Keep on moving forward

It's all about enjoying the journey, which is how my sister, Janna, and I approached our second Bloomsday experience on Sunday. Joined by faster and fitter family members, they bid us adieu at the starting line and we began the process of putting one foot in front of the other, aiming for the finish line 12K, or 7.46 miles, in the distance.

We didn't run Bloomsday or even jog Bloomsday, we "did" Bloomsday, along with about 54,000 other people of all sizes, shapes and fitness levels. The goal this year, as it was last year, was simply to finish, preferably ahead of the sweeper trucks and while the race clock was still ticking and a finisher T-shirt awaited.

Bloomsday is a happening as much as it is a timed race and Janna and I did enjoy the journey, taking photos, people watching and putting one foot in front of the other. I made a brief detour into a medical station for a blood pressure check and all was well. It was a beautiful day for a stroll and the highpoint for me again was what I dreaded most ... making it to the top of Doomsday Hill. Of course we had to get photos documenting the triumph with the giant buzzard near the top of the hill.

As we turned the corner where the finish line is in sight we had just a few minutes until the timer was turned off and we would not be official "finishers." Our sprint to the finish was more of a walk with purpose. We made it, got the shirts and decided two Bloomsdays might be all that we'd ever do.

When I woke up Monday morning there was an email with individual results. Boy, did I have a great laugh over how close we were to the end of the pack of official finishers. It took me 3 hours and 51 minutes to walk 7.46 miles with a pace of a 30-minute mile. Time to climb Doomsday Hill? 16 minutes. There were 735 people from Post Falls participating and I finished 735th. Of the 5,143 Idaho participants, I was 5,143rd. In my age group there were 309 59-year-olds and I placed 309th. I did, however, place 1st in one category ... people with the same last name of Thoreson. Of course, there was only one of us named Thoreson out of the 47,841 people who officially finished the race. And I wasn't the last across the finish line in time, with my overall placing of 47,830th. :)

Were these results discouraging? Not at all. I'm the proud owner of the same finisher T-shirt that people who completed the course in an hour or two earned. There were a few thousand people who didn't finish at all. And as one sign along the route read ... "You're making better time than everyone on the couch!" It really is about the journey and putting one foot in front of the other.

Highlighted event for Saturday benefits the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County ... the Jordan Johnson Memorial Fun Run and a chance to make the world record for ice cream licking. At the Greyhound Park starting at 9 a.m. Come one, come all!

Next Tuesday is the primary election, and an important one at that. Vote my friends, vote.

I love birthdays, and not just my own. One day out of the year we can unequivocally shout from the rooftops that it's great to be alive. We blow out candles, eat cake and ice cream without counting carbs, hear from family and friends near and far, indulge in goofing off or going out and if we're lucky, open a present or two.

Over a decade ago I started celebrating my birthday in this column with a few dozen other May birthday friends. We've definitely grown by leaps and bounds, especially with those who share my May 14 birth date. I'm thrilled to pieces to be marking my milestone 60th this year. Since having a coronary event in 2006 every birthday since is a genuine gift for sure. Join me in celebrating everyone who's marking a birthday this week in the merry month of May!

Happy birthday today to Tara Dagastine, Bonnie Clark, Kristi Flicker, Valerie Emery, Carla Noonan, and George Larsen. Tomorrow Pepper Smock, Shelly Matthews, David Dickinson, Shelly Servick and Bruce Franetich will celebrate. On Friday Sharon Culbreth and Margie Adams turn 70 and Anne Hagman marks her big 5-0, sharing a May 11 birthday with Anthony Skarisky, Irene Deckon, Debra Altman, Bonnie McDowell and Ginger Cutler. Saturday it's Mary Rawlsky, Lynette Moore Walsh, Jason Penzkover, Jon Brewer, Wyatt Dickinson, Alison Cook, Olivia Jacobson and Craig Ziegler who will be blowing out their birthday candles. Mother's Day birthday celebrants Eric Keck, Chuck Buck, Kathy Hlebichuk, Charlie Morris and my fellow CHS Class of '70 pals Steve Pollard, Tim Cushman and Judy Brooks all turning the big 6-0. Sharing my May 14 birthday on Monday are Williene Gagnon, Stephanie Davenport, KJ Torgerson, Macy Ducoeur, Mark Hemenway, Rita Preston, Verla Packer, Randy McKahn, Jake Hobbs, Kathy White, Liz Ricciardi, Breanne Ruff, Kimberly Westrick, Kristie Messinger, Caren Easterly, Bill Ohlfs, Linda Green and Averie Barnes. On Tuesday Chanse Watson is the birthday boy.

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. A two-time Bloomsday finisher, she was voted Best Local Writer for 2012 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri is on the air Mondays and Wednesdays on 1080 ESPN AM (KVNI).