Hall of Fame induction: 1993
The honor of being inducted into the PCVRC Hall of Fame has been extended to Kathy Rodriguez. Her running and social skills have come to grant her this achievement.
Kathy had been running for several years before she joined PCVRC in the mid 80’s. She and her husband joined at that time because they liked what the club stood for – running and socializing. She quickly began to show her social and volunteering skills in the club. Her first position on the board was an appointed position in 1988. At this time she also began heading the Wednesday night Fun Runs at Delcastle, which she has been doing ever since. She has a loyal group of people who show up every Wednesday night during the fun run season.
Kathy, then went on to be the First Female President of the club in 1989. After her tenure as president she stayed on the board being the race results chairperson. This is one of those thankless jobs in which one can never do enough because of all the races that take place. She did a great job trying to acknowledge all the Pike Creek runners. Afterwards she went on to become clothing chairperson and recently resumed working on race results. Now she has volunteered to join the board as Vice President. Her enthusiasm and warmth to other Pikers, either at meetings or at races is always a welcome sign. She always goes out of her way to welcome new members to meetings and to make them feel like Pikers.
Kathy started racing around 1978 with her husband , Jose. The first race she ran was Mrs. Paul’s 5 miler out of Boat House Row in Philadelphia. Her running ability quickly flourished. She won the Bottle and Cork women’s division when it was still a half marathon in 1979. In 1980 she placed 9th out of all the woman in the Philadelphia distance run. She went on to run Boston in 1981 after qualifying in the Marine Corps Marathon in 3:19:24. 1981 was a good year. She tried to break the 40 minute barrier in the 10K but only came as close as 40:06. After this great year, she had her first child in 1982 and her running slowed down. She continued to win races and placed in her age group. She had a second child in 1984 and was slower to come back and train hard. She got the club’s Comeback Runner of the Year in 1986. Her running continued to improve and she received numerous End of Year Awards as Best Sub Master woman. She also won her age group and placed several times in the Delaware Championship series.
We would like to wish a hearty congratulations to Kathy for being voted into the Pike Creek Valley Hall of Fame. She surely deserves it..
