Berg of Bloomsday: 'Fifty seems within reach'

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part profile on Bonner County runners who have finished all 33 Bloomsday races. See Saturday’s Daily Bee for a profile on George Davidson, who along with Gary Berg, has finished every race.

SANDPOINT — The year was 1977, and these were a few of the things going on in the United States: Jimmy Carter succeeded Gerald Ford as President, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, Apple Computer was incorporated, Elvis Presley died, Star Wars opened to packed theaters, New York City blacked out, Atari was released and the Seattle Mariners were playing in their first-ever season.

One of the most significant events in the Inland Northwest may have happened that same year on May 1, when more than 1,000 runners came to Spokane to participate in the first-ever Bloomsday 12K run. One of those runners was Sagle’s Gary Berg, who joked about tucking $5 into his sock and scouting out the taverns along the route, not thinking he would ever finish.

Berg, a 66 year-old retired engineer, finished that first Bloomsday and every one since, part of a select group of 112 “Perennials” who have finished all 33 of the Bloomsdays. He plans to finish the 2010 race on Sunday, and each subsequent race as long as his body will let him.

He took the time to answer a few questions this week, reflecting on more than three decades enjoying one of the premier road races in the United States.

 Q: What made you run in the first Bloomsday, and what has kept you coming back every time?

A: In 1977, I worked at American Sign and Indicator. My friend and co-worker, Sid Wade was a runner and the running fad hadn’t happened yet. He heard of Bloomsday from his friend, Jim Lynch, a race organizer. Sid coaxed me into registering, against all common sense. I had never run, had to dig out some old Converse high-top basketball shoes from high school to wear (15 years earlier). I wasn’t in particularly good shape and really expected to quit and wait to be picked up. So on race day I put a $5 bill in my sock and figured out where all the taverns were near the course. Before the start, I wondered what I was doing there. But by running and then walking we were able to finish in about 85 minutes, and it was a huge thrill. I was very impressed and startled to be a finisher. On Monday after the race I bought my first running shoes, Nike Waffle Stompers, and have not looked back.

By Bloomsday No. 2, the race had been discovered by the community and several of my family and friends joined in. As a veteran of the first race, I was the total authority on all things running; the leader of the pack; the original ‘Joe Cool.’ Of course, they all left me in the dust; but I did manage to finish again. After that the string took over, growing in importance year after year, and I couldn’t stop and break it even if I had wanted to. And I discovered that running really is fun and rewarding.

Q: How has the race changed through the years, either for better or worse?

A: “Yes, I’m wise, but it’s wisdom borne of pain.” —Helen Reddy

The race is extraordinarily well run; a study in organization. But this smoothness and trouble-free execution came from corrections made in the early races when the problems first arose. Minor corrections happen every year, but some of the earlier ones were not minor. For example, B-Day No.2  had about 5,000 runners, and the finish area was totally inadequate to handle the number of finishers coming all at once. There were huge pileups and delays getting to the finish line, while the clock was still running. Next year there were multiple finish lines in a new area where the finishers could disperse and not back the crowd up. 

Another example: we nearly knocked down the Maple Street Bridge in the first few races. The runners crossed the bridge early in the race while they were still bunched up, and the rhythm of all the steps created a resonance in the bridge that had it swinging and twisting dangerously. So the course was changed to roughly its current route and the disaster was averted. The organizers’ ability to learn and correct accounts for the race’s fame and reputation as one of the best-run in the country.

 Q: If you had to pick one story, either funny, sad or strange, from all of the years, what would it be?

A: Well I have the unique distinction of getting lost on the B-Day course! On one race day several friends and I did not line up, but instead went to the finish area and watched the wheelchairs and elite runners come in. Then we made our way to the starting area and ran the race far behind the pack. While in the Pleasant Valley area, we became uncertain of the route, and had to backtrack to get back to the proper course.

Q: What do you love most about Bloomsday?

A: Definitely the happy, party atmosphere. It isn’t a competitive event for 90 percent of the entrants; it’s a celebration of fitness and being together with like-minded people. And it seems to bring out the best of the attendees; I have seen very few issues or unhappy people at Bloomsday. But it’s not for the reclusive.

 Q: What is your fastest time, and what is your typical race strategy?

A: I don’t have a blazing time, probably never will, and it seems to be less ‘blazing’ with each passing year. I did break an hour during several of the early races. I would like to run my age one day; but that will take a commitment to training that I haven’t seemed to muster in the past few years.

 Q: How do you train for the race?

A: This year it’s a matter of shaking the spiders out of the running shoes on race day. I have trained virtually not at all. But wait until next year! Every race day we all pledge to be more ready next year, but that seems to be harder and harder to make good on.

 Q: How do you celebrate each finish?

A: We have met at the same place in the Park before and after the race for every one; it’s the knoll just across the footbridge from the Ag Center. We started there as an arbitrary meeting place (far from the overrun Clock Tower) and have just continued year after year. We have watched the trees on the knoll go from little twigs that we could see over (watching the parade of people on the sidewalk below), to established trees that blocked our view, to mature trees that we could see under, to their removal for being unsafe. We have contacted the City Parks people to participate in the new planting on our knoll.

After meeting on the knoll, we go to Fast Eddie’s to meet with old friends, many of whom we only see on this day, and then to a BBQ at someone’s house.

Q: Do you have a favorite shirt?

A: No, but I do have all of them. I regrettably wore the first one a lot, the second one a little and the others only for the celebration pictures.

Q: How long do you see yourself running Bloomsday?

A: I would like to continue until I am physically unable to participate. Fifty seems within reach …

See tomorrow’s Daily Bee for the second in the two-part series, featuring George Davidson, the other Bonner County runner who has finished every Bloomsday.