Bloomsday Perennial: A love of karate blossomed into a love of racing for Bruce McDavis

Bruce McDavis, a karate instructor at Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University for decades, was one of many karate students that Goju-Ryu karate master Teruo Chinen influenced to participate in the first Bloomsday in 1977.

“It was important for me to do Bloomsday,” McDavis said. “I liked the idea that everybody was doing something physical together. It was a joyous feeling.

Eventually, Chinen did the race himself for several years, but he didn’t register and would run barefoot, McDavis said.

“A couple of his students tried it,” he said. “Nobody could do it. Mr. Chinen used to run on the beaches of Okinawa. His feet were tough.”

About 10 years in, Chinen and about 20 of his students participated in Bloomsday as a group, running in formation while wearing their karate gi pants, their belts and a red sash around their head. As they neared the end of the race, they paused.

“We got to the courthouse, and Mr. Chinen wanted to do a form,” he said, referring to a sequence of choreographed movements in karate. “After we were done, people clapped, and then we took off.”

Chinen is the one who got McDavis’ career as an instructor started.

Chinen taught a class at EWU, but was tired of making the drive to Cheney and asked McDavis if he was interested in taking it over. McDavis did, and liked it so much he went back to school to get his masters in college instruction.

“He gave me the opportunity to be a teacher,” he said. “I kind of blossomed from there. I just kind of fell into it.”

McDavis came to enjoy the annual Bloomsday races.

“When you finished, you’d look at your time, and usually it was good,” he said.

He had a finish time goal in the early years, but was never able to crack it.

“I always wanted to break 50 minutes,” he said. “One year I finished in 50 minutes and 15 seconds.”

Doing Bloomsday has made him keep in shape. McDavis said he recalls falling on the race course a couple of times, but part of doing martial arts is learning how to fall properly.

“There was a couple times I fell, but it was no big deal,” he said. “I was kind of impervious to the aches and pains.”

There was one year early on that he had pain of an entirely different sort. He and a friend decided to visit a downtown bar before the race and had a beer. It was a decision he quickly regretted.

“We only had one beer,” he said. “It was stupid. I got about 21/2 miles down the road and I thought, ‘This was a mistake.’ I got halfway up Meenach Hill and I became one with the port-a-potty.”

It was a mistake McDavis learned from.

“I was still young and stupid,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re young and in shape, you think you can do anything.”

McDavis, now 78, is a creature of habit. Most days, he can be found at Ferris High School, where he was once on the wrestling team, doing laps around the track at the same time every afternoon.

“I’m the only one on the track,” he said. “I just kind of do my own little thing.”

He alternates between jogging and walking, but these days he takes it easy. A few years ago, he fell and broke a hip.

“When I do it now, I really can’t run,” he said. “But that’s OK.”

He looks forward to the community feeling of Bloomsday and the achievement of finishing the race.

“For me, Bloomsday kept me in shape,” he said. “I credit Bloomsday as a helpful kind of thing.”