I’m normally a calm, mild-mannered person, but at this year’s Bloomsday 12K race, an incident on the race course enraged me.

I’ve become friends with Jim Dietz, pictured above, through the Flying Irish Running Club, of which he’s an original member. I’ve attended many events and get-togethers with Jim over the years. He runs a business just north of Spokane called Dietz Christmas Tree Farm.

Unable to run because of an injury, I watched Bloomsday while taking photos of my running club co-members. When Jim came into view, I noticed several things he should be doing to run faster, so I yelled, “Lift your knees, Jim! Don’t swing your arms so much! Lean into the wind! Pass that guy in front of you! Put your shoulders back!”

I yelled more things but can’t remember them all. However, when Jim went by, he showed what he thought about all my helpful suggestions.

When I try to help someone, and they do something like this, I get really, really mad.

I couldn’t get the incident out of my mind. I was seething all day.

By evening I decided to take a drive out to Jim’s farm. A bunch of trees were not going to be around for Christmas.

As I was driving, I got a call from Jim. He told me how fun Bloomsday had been and apologized for not hearing a word I said. He plugged his ears because he’s sensitive to loud music.

It’s a Bloomsday tradition that bands play at several spots along the course. One was playing right by me, and they were pretty loud.

I gave up my tree-cutting plot, and at the Flying Irish’s next club meeting, it was like nothing had happened. Jim and I were good friends once again.