Bloomsday 2020

I believe this was my 8th Bloomsday.

It was weird and virtual, just like the rest of 2020. There were no crowds or popcicles or cheering spectators or loud music. No Doomsday Hill. No Beer Chasing friends. No abortion protestors. (A huge silver lining to this year's Bloomsday!) 

Instead, I woke up, put on my running clothes, and drove to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, about 10 minutes from my house. I turned on a podcast about the Trail of Tears ("This American Life" with guest Sarah Vowell) and began my "race." 

Over the next two hours, I listened to my podcast and talked to my mom twice and my brother and sister-in-law once. We talked about Scott in Law School, low mortgage refinancing rates (2.25%), businesses surviving the pandemic, and other things. We wondered what Christmas in Idaho might look like this year.

And I just kept walking - and occasionally jogging, but not much. I ended up with a finishing time of 2:03:31 - a 16:33 minute/mile average. Since I had no goals, I was neither proud nor disappointed. My feet hurt, but I could tell my body wasn't going to hurt as bad as it did after my little 5K a few days before.

Here are a few pictures of my uneventful race.

Beautiful morning for a walk/race. My mask is around my neck.

"The 2020 Utah windstorm was a hurricane-force windstorm that struck the U.S. state of Utah in the early morning of September 8, 2020. Nearly 200,000 homes lost electrical power. Thousands of trees were toppled, causing much damage and closing dozens of parks. One man was killed." - Wikipedia

Blister starting to form. I had one to match on my other foot.

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