Shoes pounded the pavement, hearts beat fast and runners sweated through the afternoon heat Sunday during the 50th Bloomsday in the Lilac City.
Bethany Lueck, the Lilac Bloomsday Association spokesperson, said of the 43,670 people who registered for the race, about 38,335 Bloomies crossed the finish line. Of the total registrants, approximately 2,200 completed the 12-kilometer course virtually.
The race marked the first year that Bloomsday numbers fully recovered from the major decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the event shifted to a virtual format in 2020 and 2021. There were more finishers than any year since 2017 and more who registered since 2016…