We’re happy to highlight John Valasco in our series of runner profiles. He is a recent addition to our group and is stepping up to be part of our governing board in 2022! We hope you enjoy getting to learn a bit more about John.
John came to The Villages for a lifestyle visit in 2019 following friends and family that already lived here and, of course, after making sure there was an active running club! By 2020 he had settled in and became an active member of The Villages Running Club. John will be taking over the role of Vice-President of TVRC starting in January 2022, and he brings a wealth of ideas from years of training and participating in other running clubs.
He got his start in running as part of the cross-country team while in high school in Michigan. He moved up to the marathon distance after college when one of his buddies told him about running the distance over summer break from MSU. John liked the idea of the challenge and signed up and completed the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 1981. His first marathon – a very speedy 3:18 – remains his fastest ever! John went back to that marathon 10 years later and ran a still very impressive 3:20.
In those intervening years John married and had two daughters, Emily (now 34) and Liz (32). Both of his girls ran in high school. These days, Emily’s running consists of chasing his two grandchildren around the house, but Liz and John are hatching a plan to do runs together at a multisport festival in the future.
John also started his job at PPG Industries, a top industrial coating company, during that time. He remained employed in sales and service at PPG for 34 years! Over those years John lived in Norfolk, VA, Greenville, SC, Chapel Hill, NC, Columbus OH and, finally, Grand Haven, MI. Throughout his career, he made running a priority and in fact, his acceptance of roles in both Columbus and Grand Haven were welcomed by him because he knew both areas had strong running scenes. In OH, John joined a newly opened Fleet Feet running store where he was part of an approximately 800-strong running club! The group sponsored marathon-in-training programs that had pacers, hydration stations and coaches. In MI, John joined a smaller, more social running club where members helped one another train over the brutal Michigan winters despite the snow, ice, and cold temperatures!
John has completed a total of 10 marathons and had planned to stick to the half-marathon and shorter races until friends from his Grand Haven running club told him they were planning to run a marathon in Mesa, AZ in 2022. Since then, John has convinced at least one member of TVRC to join him for the race! The AZ marathon is flat and fast and now John is setting his sites on returning to one of his favorite races ever, the Boston Marathon. He ran it in 2007 and the memory of toeing the starting line with the best runners in the world has made him want to see if he has a couple of more marathons in him. John still finds a way to workout with TVRC members even as he prepares to tackle the marathon. He blends his training runs around the group runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday by starting out early to get in extra miles and then joining the group for the Loop, the Hills and the Long Runs. In addition, he adds one additional day of training for some intervals or other faster-paced training.
In addition to his marathon training, John is excited to become a part of the TVRC Board. He has noted the willingness of the runners in the group to support charitable endeavors – be it racing for charity or participating in the books & pajamas Christmas drive – and has a vision of the group expanding in this arena in the future. With John’s knowledge of running and experience with other running clubs he is sure to help TVRC runners continue to celebrate the joy of running and expand that joyfulness into more good works within our community!
The Villages Running Club 