You can use a snapshot to get you most of the way there although it's more centralized. Here's the link and some instructions on how to use it
https://download.gridcoin.us/download/downloadstake/signed/snapshot.zip
1) Make a backup of your wallet.dat and gridcoinresearch.conf files as well as your walletbackups folder.
2) Delete everything in your Gridcoin Research directory (Linux = .GridcoinResearch/, Windows = %appdata%\GridcoinResearch) EXCEPT your wallet.dat, gridcoinresearch.conf, and walletbackups folder.
3) Download the latest snapshot.
4) Extract the snapshot into your Gridcoin directory.
5) Launch the wallet.
RE: How did you hear about Gridcoin?