The streets in Greenfield may have looked a bit emptier over the past month.
Missing from the landscape was Janice Bohonowicz, who could be seen running or biking around town for more than three decades. On Sept. 3, the 56-year-old Bohonowicz lost her battle with glioblastoma, otherwise known as brain cancer.
Over the years, Bohonowicz made many friends through her competitive and leisurely runs. Those friends are now giving back in her honor with the Janice Bohonowicz Memorial Fun Run/Walk, which takes place on Oct. 30. Beginning and ending at The Body Shoppe in Greenfield, the 5K run/walk is free, but donations are being sought to raise money for the Janice Bohonowicz Fund. The proceeds will be used to buy books for the children’s wing of the Greenfield Public Library.
Bohonowicz grew up running. She began during her years at Mohawk Trail Regional High School, where she ran track & field, and continued after graduating from Greenfield Community College with her associates degree in nursing in 1981. She then spent the next 34 years working at Cooley-Dickinson Hospital. She also had two children, Peter and Kristina Bergeron. Peter, a Greenfield High School grad, was a Major League Baseball player for the Montreal Expos.
“She ran track for Mohawk as a teenager, died at the age of 56 and I don’t think ever stopped running in that time,” friend Bob Sagor said.
Bohonowicz was even the self-appointed president of the “running club,” which met each morning at 6 a.m. (7 a.m. on the weekends because, after all, people must sleep) at The Body Shoppe in Greenfield to run. On any given day, upward of eight friends would show up and head off on a run.
“That’s what you need to keep you going. When you are in a running group and you are out there for an hour, you need something to take your mind off it,” friend Brian Wadman said. “That’s what we have. We can talk about problems, talk about work, whatever.”
The running group spilled over into their social lives, and many of the members met for a variety of reasons other than running. They even turned a number of holidays into special events. On New Years Day, the group ran the Sawmill River 10K in Montague and then spent the rest of the day at Bohonowicz’s house. That, of course, came after they went home and showered.
“She was a neat freak,” Wadman said with a chuckle.
On Memorial Day, the group biked 100 miles to the Swiss Farm Inn in Pittsfield, Vt., where they spent the night and then get up in the morning, ate breakfast and biked home. Wadman said the Inn boasts the “World’s Best Breakfast,” and some years it would not even be open on Memorial Day but would open specifically for the group of 15 to 30 riders.
The other big holiday tradition was July 4th, when the group biked up to Brattleboro, Vt., ran in the Firecracker 4-Miler and biked home.
“Janice was so important to all of us,” Wadman said. “We all considered her like family. I looked at her like a sister.”
Bohonowicz ran all sorts of races, from marathons to 5Ks. She has run in the Boston Marathon, last running that in 2003, but continued to do a number of half-marathons in the past decade-plus, including the Swanzey (N.H.) Covered Bridges Half Marathon multiple times, and most recently, completed the Western Mass. Mother’s Day Half Marathon in Whately.
“She ran a number of marathons and an awful lot of half-marathons,” Sagor said. “She was a real big player in the local running community, and she was also a very special and outstanding person. There was a memorial service held over the weekend and there were over 300 people there.”
Bohonowicz also competed in a wide range of shorter races in the area, including the Montague Mug, Don Maynard Memorial and Kringle Candle Chase. Her biggest race of the year was the Bridge of Flowers 10K Classic in Shelburne Falls, her hometown race, which she did for the final time in 2015, finishing second in the female ages 55 to 59 division with a time of 54 minutes, 35 seconds.
“She was a highly-competitive runner and she almost always placed in her age group,” McDonald said.
Unable to run the Bridge of Flowers this past August due to deteriorating health, a number of Bohonowicz’s friends showed up wearing T-shirts with her likeness on them. So she was there in spirit.
Although unable to run in August, she did participate in a pair of final races this year. She started the year out by running the Sawmill River 10K in Montague on New Year’s Day, then ran her final race on May 5 when she ran the Mother’s Day Half Marathon one final time in Whately. Even with her health in decline, she still managed to finish the half-marathon in 2 hours, 2 minutes, 52 seconds.
“It’s so remarkable it could blow you over with a feather,” McDonald said. “She’s such a remarkable person. She never blew her own horn. She was an amazing asset to this community.
In addition to running, Bohonowicz also enjoyed her time on the bike. She frequently rode with husband Bruce Bohonowicz, and also taught spinning class at The Body Shoppe. She also loved skiing, a love made her a member of yet another tight group, the skiing club. That club would go to Mt. Snow or Stratton Mountain on winter Wednesday mornings, and once a year the group would head west to a resort. Her last trip was last winter to Whistler Mountain, in British Columbia, Can., the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
One other passion Bohonowicz had was reading. Each of her friends pointed out her love for learning, and it’s something that led her to get her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UMass less than 10 years ago. And prior to having grandchildren, Bohonowicz also volunteered once a week to read books to elementary school children in the area.
“She just had this need to learn, too,” Wadman said. “She just loved books. She would always read the last chapter of the book first. She didn’t want any surprises. She wanted to be able to concentrate on what she was reading without the surprise.”
It’s that reason that she suggested a charity to buy books for the library. And now her friends and former running group are looking to help her raise funds posthumously with the fun run.
“She just loved to run, loved to race, and then go have a beer after,” McDonald laughed, recalling post-race gatherings. “We would all sit around and brag about how well we did.”
It’s just one in a long line of special memories the group of runners has of its dear — late friend, memories that will keep her pleasant spirit alive for many years to come
Jason Butynski is a Greenfield native and Recorder sportswriter. His email address is jbutynski@recorder.com. Like him on Facebook and leave your feedback at www.facebook.com/jaybutynski.