Bloomsday Perennial: Mike McKenna

Bloomsday Perennial Mike McKenna expects that this May’s 50th running of Spokane’s signature event will probably be his last.

McKenna, 71, has had a series of concussions, head injuries and a stroke over the years. In the last few years, he has developed balance problems that get worse the further he walks. He’s OK for the first few miles of Bloomsday, but by the end, his upper body is leaning so far to one side a that he can barely walk without assistance.

“It kicks in at three miles and it gets worse all the way and it hurts,” he said.

Last year, near the finish line, he toppled into his sister and they both fell to the pavement. “My poor sister fell and held on to me because I fell backwards,” he said. “This last year was the worst.”

He’s had physical therapy and visits with neurologists, but they don’t have a firm cause of what makes him lean. It’s believed to be connected to his stroke, since he leans to the right, the same side his stroke affected. But McKenna is determined to finish his 50th race and has joined a gym and been working with a personal trainer to do what he can to improve his balance. “I’m stubborn because I’ve got to finish,” he said. “This is my last Bloomsday. I don’t want it to be, but this last year was amazingly bad.”

McKenna was an avid skier, but two separate accidents on the slopes over the years resulted in two cracked helmets and two concussions. The most recent one was in 2023. “I was unconscious for 10 minutes,” he said. “They thought I died.”

In 2016 McKenna had a stroke while he was working for a wine distributor, driving in a remote area en route to Yakima.

“All of the sudden my right hand felt like it fell asleep,” he said. “Thirty seconds later, my whole right side went. I pulled over.”

He was in an area with no cell phone reception, however, so he drove himself straight to the hospital. He stayed for a week.

About four years ago, on the Thursday before Bloomsday, he fell outside of a local florist shop and banged his head. He initially didn’t want to go to the hospital but was convinced to go. He got 22 stitches in his forehead and, of course, asked the doctor if he could do Bloomsday. The doctor said he would prefer McKenna didn’t run. But then the doctor asked how many McKenna had done. McKenna proudly said he’d done them all.

“He said, ‘Go do it,’ ” McKenna said.

When McKenna laced up his shoes for the first race in 1977, he was trying to prove a point. He had wrestled while at Mead High School and his friends told him he had gotten out of shape. He insisted he was not and told them he would sign up for Bloomsday to prove it.

“I didn’t ever plan to do the race this long,” he said.

But he enjoyed the experience, so he kept signing up.

“I did it and I was proud that I did it,” he said. “I just kept doing it.”

His streak almost ended after three years. The day before the fourth Bloomsday, he was out late partying, arriving home at 4 a.m. Later that morning, his girlfriend woke him. “I was in a deep sleep and she said ‘Get up, it’s time to run,’ ” he said.

McKenna said no because he wanted to sleep more. She insisted that he get up and do Bloomsday. He went.

“I was going to take the easy way out,” he said. “From there, I always made sure I did it. Bloomsday has become such a big deal to me, and my family knows it.”

There was also a year after the timing chips started being used that his chip didn’t register him going over the starting line. He was unaware of the problem until someone from the Bloomsday office called him later to ask if he’d done the race. McKenna had witnesses and was able to prove that he’d finished the race, maintaining his Perennial status.

For many years, he and a group of friends would gather the night before Bloomsday for a spaghetti dinner, then go park a truck downtown. They would meet at the truck after the race and have a barbecue.

“We’d invite all our friends,” he said. “People would walk by and we’d invite them. It really was fun.”

After three decades, however, the property owner requested they stop gathering in the parking lot, and they reluctantly gave it up. In recent years, the group has gone to a local restaurant after each race instead.

McKenna became known for wearing a pair of green Onitsuka Tiger shoes for nearly 40 Bloomsdays. “I was kind of famous for the shoes,” he said. “I got blisters and that kind of stuff, but when you start a thing, you have to keep going.”

He only gave up his shoes after he had his stroke, opting for something more comfortable instead.

Though the end of his Bloomsday streak is in sight, McKenna is grateful he has been able to do it as long as he has. He’s also grateful for his sisters, friends and other family members who literally helped support him in the last few races.

“It’s been kind of a badge of honor because I’ve done it all the way through,” he said.