Cole Choken is a 24 year old aboriginal man from Winnipeg Manitoba. Cole currently works at Olive Garden and spends his spare time in the gym, with friends, and watching movies etc. In the future Cole plans to apply to be a firefighter, and until then he is raising money for cancer awareness and research through his current marathon run.
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Many of Cole's friends and family members had
previously suffered from diabetes, with some passing away. At age 20 Cole was 320 pounds and there was a high possibility that he could have been diagnosed with diabetes. He is now healthy and currently weighs approximately 230 pounds. Terry Fox and Rocky Balboa inspired Cole to start jogging. Cole has completed 4 different runs and is preparing for a run from Mexico to Winnipeg. In the past Cole ran for diabetes research, he is now running for cancer.
Cole's Dream
In August 2006, Cole had a dream. In the dream Cole woke up on the side of a highway. An old man with long hair and a long beard was jogging on the road and suddenly stopped and turned around. Cole was laying down. The old man told Cole "get up! lets go!". He got up and jogged down the highway with the old man.
Cole woke up around 2 in the morning. He then tried to jog down the road in front of his house. With his lack of determination at the time, he decided to return home.
On August 20th 2006, Cole was working at Olive Garden closing the restaurant with his friend Otis Lee. He told Otis "I want to run across Winnipeg,". Otis replied jokingly, stating "you're full of shit,". Cole then told him about the dream. Otis was skeptical, but told Cole to call him if he reached the outskirts of Winnipeg. Cole left the restaurant at 12:30am and went home to prepare. He began his first run that night at 1:00am.
For more information on all of Cole's marathons, visit the 'runs' section.
Training
Cole got his first Gym membership September 1st, 2006 with his friend Jeff Kearns. Jeff Kearns helped train Cole to get him into shape. The first day of training was overwhelming for Cole and he wanted to puke. Cole wanted to quit training on the second day, but his determination was growing and he decided to carry on.
For a week Cole kept up with Jeff, and the intense training resulted in severe pain that prevented him from working for a period of time. Cole trained with Jeff for nine months and continues to train by himself.
Hobbies/ Interests
Cole enjoys going to the gym. He currently attends the YMCA and Shapes in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and works out at Gold's Gym when traveling in the United States.
Cole also enjoys watching movies and playing Nintendo 64. His favorite movies are 'Pumping Iron', 'Dumb and Dumber', 'Glory', and 'Forrest Gump'. His favorite actors are Al Pacino and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cole's favorite video games are Road Rash, Mario Party, and Goldeneye (yes he knows they're a bit out of date).
Cole loves all types of music especially the oldies. Some of his favorites are Elvis, Ludacris, ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Easy E, Little Richard, Eagles, Richie Valens, The Beatles, and Snoop Dogg.
Cole enjoys barbecuing with his buddies and being outdoors. He likes hunting, fishing, women, biking, camping, and hiking. Cole watches hockey and football and his favorite teams are The Ducks, The Penguins and (sadly) The Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Cole's favorite food is chicken, rice, bread sticks, eggs, pasta, steak, hot dogs, bananas, blueberries, crackers, kraft dinner, beans, cornbread, subway, pickrel, and yogurt and tuna mixed together.
Finally, Cole also enjoys working and playing poker.