About
Patti Catalano Dillon -- World Champion Distance Runner
Learns to be Her Own Champion - - Overcoming Abuse,
Bulimia and Homelessness:
Patti is a dynamic spark of light. She speaks in exclamation
marks and with an enthusiasm that you wouldn't think
would accompany some of the stories that she tells about
her past. Many know of the champion; the woman who,
in 1976, took up the sport of running before there were
many women involved and, within 7 months of starting,
ranked 25th in the world for women's marathon running.
The story that few know is that, while Patti was breaking
records, she was also struggling through abusive relationships,
bulimia, and eventually became homeless to save her
life. Becoming a champion for her life, I think, makes
her the biggest champion to women. We are all touched
by her story.
Patti discovered running
when she was 23. At the time, she was smoking 2 packs
of cigarettes a day and had gained over 50 lbs. "I
decided that I needed to change", she says "so
I made this 'be nice to Patti' campaign.". She
took a clock and started recording what she did every
day, and then she made a commitment to herself to reserve
an hour a day as a "be nice to Patti" hour.
"I started having bubble baths with candles lit,
because Cosmopolitan Magazine told me that this would
be good for me. But I got bored of that." Patti
remembers. She recognized that the times in her life
when she was most happy were times when she was physically
active. So she took up jogging.
She decided to spend
her next hour jogging. She ran around a cemetery for
an hour (a total of 7 miles) on her first run. "I
couldn't walk for two weeks because I was so darn sore!",
Patti recalls. "But I felt so wonderful! I felt
awesome.". Patti wasn't in love with running yet,
but she was in love with the after effects of running.
Within 7 months, Patti
had run her first marathon (she won), qualified for
the Boston Marathon, and placed 25th in the world for
female distance runners. Over the next years, she broke
records and set standards for women in the sport. She
was the first American woman to run a 2:30 marathon
(the second in the world), and then proceeded to break
two more records over an 8 month period. Patti won the
Honolulu marathon 4 years in a row, and though she never
won the Boston Marathon, she has landed a place in the
game "Trivial Pursuit" as the celebrated female
runner who placed second in the Boston Marathon 3 years
in a row.
Pressure to succeed
was fierce. "I had the professionals surrounding
me but yet, I don't think I was seen as a person; I
was seen as something else...a product." Married
to her coach, Patti was pushed on the track and at home,
always expected to do more. At home, her coach/husband
would criticize her running for the day, and point out
areas where she needed to lose fat.
While she was being
celebrated as a champion, the internal struggles continued.
"I was in the 'World Champions' parade for the
Boston Celtics...touted as one of the world's best female
athletes", she says "The world saw this 97
pound woman sitting on the shoulders of, say, Larry
Bird, and here I am looking at the world through a toilet
seat...I was bulimic.". The pressure of constantly
improving herself and being pushed on the track and
at home caused her bulimia to get progressively worse.
By the third time that she came in second at the Boston
Marathon, the damaging effects of being married to her
coach took its toll. "It was one thing for him
to be disappointed as my coach, but for him to be disappointed
as my husband...it just took its toll." Patti remembers
"and then I thought 'you know, if I don't leave
this, I'm going to die'...I was throwing up nine, 12
times a day. I was a complete mess. My hair was already
falling out, my teeth were bleeding, my throat was swollen...I
was going to die."
Patti eventually moved
to Vermont and continued training while she opened a
Health Food store. When the store was sold, she got
lonely and decided to come back to Boston. She married
her childhood sweetheart. The day they got married,
her new husband moved them into a condemned home. "There
was no electricity, no running water and the windows
were boarded up. I just thought it was a test...that
I would love him no matter what." Patti recalls.
The relationship quickly deteriorated from there through
severe jealousy and control issues on his part. Very
quickly, the relationship became violent. "I went
to work and there were two bruises on my forearms near
my wrists, because, when he went to hit me, I put my
hands up and he grabbed me." she says. When her
students noticed the bruises, the seriousness of the
incident dawned on her and she realized that she couldn't
go back to her husband.
Patti had nowhere to
go, "so I moved into my trunk. I had this old Saab,
and it was great because no one could see that you had
put the seats down. It's my old Saab story!" she
laughs. The first night, her husband found her, and
he enlisted the aid of one of his friends to get his
wife back to the house. "For two and a half hours,
I was racing through the heart of Boston trying to lose
them." Patti was terrified.
For two and a half
months, Patti found local streets to sleep on. "I
knew the people, I knew the sounds." She said.
She felt safer in the areas she knew, even though it
was the same area where her husband lived. "I actually
felt safer sleeping in my neighborhood than outside
of my neighborhood because I knew that he wouldn't look
for me here.". During the day, she would hang out
at the Bill Rogers running store. "I had a place
where I could hang out and feel safe", she said.
But the shame of what she was living through was strong.
When a woman approached her to ask her if she was Patti
Catalano, she said "Oh no, that's my sister."
"After the shame",
she says "comes the anger. I was so mad at myself
and so mad at the world...how can somebody like me,
who is a very capable person, who is strong as an ox,
who can persevere...wind up like this? It happens.".
While she was surrounded by people, none of them were
friends; they were news anchors, promoters, sponsors
and coaches. Patti never really had any friends to look
to for support.
Eventually, Patti managed
to rebuild her life and heal. "It took me years
to be ready for a new relationship, but I knew that
there were good guys out there, and I wanted to have
a family." Patti remembers. Eventually she found
her current husband, champion runner Dan Dillon. They've
been married for 15 years now, and have two wonderful
children.
June 2007, Patti won
her first race in 22 years. "I was in the lead
against this young lass, she must have been 20 [Patti
is 54], and I realized that I was ahead. I just thought
'try to pass me, baby'. In the end I won, but I was
a wreck!". Patti's entire family were winners that
day. Her husband finished first in his category, her
daughter Raven came first for her age group and her
son Aaron came in 3rd for his group.
"No matter what,
I believe that if you don't give up hope, and you have
faith in that hope, things will be fine." she says.
Patti believes that, if we can establish standards for
ourselves - what we will and will not stand for - we
can pull ourselves out of the most difficult of challenges
and come out on top. "Everybody has to be a champion
and everybody has that in them."
email Lia at: lia [at] upwithwomen.com
Patti is a dynamic spark of light. She speaks in exclamation
marks and with an enthusiasm that you wouldn't think
would accompany some of the stories that she tells about
her past. Many know of the champion; the woman who,
in 1976, took up the sport of running before there were
many women involved and, within 7 months of starting,
ranked 25th in the world for women's marathon running.
The story that few know is that, while Patti was breaking
records, she was also struggling through abusive relationships,
bulimia, and eventually became homeless to save her
life. Becoming a champion for her life, I think, makes
her the biggest champion to women. We are all touched
by her story.
