RUNNING Lyla Pilorusso, 78, in her 17th Peace Race

By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
WEATHERSFIELD -- Lyla Pilorusso, 78, will be running in her 17th Peace Race Sunday, and her goals in the 10-kilometer run will be just as simple as they were when she made her debut in the event at age 61 in 1985.
"Just to do the run and enjoy it and hopefully it will not rain because I don't like running when it is pouring," said Pilorusso of Weathersfield Township, who took up running when she was 60 because she didn't have enough time to continue just bicycling and swimming when she enrolled at Youngstown State.
"When I started back at school, there was not enough time so I decided to walk and run, and that's what I needed [and] when I could run a mile."
After she was able to run a mile, she decided to try to increase her distance and entered the 3-mile Run for Liberty race in Boardman. "And I got a prize and was very happy with that," she said of her first 3-mile finish.
Several years later, she earned her bachelor's degree in nutrition at YSU, and by that time also had become a distance runner.
"I just do it for the enjoyment. You feel great [after a run]," said Pilorusso, a Poland High graduate and former Youngstown and Liberty resident, and a widow whose maiden name is Mershimer. "I only weigh 95 pounds and I want to keep it that way."
But the diminutive 5-foot-21/2 runner pointed out, "I have always weighed under 100 pounds, and when I was married years ago I weighed 85 pounds."
Pilorusso, who will be 79 Nov. 1, has missed only one Peace Race.
"I only missed one because of a bicycle accident about seven years ago. I was riding a bicycle and hit some gravel and the bike slid and I had a concussion, just a few days before the race," she recalled.
Made debut in 1985 race
She vividly recalls her first Peace Race in 1985. "It snowed. That was when we had to go up [Fifth Avenue] to the college, that steep hill, and went around the [Stambaugh Stadium] track. It was snowing, icy and really cold," she remembered.
In last year's Peace Race, Pilorusso had a 10-k time of 1:15:49 with a mile pace of 12:14 to place 484th out of 490 finishers. But, she says her participation in the race takes precedent over her time.
"I really haven't kept track [of my times]. I used to be able to do it under 10 minutes a mile, but I can't now. I don't really care, just so long as I finish," she said.
"I start out with one pace and just stay with it. There are younger people behind me and they think it will be easy and they start out fast. A lot of them don't run [regularly]. They don't run a couple of times a week."
Pilorusso said she usually runs three times a week, but her longest distance is 10-k.
"I run two days a week and I'm running a race every weekend usually Saturday. They are usually 5-k," she said.
"I run around my neighborhood," she said, and, "In the winter, if the snow is bad, I have a tread mill and I do that."
But, "I've always run outside except when it was icy."
Her last race was Saturday.
"I went to Columbiana, a 5-k there. That was partially cross country, which I don't usually do." Her time was 35:00.
She had planned to test most of the Peace Race course Thursday.
"Usually before the Peace Race I run the park course," she noted.
But she is not just a runner.
"I do dance skating four mornings a week -- three days to Austintown and one to Cortland roller skating places," she said. "[I] just got in from skating and it was great."
Any other physical activities?
"That's enough. That's about all I have time for [and] to try to keep house," said Pilorusso, who has two children, Barbara and Tom.
Barbara and her husband, Reggie, are park rangers in Alberta, Canada, while Tom operates a freelance videotaping business in Washington, D.C.
Starting times
Sunday's 10-kilometer run will begin at 10:15 a.m. on Indianola Avenue, just east of Glenwood Avenue, and extend through Mill Creek Park and end downtown on Commerce Street near the YMCA. The 2-mile Fun Run/Walk will start at 9:30 a.m. on Commerce Street near the YMCA, where it also will end.
Registration for the Peace Race will be held at Second Sole in Boardman today from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Entry forms are available at Second Sole. Registration also can be made Sunday until 9:15 a.m. at the YMCA.
Bill Rodgers, a four-time winner of both the Boston and New York Marathons, will be a guest runner in Sunday's Peace Race. Rodgers won the 1977 Peace Race over a 25-kilometer course. Rodgers will appear at Second Sole Saturday from 2-5 p.m.
kovach@vindy.com