In late June, 78-year-old Stan Cottrell ran along Highway 36 as he crossed Jewell County. Cottrell, also known as the "Original Forrest Gump," has been running for 73 years. He has run more than 270,000 miles so far in his life. That is more than 11 times around the earth!
On this journey, Cottrell began in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 7, which was his 78th birthday. He plans on running 100 consecutive days and reaching Washington, D.C. By the time he reached Jewell County, he had run more than 1,500 miles and was about halfway to his destination.
It was Cottrell's third time on Highway 36. "It was like the highway said 'Hello Stan,'" he said.
The first time Cottrell ran across the United States, he was trying to set a new world record, which he achieved by beating the old record by 5 days. Cottrell ran approximately 66 miles a day during this first run, allowing him to reach his destination in 48 days.
Cottrell has run across 40 nations. He crossed Europe in 80 days. Cottrell also ran 2,152 miles through the forbidden land of China, where no foreigners had ever been permitted. On this particular run, the part of the Great Wall that Cottrell was running on gave way and dropped him 200 feet. Cottrell broke vertebraes L4 and L5 along with bones in his foot, but he still got back up and completed his run. "I always thought that if you had a broken back it was wheelchair time," said Cottrell. As you can see, he was not right as he is still running today.
In one of his runs across Cuba, Cottrell was invited to Fidel Castro's 75th birthday party by Castro himself. Cottrell attended the birthday party and got to meet and talk to a lot of interesting people, including Castro's wife.
"People are the stars of these runs," Cottrell said. He believes the runs are a vehicle that connect people. Cottrel's goals for The Amazing Friendship Run 2021 are to break down walls that not only divide one nation from another nation, but to also break down the walls that divide one person from another.
Cottrell has done 75 of these friendship type initiatives since 1980. His hope is to unite America.
Not only is Cottrell a world renowned, ultra-distance runner, he also has three doctorate degrees. Cottrell has been a college instructor, a pharmaceutical executive, vice president of business development and CEO of an international biotechnical and environmental firm.
In 1984, Cottrell founded Friendship Sports Association.
Last we heard on July 20 he was at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at Cleveland, Ohio.
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