It's Bloomsday!

You may think Bloomsday has something to do with the tulips, daffodils, and trees being in bloom but you would be wrong. Bloomsday means it is time to run! For 43 years Spokane has hosted the Lilac Bloomsday Run. At it's peak in the late 90's there were over 61,000 participants. Today there are about 40,000 runners navigating the 7.4 mile course out of the city, down the hill, over the river, and up the hills and then back into downtown.

Taken at the expo during packet pick-up

This was our first Bloomsday run and we had so much fun we are already looking forward to running it again next year.

Taken before the start of the race while waiting for the race to start

The course was challenging but manageable. Many complained that the race day temperature of 65 degrees was too warm but I thought it was perfect. The big obstacle on the course was Doomsday Hill, three quarters of a mile long at a 6.5% grade. We slayed the beast!

In downtown Spokane after crossing the finish line

While preparing for the race I still managed to get some work done in the basement of the house. I framed the loadbearing wall between the fitness studio and the second guest bedroom.

The original load bearing wall is about 21" in front of the new wall

Now that the new wall is built I am able to demolish the old wall which will make the guest bedroom much more usable.

The first step was to cut the studs with a sawszall

Once I removed the studs I was able to cut out the two top plates. The next big step is to demolish the concrete footing. Since this will make such a huge mess I am going to demolish all of the concrete at the same time thus having to deal with only one giant dust storm.

Guest bedroom with the new load bearing wall

One of my goals for the week was to finish framing the fitness studio. Unfortunately the lumber delivery didn't happen until about 4:30 so it will have to wait until Monday morning.

Almost finished fitness studio

Fitness studio from inside the room. I added blocking for a large screen TV so we can Zwift in style

There isn't much framing left to do. I still need to add one more load bearing wall for the closet under the stairs in the first guest bedroom. My goal is to have all of the concrete demolished by the end of the week. Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed. I hope to start hanging drywall by the end of May.