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February 8,
2004
Spokane, Washington
by Brian Jemes and Sharon Schuhmann
February is well known for the appearance of a weather savvy groundhog in
the East, but in the West weather-hardy runners emerge to participate in the
Partners in
Pain 5K. Over 300 runners turned out for this year’s 18th annual Bloomsday
Road Runners Club (BRRC) event to see if the 10:03 a.m. bus would appear.
There was no bus this year, so we wonder if this predicts an early spring.
Pain: That crazy desire (some call it a sickness) to run in the middle of
winter regardless of seasonal hazards or what others might think.
Of the many unique aspects of this race, some were only passed on runner to
runner. As we followed the crowd to what we hoped was the starting point,
someone stated authoritatively that “Now we wait for the bus.” Evidently the
race normally begins when the 10:03am bus passes by the starting line. About
1/2 mile into the race, we overheard that the course is an out-and-back with
a hill on the return. Other aspects of the race were well advertised,
especially the teaming of male and female “partners” to brave the “pain” of
a winter race day. Ages and times of the teams are combined leading to age
groups such as 61-80 and 96-112. This year the race boasted two teams
finishing in the 130+ category.
Overall race day conditions were favorable. It was a “moderate” 32 degrees
with a light breeze. The course turned out to be a straightforward
out-and-back on paved streets with a moderate gravel hill at the turn
around, and featured a picturesque view of the Spokane river canyon.
Many runners were rewarded for attending the post-race presentations with
random drawings for numerous prizes, including many free entry waivers for
upcoming BRRC races.
This was the first race that we ran together and it was fun to do it as a
team. The early February date turned out to be an excellent incentive to get
back into running form after a holiday season of sloth. Brian won a random
prize: a clip-on safety light and a free entry for the Sundae Sunday BRRC 10
Mile race. Brian was overheard saying, “I don’t think I have ever run 10
miles!”
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