SPOKANE, Wash. – Michael and Marji Arnold will celebrate their 46 wedding anniversary next month, and they also commemorate another annual anniversary every May together: Bloomsday.
“This will be (our) number 48 Bloomsday,” Michael said.
He doesn’t just mean it’s the 48years for the 12k race around Spokane; he means this May will mark the 48times he and Marji are taking on the nearly seven-and-a-half-mile course together. The two of them participated in the inaugural Bloomsday race in 1977, the first year they were dating.
“The first year in 1977, I believe it was 84 degrees because it started at noon,” Michael recalls. “There was approximately between 12 and 13 hundred of us (participating.)
Flash forward to today, this North Spokane couple now shares a home that’s full of race day memories spanning more than four decades. From Bloomsday posters and photos to the 47 Bloomsday finisher shirts they’ve collected during their participation,
their annual return to Bloomsday since its beginning has earned them the title of ‘Perennial’ participants, which comes with special ‘Perennial’ clothing, medals and extra support from the race organizers.
Marji said her husband is determined to keep their participation streak going.
“He wants to keep the streak alive, even if he has to do it in a gurney or wheelchair,” Marji said. “One year our daughters and I pushed him (in a wheelchair.)
As you can imagine, pushing someone in a wheelchair up ‘Doomsday Hill’ is no easy feat. Thankfully, the Arnolds had extra help from their children and grandchildren, who are now part of this family’s ‘Bloomsday’ bond.
“We’re kind of looking forward to hopefully being around two more years for the 50th anniversary of Bloomsday,” Michael Arnold said.
You can catch the Arnolds taking on their 48 Bloomsday together on Sunday, May 5, and tune in to NonStop Local for special coverage of the 12k race that fills the streets of Spokane with inspiring participants and volunteers we’ll be featuring on our platforms.
