2:35 female trying to run 2:30

Nope,not kidding...ya'know..when things aren't sorta planned and you go with the flow..it kinda works. Ya'know?

So yeah...the Maple Leaf Half-Marathon after Montreal. The very next day I flew to Norway as Greta's and Johan's guest. After a couple of races. Two in Norway, one in Denmark and I think one in Sweden or Switzerland...all one big day to me.

I stayed with Ingrid's coach in the countryside of Norway....I loved it...absolutely off the charts...the forests...ohmygoodnessgracious...awesome is the word to use here. I ran so many miles..on soft pine needles. Simply the best...I still carry the miles with me.

I was talking Gerald Naber in Denmark...nice guy. He and a lot of the other runners were all talking about New York. New York this, New York that....It didn't leave me. When I returned home on a Thursday. Friday morning, I woke up and felt pretty good but charged up. I asked my coach if I could run Tufts Ten on Monday.

No....

hmm,...

more words shot back and forth..back and forth...and back and forth...hmm,

I stood my ground. I called Dusty Rhodes myself...the Tufts ten race director. I asked for a number...and I got it. I ran it and I won with a new pr and ar. It was awesome..let me tell you... simply awesome. One of my best memories of running a race... an all women's race no less.

So yeah, then I wanted to do New York.

Ya'know...I understand where my coach was coming from (now, but not then). I felt that I was the one putting it on the line...and I was the one who had to face the consequences. So, I knew that if I didn't get what I had set out to do...then it was on me...and I would know the mistake. I had such a strong will..(still do) and running gave me a place to use it.

Remember when Kara wanted to run another marathon shortly after running one....I forget off the top of my head which marathon it was. I remember reading about it and her coach said no.....lol!!!

Can you see me and Coach Al shooting words back and forth...he probably would have said something like.."if you run this race, I'm not going to coach you anymore".

And I would have said.. "FINE!!!!" LOL!!!

Patti, you rock. (Steve from NJ, remember me?)

Of course I do...!!! Ohmygoodness...how are you?

Been awhile...hmm, RI xc meet?

I have to say...this....The date of my marriage was May 4th was the date and the date of the race was May 5th.

Shortly thereafter was the Far Hills NJ race.

I;m wrong...not May 4th..June.

Oh Well...this site needs a delete button.

Sooo where is 2:35 female?

I'm still trying to digest this: a young woman, who is a smoker, running sub-29 for 5 miles in her first race...in Earth Shoes ?!?!?

How you weren't permanently crippled running in those things (then switching to running shoes the week before the marathon without injury!) I have no idea.

Hi Patti, this was the source I used for your marriage date:

http://www.si.com/vault/1980/10/27/825061/no1-is-no2--and-closing-an-unhappy-childhood-had-patti-catalano-running-from-the-world-now-shes-the-best-us-marathoner-and-running-after-grete-waitz

The Boston Marathon in April (1980) was Catalano's breakthrough, the race that convinced her she could run with the best. She didn't win it;

she finished second to Gareau--third, if one counts Rosie Ruiz--but

her time (2:35:08) was her best to that date, and it permanently

rearranged her head.

Thirteen days later, on May 4, she won the 15-km. Midland Run in

Far Hills, N.J. over a field that included Gareau and Moller. On

May 17 she married Joe Catalano, her coach, and did two eight-mile

training runs. On May 18 she ran a women's American record for five

miles (26:14) in the National Fire Protection Race on the streets

of Boston. On May 25, in front of a crowd of 70,000 in Wheeling, W.

Va., she set a 20-km. world record (1:08:36.7) on a course that

Bill Rodgers has said is "the toughest 20K course I know of." On

May 31 Catalano finished second behind Waitz, who established a

world record 30:59.8, in the L'eggs Mini Marathon in New York, but

her time (33:03) was at that point her best for 10 km., and she

said, "I wasn't discouraged to see her so far away. I was happy to

see her at all."

In June Catalano set an American record for 15 km. (49:42) in

Oregon's Cascade Run Off, and on Sept. 6, in Montreal, she ran the

second-fastest marathon ever by a woman (2:30:57.1), in the process

beating Gareau, who then had the fourth-best time on record. On

Columbus Day Catalano set an American record for 10 km. (32:24) at

the Bonne Bell race in Boston.

OK Kore Al wrote:

I'm still trying to digest this:

I'm still trying to digest this, too. It is somewhat mind-boggling, lol.

We've heard and read how the elite road-racers back in the day raced a lot. Bill Rodgers' training logs are invaluable. But after looking at Patti's record, possibly no one else in the world has raced as prodigiously at such a high level? This is in light of the fact that numerous of these races were Marathons!

Patti, is there any possibility that your training/race logs still survive? Maybe a list of all your races?

Oops, there's Peachtree in July... another pr, no ar..missed by a hundredth of a second of something..but I did break Decker's course record.

And Nike would have all of my races. We reported everything. (bonus $) And also my coach would have them, if he didn't toss them.

I have nothing now...lost things here an there, moved quite a bit, and a flood.

Oh well.

Wholly sht , how did this simple request get side tracked into gibberish not relevant to an athlete asking for help?

Hanson's is a buy in that you have to be selected to be a part.

Denna and husband have are learning to coach at elite levels , give them a few years and few athletes to prove out what are trying to do at Mammoth.

Magness has no history of direct coaching , lots of theory , learning curve , your the rat in the cage.

Hudson has a system and athletes ,a core group of women training together, history and results.

You don't have any time. Get on a plane to Boulder and see whats up.

My goodness, be nice.

We're all visiting until "2:35 female" decides to chime in, if "2:35 female" exists at all. And if she's reading any of this, she's learning.

I think she should stay put an train where she is and not move.

Patti means well but it's the era. 1980s runners were extremely sefl-centered prima donnas without knowing it.

The ZAP / Reebok folks in the mountains of NC are tight knit and pete and ryan do a good job. If you were to get fully funded their sponsorship package is impressive (salary....health ins...bonuses...winter camps...all housing meals...massage) you would however have to live in Blowing rock - very rural not for everyone -

Tar Heel fan wrote:

you would however have to live in Blowing rock - very rural not for everyone -

Which has been the complaint of nearly every female that has ever been there. Esther Erb seems to have performed much better after leaving.

[/quote]

In the context of this body of work, it would be useful to see some more training information (e.g., the transition, and buildups eventually to 120 mile weeks, etc.) interspersed.

Who would she train with at Zap. Sarah and Stephanie are the only girls on their roster and neither live at Zap and Stephanie is injured most of the time. As Mary found out last year, being a female at Zap means you are alone as a woman in a small mountain town surrounded by guys. You run and do workouts by yourself most of the time except when they guys want to slum or hit on you. Moving to Zap would be the worst thing this girl can do unless she wants some steady babysitting gigs from Pete and Zika.

BTW, as a reasonable adult with a modicum of respect and appreciation for historical running knowledge, maybe others, along with me, appreciate this interesting compilation of Patti's mind-boggling unique body of work--through her ascension to the pinnacle of women's road-running 30 years ago--and her willingness, as a running legend, to share with this forum.

inoticedtoo wrote:

Patti means well but it's the era. 1980s runners were extremely sefl-centered prima donnas without knowing it.

To the extent this is true, it's because they had to be to get anywhere.

listen up... wrote:

BTW, as a reasonable adult with a modicum of respect and appreciation for historical running knowledge, maybe others, along with me, appreciate this interesting compilation of Patti's mind-boggling unique body of work--through her ascension to the pinnacle of women's road-running 30 years ago--and her willingness, as a running legend, to share with this forum.

+1.