LOS ANGELES - Veteran distance runner Stan Cottrell is celebrating his 78th birthday by embarking from Los Angeles' Pan Pacific Park for 100 days of back-to-back marathons to raise funds for charity before arriving in Washington, D.C.Cottrell entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1980 by completing a cross-country run from New York to San Francisco in 48 days.
He ran across Europe in 80 days, and ran 2,152 miles in 53 days across China. He says he has run through 40 countries and accumulated more than 266,000 miles in his 63-year career.His latest Amazing Friendship Run will begin Friday morning at Pan Pacific Park in the Fairfax district.