PEACE RACE Runner tries to get kids involved

John Grantonic will head a nine-member family delegation in the Peace Race.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- John Grantonic of Boardman is a SAD runner.
But he is glad of it, and encourages his family and others to become SAD runners, and promotes SAD running wherever and whenever he can.
SAD, according to Grantonic, is an acronym that stands for smoking, alcohol and drugs, which are habits that runners usually prefer to avoid. So, a SAD runner is a drug-free runner.
That's why Grantonic, 73, who will be running in his 24th Peace Race Sunday, tries to get his grandchildren and other youth involved in running at an early age.
"Whenever you get anyone started in running, you eliminate smoking, alcohol and drugs," said Grantonic. "Any parent that gets his kid involved in running, they will eliminate those three things. They will get them started out right.
"That's why I try to get as many kids involved in running, because I don't know any runner who smokes, drinks excessively or does drugs. That should be an encouragement for parents to get their kids started in running."
Family event
As an example, Grantonic will lead his nine-member family delegation into Sunday's 29th annual Peace Race. He will be joined by his wife, Barbara; son Mathew and his son, Alex, 6; son Tom and his wife, Karen, and their daughters Jordan, 6, and newly-adopted Rylie, 2, and grandson Michael, 10.
Last year, John placed third in the men's 10-kilometer 70-and-up age group in 1:05:45, and finished 542nd overall out of 584 runners.
But he will bypass the 10-k Sunday and instead run in the 2-mile preliminary run-walk that will start at 9:30 a.m. downtown where it also will end, joining Barbara, Karen, Jordan, Rylie, Mathew, Alex and Michael in the event. Barbara will walk the course.
Tom will be the only family member running in the 10-k event that will begin at 10:15 a.m. on West Indianola Avenue near Glenwood Avenue, and wend through Mill Creek Park and end downtown.
"Karen will be pushing adopted daughter, Rylie, in the 2-mile race in special stroller to push in a race. She was adopted in February from the Ukraine," said John. "Karen will just be taking Rylie for a ride."
Last year, Karen won the 10-k women's 40-44 age group in 48:33, and placed 238th overall.
Tom, who ran track and cross country while at Youngstown State, recently was named the director of the new YMCA branch in Boardman, while Karen also is affiliated with the YMCA.
Biggest family turnout
"This is the most family members running at the same time in the Peace Race," said John, who credits the Peace Race for getting him started in running just before he turned 50 years old.
"I attended the first Peace Race. I just watched it. I was curious about it, and then the following year I went down again. Jack Cessna [the Peace Race founder] was down there, and I watched it again," recalled Grantonic.
"A friend of mine asked me if I would run the race. I said I was not athletically inclined. But I had made up my mind to start running. So I did the third [Peace Race]."
Prior to that, the only running Grantonic had done was during lunch break in school while growing up in Mingo Junction.
"Many times I ran down the hill from school to lunch in 20 minutes," he explained.
Encourages others
Grantonic also has encouraged four other grandchildren -- Jocelyn, Jerry, Allyson and Christa -- to begin running. He has run with them in the Cleveland Revco 10-K race and the Peace Race. They live in Lorain.
Grantonic is a member of the Youngstown Roadrunners Club, which he said does a good job promoting running. And he tries to do the same thing.
"They try to get the teenagers and children involved in running," said Grantonic. "I do that also on an individual basis with parents who have children."
His message to parents: Running and SAD don't mix.
More information about the Peace Race is available by calling Second Sole at (330) 758-8708, or by e-mailing director Ted Rupe at ted.rupe@neomin.org.
kovach@vindy.com