Personal Information

My name is Todd Cotton. My interest in running began in 1983 when I heard about some guys in my office who were doing a 10-mile run on Saturday mornings. I was intrigued by this. Could I also do something this astounding? They also talked about a running event in Valparaiso in September that was 5 miles in length. They were talking about the Popcorn Panic 5-Mile Race, since which I have done 14 of. I thought to myself that I should get ready for this. So I did! My running began.

I have averaged 30 road races a year since 1984. The significant ones for me have been the Popcorn Panic, the Chicago Marathon, and the Boston Marathon. I have several boxes of t-shirts stored in my basement, several of which I have not even tried on. Many have become night shirts for my two daughters, or Saturday shirts for my wife. I had 15 of them done into one of those runner's quilts which is displayed in my office. Beside the fact that I did each race indicated by the t-shirts on the quilt, it was sown by one of my teachers which makes it even more special.

During the 80's I made no significant improvement in my race times. My 5K's were generally 19:25-20:10, 10K's were 41:00-42:00. I began group running in the 90's and made significant changes in the type of training that I do, thus my race times went down. Speedwork and quality long runs have contributed the most to my improved times. I have never followed a strict regime of training. Die-Hard runners are going to cringe, but I keep no log, and I rarely wear a watch in a race. I am probably guilty of overtraining frequently. For the last several years I have been able to run 5K's in the low to mid 18:00's and 10K's in the 38:00-39:00 range. My marathon times are below. I had a "marathon breakthrough" in the 1997 Chicago.

Nike products have worked well for me, for the most part, since the beginning of my running, so I have stuck with them.

In the beginning it probably was mostly the personal satisfaction of being able to finish a long run or complete a race that kept me motivated. Now I am driven more by competition, improvement, and the social nature of running.

I have stayed relatively injury free over the last 15 years, the most serious injury being a couple of different cases of achilles tendinitis.

In the beginning of my running I also continued to play basketball, which I have now totally given up. I am strictly one dimensional at this time. I have done just a little cycling, and no mountain biking. My swimming consists of running from my daughters in the hotel swimming pool on vacations.

I do hope to continue running for the span of my life, God willing and the creeks don't rise.

This article appeared on the front page of a March edition of The Vidette Times, a local daily Valparaiso, IN newspaper.

FUND-RACER

Todd Cotton hopes his run in the Boston Marathon benefits Shults-Lewis

by Kyle Peterson

Valparaiso--The highest goals are achieved one step at a time, said Todd Cotton, director of education for Shults-Lewis Child and Family Services.

He prefers to pace his steps so that he covers a mile every seven minutes or so. At least that's how he's going to achieve his goal of completing the Boston Marathon.

"I've always wanted to do something like this," Cotton said.

The 26.2 mile foot race will take him a little more than three hours, but the preparation is where the real work is, he said. Cotton runs about 30 miles every week, and about two weeks before the April 20 marathon, he will run 20 miles to make sure he's up to it.

Cotton said he doesn't mind, because it sets a good example for his students at Shults-Lewis, a residential educational facility that helps children and their families.

He said he wants to demonstrate perseverance and endurance.

"I want to use my ability and talent to glorify God," he said.

Cotton also will take the opportunity to collect a little money for the school. He and the Shults-Lewis administration are soliciting sponsors to pledge money for every mile Cotton runs.

"I wanted to do something besides just run the marathon," he said.

Cotton wants to raise at least $5,000 for the school's general fund.

It's kind of a give-away, however, because Cotton already knows he can finish the race. He's already run four marathons.

He's finished the Muncie Marathon, the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Al, and the Chicago Marathon twice.

It was at last year's Chicago Marathon that Cotton qualified for the Boston race. He ran the marathon in three hours and eight minutes. Qualifying times must be three hours and 15 minutes or less.

Cotton has been running since 1984, when he moved to Valparaiso from Tennessee to work at Shults-Lewis. He said he can't count the number of state and local races he's run.

"I just really enjoy racing and competition," Cotton said.

Working closely with children, Cotton has encouraged some of his students to run as well. One student even ran a five-mile race with him one year.

"A lot of the kids are encouraged to run," he said.

Cotton said he hopes the students will rally around him as the day of the race approaches.

Shults-Lewis has 28 students who live at the campus where they can get special help for personal problems. Seventh through 12th grade classes are available.

Cotton said students usually stay about 18 months, and in that time he tries to demonstrate care for the body as well as for the mind. He said he hopes his efforts in the marathon will convey that idea to his students.

I have written over the years of the benefits I receive from running. Enumerated the physical and mental changes. Listed the emotional and spiritual gains. Charted the improvement that has taken place in my person and my life. What I have not emphasized is how transient these values and virtues are.

With just a little thought, however, it should be evident that physical laws parallel those of the mind and the spirit. We know that the effects of training are temporary. I cannot put fitness in the bank. If inactive, I will detrain in even less time than it took me to get in shape. And since my entire persona is influenced by my running program, I must be constantly in training. Otherwise the sedentary life will inexorably reduce my mental and emotional well-being.

So, I run each day to preserve the self I attained the day before. And coupled with this is the desire to secure the self yet to be. There can be no let up. If I do not run I will eventually lose all I have gained-and my future with it.

Maintenance was a favorite topic of Eric Hoffer. It made the difference, said the former longshoreman, between a country that was successful and one that failed. However magnificent the achievement, without constant care the result was decay.

I know the experience intimately. There is nothing more brief than a laurel. Victory is of the moment. It must be followed by another victory and then another. I have to run just to stay in place.

Excellence is not something attained and put in a trophy case. It is not sought after, achieved and, thereafter, a steady state. It is a momentary phenomenon, a rare conjunction of body, mind, and spirit at one's peak. Should I come to that peak I cannot stay there. I must start each day at the bottom and climb to the top. And then beyond that peak to another and yet another.

Through running I have learned what I can be and do. My body is now sensitive to the slightest change. It is particularly aware of any decline or decay. I can feel this lessening of the "me" that I have come to think of myself.

Running has made this new me. Taken the raw material and honed it and delivered it back ready to do the work of a human being. I run so I do not lose the me I was yesterday and the me I might become tomorrow.

Doing one's best--sounds like an easy enough concept. "Just do your best, that will be fine," we are told by teachers and parents. But we quickly discover that doing one's personal best is not enough. If you were like me, you found out at an early age that simply doing YOUR best wasn't fine.

At least it wasn't fine if there was someone else who's best was better than yours. If someone else could say their alphabet or color inside the lines or sing a melody or hit a ball better, then suddenly it became a matter of your being able to do not YOUR best, but THEIR best. For many of us, an activity that had been great fun up until then--singing, playing ball, reading--suddenly became an opportunity for us to be "not as good as".

Unless, of course, you were the one who's best set the standard. If you were the one who could do more, throw farther, or run faster, it was different. If you were the one upon whom puberty descended first and changed your body from a boy's to a man's or a girl's to a woman's while the rest of us suffered the indignity of being stuck in a child's body, you may not understand.

But many of us learned as children that OUR best was not good enough. We learned that there was always some goal just beyond our reach, that someone else had accomplished already, which we could reach if we REALLY did our best. And when our best fell short, as it most often did, we were consoled by the cruelest of comments. "Well, at least you tried." We were Penguins even then.

Most of us have grown up now. Well, we have at least gotten older. Many of us have gone on to be successful in our careers, in our families, and in our lives. But when it comes to physical activity--say running, for example--the memories of our best not being good enough still haunt us.

What has changed, or what can change, is that we can now say to ourselves that our best IS good enough. Our best. OUR BEST, not the world's best, or the group's best, or the family's best, but OUR best is good enough.

I can remember vividly the joy of finishing a 10K in under an hour for the first time. It was, on that day, absolutely my best. I needed to make no apologies, no comparisons. I crossed the finish line secure in the knowledge that I had done MY best. I remember seeing the clock at the Columbus Marathon. 4:57:58!! I had done it. I had run, waddled, stumbled, shuffled, and walked a marathon in under 5 hours. That moment will be MY moment forever. MY best.

Coca Cola wanted to "teach the world to sing." I would like to teach the world to run. But I want to teach them to run for the right reasons. I want them to know that there can still be a place in our lives every day where we can know that we've done our best. I want them to know the joy that comes from being absolutely sure that you have done your best. Mostly, I want them to understand that the best part is that no one can take that feeling away from you.

The miracle of running, from a Penguin's point of view, is that the lessons we learn about ourselves can carry over into our real life. Just as I have come to understand the running eagles and sparrows, I have come to see eagles and sparrows in other parts of my life. I've seen the ones for whom life seems easy. I've seen the ones who want so much from themselves that they are chronically emotionally overtrained.

Then, I have come to see and understand the Penguins and myself. I understand that I have no more to offer than my best. It will be better than some, not as good as others. I've come to stop comparing my ability to run, to think, to love, with the people around me. And I've come to understand that my life, like my marathon, is for me to get through anyway that I can.