Mario Rodríguez, a dentist, realized that he was risking his career after suffering a judo accident in which he almost broke his hand. As consequence, he decided to choose an alternative sport. When he was 28 years old, Rodríguez started to get ready for his first marathon and in 1987 he participated in the New York Marathon.
Until today, he has 42 marathons medals from different countries and he states that he is not done yet: Mario is almost 60 years old but he is still running 191 kilometers per week.
As a child, he never imagined he would run marathons. During his childhood, his family was very poor and did not have the resources for him to engage into any sports.
For Mario, track&field (TF) is a lifestyle and he says that he’s always eager to go out to train and get ready for the next marathon.
When I finished my first marathon in New York, I said, ‘No, no, this is too hard. I will not do it again,’ but after a few weeks you realize that you have to improve your time and do it better next time,
declared Rodríguez.
For Mario, every day is a personal challenge and the attitude should always be the best; he believes that dreams must be constant in our lives and that discipline is the key to achieve them.
While the medals and Personal Records (PR) achievements are a motivation for Mario, his greatest inspiration is his family.
Mario has always liked to motivate people and to help them to reach their own goals so that’s why for years he has been sharing his passion for running and he has trained many runners. In additio., he runs his own travel agency called Matoshi and organizes excursions to marathons, complemented by personalized tours in European countries.