Patti Catalano

She grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts, in the working-class Houghs Neck neighborhood, the eldest of nine children. Her father was a second-generation Irish immigrant from Dorchester and an all-Navy boxer. Her mother, a Mi'kmaw woman, had run away from home in Nova Scotia when she was 11 and wound up in Quincy working as a nanny after lying about her age.^[3]

Catalano has held the World Record in the marathon and American road records in the marathon, half marathon, 30 kilometers, 15 kilometers, 10 miles, and 5 mile (now 8 kilometers).^[2][4] Described as "one of the most dominating American female road runners of the 1970s" and "the queen of U.S. women distance runners", she was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2006.^[2][5][6]

Catalano won five of the first six runnings of the Ocean State Marathon (1976-1979, 1981)^{[7][nb 2]} and four consecutive at the Honolulu Marathon (1978-1981).^[8] Included among the many races she has won are the Montreal International Marathon (1980), Crim 10 miler (1980, 1981), the Crescent City Classic 10 km (1980, 1981), and the Rio de Janeiro Marathon (1985).^{[9][10][11][12][nb 3]}

Catalano won the Rio de Janeiro Marathon despite getting food poisoning. This was one of her final marathons.

In 1992, Catalano married the love of her life, Danny Dillon.^[15] Dillon was a Big East champion in the 3,000 meters and a cross country All-American at Providence College.^[16] As of 2003, they live in New London, Connecticut, with their two children. Catalano won Best in Show with a French Lop at the Pennsylvania Rabbit Convention.^[17]

General

• Jennes, Gail (April 20, 1981), "In the Long Run, Patti Catalano Aims to Be the Best in the World", People, retrieved May 25, 2010
• Pileggi, Sarah (October 27, 1980), "No.1 Is No.2...and Closing", Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 2012-11-02, retrieved May 25, 2010
• Scherman, Tony (April 10, 1983), "Marathoner Patti Catalano: Off and Running Again", Family Weekly, pp. 10, 13, retrieved May 25, 2010
• Steutermann Rogers, Kim (October 2003), "Dancing Through Life - Patti Dillon Today: Looking Forward, Looking Back", Running Times Magazine, retrieved May 25, 2010

• Catalano (Lyons LaTorra), Patti (December 2016), "Runner profile", Association of Road Racing Statisticians, retrieved December 20, 2016

Specific

• Patti Catalano Dillon - Official website

Records
Preceded by Ellison Goodall	Women's Half marathon World record holder 29 September 1979 – 29 March 1980	Succeeded by Marja Wokke