Colton Cockrum didn’t grow up dreaming of finish lines. In his rural Oklahoma hometown of 800 people, running wasn’t a sport, but a punishment when he and his teammates got in trouble during baseball or basketball practice. Today, Colton runs about 30 miles a week year-round and is entering his 10th season as a high school cross-country coach. The sport he once resisted has become central to his health, his leadership style, and his mentoring of young athletes.
Colton moved to Tennessee 23 years ago to work in higher education and now serves in a senior leadership role at the University of Memphis, focused on institutional effectiveness and student success. In his early career, Colton was working full-time, finishing his doctorate, raising two young children, and finding his own health slipping quietly into the background. When his daughter was born in January 2011, something shifted. He was 30 at the time, exhausted, and aware that many men at that stage simply let go of the rope.
He decided he didn’t want to look up at 40 and feel like he had given up on himself, so he tried running. He started with a simple yet intimidating goal: running 500 miles in a year. At this point, Colton didn’t even like running, but was drawn to the discipline the sport represented. The miles began to quickly improve both his physical and mental fitness. “I never came back from a run in a bad mood,” he says. Between work stress and sleepless nights with the kids, running became therapy. He found community through Fleet Feet’s Thursday night track workouts, which were welcoming, ability-inclusive sessions that pushed him out of his comfort zone. “If you’re doing it right, everything in you is telling you to quit,” he says. “But that’s the point. We’re built to endure hard things; we just don’t always want to.”
What began as 5Ks and group runs evolved into something deeper when his son joined a school running club. Colton volunteered and eventually became the head coach of cross country and track, guiding athletes from elementary school through high school. This fall marks his 10th year coaching. Now 47, Cockrum still logs about 30 miles a week and runs alongside his athletes, including 6 a.m. neighborhood runs and evening trail runs at Shelby Farms. “They see an old guy doing the workout, and I think it encourages them,” he laughs.
Consistency, not intensity, is Colton’s foundation for both himself and the students he coaches. His athletes run six days a week, with strength training layered in. But Colton goes the extra (theoretical) mile as a coach, tailoring workouts to individuals based on their experience and fitness level to keep his athletes pushing without feeling defeated. His approach paid off: after finishing 27th and 25th in the state, his boys’ and girls’ teams recently earned state runner-up honors.
But for Colton as a coach, medals are secondary, and he strives to recognize what his runners need at different age levels. In elementary school, he wants running to be fun, focusing more on engaging games rather than obsessing over personal records. In middle school, patience and flexibility are critical as bodies change rapidly and unpredictably. High school track and cross-country bring more pressure, but he resists tying identity to times on a stopwatch. “Running draws a lot of really smart, introverted kids,” he says. “It gives them both a team and space to be alone. That balance is powerful.”
The real victory, he believes, is physical and emotional durability. If his athletes leave the sport with anything, he hopes it’s this: you can do more than you think. A grueling cross-country season proves they can survive the challenges that come with growing up and adulthood. “Life will demand endurance; running just teaches it physically,” Colton says. “I hope my runners realize that by learning to endure hard things through running, they will see benefits in the way they handle life’s challenges as they grow up.”
By Zoe Harrison Photo by Tindall Stephens
