park. He died in 1967 while Chuck was in basic training.

Murphy said his military service destroyed his idealism, and he spent time wandering the country after he came back, trying to recover from his experience. He got a job teaching in Australia, where he stayed for two years before coming home to Spokane. He would spend the next few decades working for the companies his family owned, Murphy Brothers Construction and Shamrock Paving.

Working in the construction industry meant a lot of time spent out of town, which occasionally made it hard to get back to town for Bloomsday, but Murphy always managed it. He did occasionally cut it close, arriving in Spokane the night before the race.

“I’d be in Montana, I’d be in Idaho,” he said.

In 1974, he went on a trip to Central Africa, taking photographs of his travels. Along the way, he contracted hepatitis from the water.

“That physically broke my whole body,” he said. “I couldn’t walk 10 feet without getting out of breath.”

But he was determined to get healthy again. He started walking half a block, then a full block, gradually increasing his distance.

“I kept building up and building up and building up so I could get back to work,” he said.

He once twisted his knee on the job, but that didn’t keep him from Bloomsday. He walked the race, stopping occasionally to rest.

“All you do is get to the side of the road and walk,” he said. “It took me a lot longer to do it.”

He once strained his back at the beginning of the race, but powered through. He was running down Riverside Avenue, when a young child stumbled in front of him.

“He stepped on a rock and fell backwards,” Murphy said. “I reached out to catch him.”

Murphy successfully caught him, but had to do the race with a sore back. He was just pleased he was able to finish.

“Every Bloomsday the challenge is not winning the race; the challenge is finishing the race,” he said.

His fastest finish time was an hour and 15 minutes. Murphy said he had a longtime goal of finishing in under an hour, but never did it.

“I’m the worst runner in history,” he said.

Now 80, Murphy walks Bloomsday instead of running. His goal this year is to finish the race in under two hours. He came close to that goal last year, finishing in two hours and four minutes.

He also doesn’t mind the weather, even the year it snowed the morning of the race.

“It didn’t bother me,” he said. “I worked outside in construction.”

Murphy prefers to be a solo runner.

“I’ve always run it alone,” he said. “I never train with anybody or anything.”

When Bloomsday organizers started handing out special shirts for the Perennials to wear during the race, he would often get congratulated on his accomplishment. It always gives him a little boost, Murphy said. He also enjoys the bands along the race route and how cheerful everyone is. He said he likes that most people aren’t there to beat the other runners; they’re there to beat their own goals.

“I do like the camaraderie,” he said.

These days, Murphy’s collection of finisher T-shirts is looking a little thin. Quite a few were made into a quilt, and others he gave away.

“At one time I had every T-shirt, but then my nephews and nieces all wanted one,” he said. “I started handing them out.”

Over the years, Murphy earned T-shirts doing other local runs as well and estimates that at the peak he had 150 running T-shirts. He’s started giving them away again.

Murphy still doesn’t do any training for Bloomsday. He tries to do physical work in April to prepare. He also still runs alone, but said a few family members have said they plan to come to town to cheer him on during the 50th race.

Murphy isn’t sure how many more Bloomsdays he will do and said he’s not obsessed with keeping his Perennial status. He said every year he asks himself three questions, and as long as the answer to all three is yes, he’ll keep going. The questions are: Can you do it? Do you want to do it? Are you still having fun?

This year, the answers are yes.