Bloomsday Perennial: Sally Rennebohm-Lutz is ‘grateful for every one I can make’

Sally Rennebohm-Lutz has loved running since elementary school, but she preferred shorter distances. That didn’t stop her from signing up for Bloomsday when she was 17 years old, however.

She finished in an hour and 12 minutes the first year.

“The first year was my best time, and it was 8 miles,” she said. “It was hot, and I don’t do well in the heat.”

Rennebohm-Lutz has liked racing since grade school, challenging her friends to race at the end of physical education classes.

“I guess I’ve always liked doing outdoor stuff,” she said. “Even in elementary, I always asked people to run with me. It was just the fun of running.”

She spent most of her childhood in Oregon and ran the 440 meters in track, qualifying for the state finals one year. She moved to Spokane Valley and enrolled in University High School over spring break her junior year. She talked to the track coach about joining the team and was told there was room in the 800 meters or the 1- and 2-mile distances. She picked the 800 meters run.

“I wasn’t too pleased to be put in the distance,” she said. “I was more of a sprinter.”

Eight miles was definitely a distance race, but Rennebohm-Lutz found herself hooked.

“It was just fun to do it,” she said.

Rennebohm-Lutz gave no thought to her Perennial status, those who have competed in every race since the annual event began, until the 10th year, when she spotted a fellow runner doing Bloomsday in front of her with an orange shirt that identified him as having run all 10 races. Rennebohm-Lutz caught up to him and asked him where he got it, and he responded that the race organizers had given it to him.

“My name had changed because I had married,” she said.

She called up the Bloomsday office after the race and talked to them about her name change. They connected the two names in their system to acknowledge her Perennial status, and Rennebohm-Lutz has been a proud member of that club ever since.

“I’ve just felt very fortunate to be able to do it every year,” she said.

Doing Bloomsday all these years hasn’t been without difficulty. Rennebohm-Lutz does not handle heat well and has to be careful about heat exhaustion. Once, fairly early in Bloomsday history, she stopped at a medical tent during to say hello to her sister, a nurse, who was volunteering. Another nurse noticed that Rennebohm-Lutz wasn’t sweating even though the day was warm.

“They had me sit down and put ice towels on me, and I kept thinking, ‘My time, my time,’ ” she said.

After the first few Bloomsdays, Rennebohm-Lutz landed a job as a respiratory therapist at Deaconess Hospital. She worked the night shift, getting off at either 6 or 7 a.m. There wasn’t time to go home after her shift and then come back downtown, so she would just stay downtown and do the race before going home. She would worry about accidentally falling asleep while she waited for the race to begin.

The year of Bloomsday’s 20th anniversary, she and her husband, Jim, had gone on vacation to Australia. They were supposed to get home that Friday, but there were flight delays. She flew into town at 2 a.m. Saturday, the day before race day.

“I had been traveling for 36 hours,” she said.

The closest she came to not making the start of the race was in the 21st year. Her daughter was 5 weeks old, and the family dog had a seizure at 5 a.m. on race day. Rennebohm-Lutz thought she should stay home.

“I thought, I can’t leave my husband with an infant and a dying dog,” she said. “He said, ‘You go do it.’ I’m glad he did.”

Rennebohm-Lutz successfully did the race.

“Our daughter was fine, the dog was fine, I was fine,” she said.

She usually starts with the Perennial group near the front, but Rennebohm-Lutz said she has started farther back a few times in order to do the race with her daughter.

“Every so often, it would be fun to do it further back,” she said.

It’s at the back of the pack the costumes worn by other racers can truly be appreciated, she said, some of which are elaborate.

“It’s surprising, some of the costumes,” she said.

She also loves the feeling of camaraderie and how people encourage each other.

“It’s just a real nice sense of community,” she said.

Her husband doesn’t like crowds, Rennebohm-Lutz said, so the only Bloomsdays the two have done together are the virtual ones.

“He actually had the better time of all of us,” she said.

Rennebohm-Lutz, now 66, said she is still in good health, though she has arthritis in both feet. She’s in some level of pain with every step she takes.

“I was hoping it was gout, years ago when I went to the doctor,” she said.

She also broke her L5 vertebra several years ago, which causes her to have back and hip pain sometimes.

“I have joints that whine and sometimes bark at me,” she said. “I’m still able to power myself.”

She goes on daily walks with her two dogs to help her keep in shape, logging about 25 miles a week.

Still, Rennebohm-Lutz knows a day will come when she will no longer be able to complete Bloomsday under her own power.

“There will come a year when I won’t be able to do it,” she said. “I do feel at peace about it. I love Bloomsday, and I’ll be sad; I’m just going to be grateful for every one I can make.”