Category Archives: Christopher Cudworth

50 Years of Running: Packing and unpacking life

Moving back into your parent’s house after four years of college isn’t most people’s idea of a fun time. But given the timing of my return to Illinois to start a new job in the fall of 1980, I had … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Chicago Time

I have an embarrassing confession to make about starting the job with Van Kampen Merritt in the late summer of 1980. On the first day of work, I was scheduled to show up at 208 S. LaSalle, the office headquarters … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Detachments

Once the optometrist found the retinal detachment in my left eye, all the other stuff that occupied my mind fell away. I pushed him for information about how the condition came about. Was it trauma? I’d recently gotten hit in … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: The Hardest Thing in the World

During the month of November, when traveling for admissions wore me down to a nub of a human being, I ceased trying to keep track of daily runs because it meant nothing. If you’ve ever run a race where you … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Road Trippin’

On the 17th of September, 1979, I climbed into the beatup Chevy Monza that Luther College assigned me for road trips and drove the 5+ hours to the Chicago market for the first college fair of the fall season. For … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Graduation Blues

With nothing left but nationals in the 1979 track season, I walked across the stage to pick up my degree with my parents present during graduation. I’d earned a precious “D” in that horrifically dry and accounting-based marketing class that … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: On the Runway to Life

At the end of January Term, with a mere197 miles under my belt, it was time to get serious about training. But there was also the question of a serious relationship going on, and I didn’t mind that one bit. … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Wonder Left

After the 800-mile season in cross country in the fall of ’78, it felt good to back off running twice-a-day. But then I sprained an ankle playing pickup basketball. So I was out of action completely for four days. I … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: Alternative Realities

The circumstances by which I wound up running for Luther College were serendipitous. By the end of senior year in high school, I’d applied and was accepted to Augustana College in Rock Island. During my visit out there, I ran … Continue reading

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50 Years of Running: How the Big Boys Do It

Following our second-place finish at Division III nationals, Coach Kent Finanger suggested we all travel to Madison to watch the Division 1 national meet in Wisconsin. Even with classes going on and the need to catch up, a bunch of … Continue reading

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