YOUNGSTOWN — For most, race-day keepsakes rarely exceed stale shorts and personal

By DANIEL C. BRITT

YOUNGSTOWN — For most, race-day keepsakes rarely exceed stale shorts and personal satisfaction.

Youngstown Peace Race planners added fashionable peace-symbol medallions to the list Sunday. And for 10k runner Jim Gianoglio, fate added a new dog.

The Pittsburgh native spotted the skinny, brindle female terrier poking around the starting line on Indianola Avenue. When everyone started running the stray went with the flow and finished in the top 25 percent, Gianoglio said.

“She blew me away,” said Cathy Smolka of Poland. Smolka and others ran alongside the dog for a mile but couldn’t keep up.

“She’s a ghetto dog, and built like a runner,” Smolka said, pointing out the terrier’s protruding ribs.

When the dog crossed the finish line, “people went crazy,” said runner Lawrence Wheeler of Stowe. Gianoglio’s wife, Pam, was especially impressed, both with the dog’s steady pace — she beat more than 600 runners — and its demeanor.

Pam said she pushed her husband to adopt the terrier, but not hard.

“This comes at a good time and I’ve never met a friendlier animal,” she said.

The couple will soon place a bid on a house in Pittsburgh and planned to move out of their apartment this year.

“Now there’s no going back,” Jim said. “She’s going to need a back yard.”

By the time they left the downtown finish, the Gianoglios had still not yet decided on a name for their newly adopted pet.

“Philipedes,” after the Greek marathoner, and “Pre,” after long-distance runner Steven Prefontaine, were knocked around but nothing was settled upon.

If you’d like to suggest a name for the Youngstown Peace Race pooch, send an e-mail to danielbrittphoto@gmail.com.