Bloomsday Perennial: He moved to Oregon but kept coming back the first Sunday in May

When coworkers at United Airlines suggested Jack Charbonneau sign up for the first Bloomsday in 1977, he questioned why an eight-mile race would be considered a “fun run.”

He was quickly converted.

“It was just spectacular,” he said. “The energy level, to have people clapping for you and encouraging you. I ran the whole thing. I thought to myself, I’m going to do this until I’m 90 years old.”

At the time Charbonneau did a little bit of running, but didn’t consider himself a runner.

“I was into tennis big time,” he said. “I was playing a few tournaments. I decided I needed to get into better shape for tennis. I was running a couple miles.”

He didn’t become so enamored with running that he was signing up to run marathons, but he would always do a few smaller fun runs to warm up for Bloomsday.

“I was a weekend warrior,” he said. “I was always trying to break an hour. I think I did maybe once.”

Charbonneau grew up in Spokane, graduating from North Central High School. That first Bloomsday he ran with friends Paul Chapman, also a Bloomsday Perennial, and Fred Dehaven, who moved away and joined the Peace Corps, causing Charbonneau to lose touch. Then one year Chapman announced that Dehaven was going to be back in town for the next Bloomsday.

“We made arrangements to meet at the end of Bloomsday,” he said.

The trio lingered to watch the awards ceremony, only for Charbonneau to watch Dehaven leap onto the stage and give a hug to one of the Kenyan finishers. It was someone Dehaven had met and taught to run while in the Peace Corps.

Charbonneau moved to Gresham, Oregon, in 1994, where he would spend the next 23 years working for what was then BAX Global. He retired as a general manager and moved back to the area several years ago, settling in Chewelah.

Though he moved away, Charbonneau made it a point to come back to Spokane each May for Bloomsday.

“I look forward to it every year,” he said. “It was always inspiring to me. I know a lot of people say it’s too crowded for them. For me, I draw energy from it.”

There was one year, however, when he nearly missed the race. “I might have had the flu or something,” he said.

He came to Spokane the day before and headed downtown on the first Sunday in May, determined to race. “It was a little touch and go, but I survived it,” he said.

That experience prompted him to tell his friends that they had to make sure he was always there, despite illness or injury.

“I made them pledge if I was ever laid up they’d push me in a wheelchair,” he said. “I’d do anything to keep my record.”

He cherishes his collection of Bloomsday finisher T-shirts, but it wasn’t always that way. He wore the 1977 shirt so much it faded and one got torn while doing yard work. He doesn’t wear them for yard work anymore. “I very seldom put them on,” he said.

These days Charbonneau sometimes runs the race with his daughter, who lives in Bellingham. He lines up near the front with his fellow Perennials, then pulls off to the side to wait for her to catch up so they can do the race together.

Charbonneau does what he can to stay in shape. He’s still an avid skier, but he mostly does cycling instead of running due to his arthritic hips.

“It’s really hard to run anymore,” he said.

He finished the 2025 race in two hours and four minutes. “I was trying to break two hours,” he said. “Usually I try to jog the flats and walk the hills. Last year I walked the whole thing.”

He’s hoping his daughter can make it to town to walk the 50th Bloomsday with him in May. Either way, he’ll be taking it easy.

“I’m just going to enjoy it,” he said.

Now age 78, Charbonneau has revisited his initial goal to do the race until he’s 90.

He’d like to do it even longer.

“If I can,” he said. “We’ll see.”