“We all have a fear of the unknown what one does with that fear will make all the difference in the world.” – Lillian Russell

When I heard of Cocodona 250 miles footrace in early 2020, it gave me similar notion. The Cocodona250 is the most diverse point-to-point 250+ mile footrace in America. The course is challenging, rugged, steeped in history, and stunningly beautiful but very little did we know and could imagine at that time, what’s in store for us as it was an inaugural race. I wanted to test my limits by going longer (continuously, not like a stage race)). This was the dream, and this is what I signed up for.

Year 2020 (just before training)-

2020 was roller-coaster year for me in running. I was in a prime shape early March and thought I will bag few PRs but it all went downhill as COVID struck and races were dried out. Since then, I went back and forth in training with few niggles and injuries. I have been struggling with Plantar Fasciitis since last 3 years and that added to posterior tibial tendonitis around August/September. I struggled a lot during one of the training runs at Castle peak and that was a wakeup call. Keeping my ego at bay, I went to see podiatrist who diagnosed my injury with tibial tendonitis and referred me to physio therapist. Kevin did great job through 12 settings from Dec through Feb in resolving my tendonitis. I carried on with PF but tendonitis was almost gone and it was a welcome relief. I also moved onto Altra Timps from speedgoats and added insoles in my shoes. Now I don’t run without Altras and insoles in it.

Training –

I started my training in late nov/early dec when I was nursing my injuries and going through PT sessions. My strategy was to

1. #1 – get at least one good long run or time on feet every week
2. #2 – get back-to-back long runs
3. #3 – then multi-night (2 nights) run to simulate sleep deprivation (that’s also not enough)
4. #4 – all this training with focus on vert (always)
5. #5 – Focus on time on Feet

Initially I was concerned about long runs on my injured legs but it all worked out with initial few runs in pain but subsequently, it got easier and smooth. I also learnt a lot from Michelle and Roberto (my training partners on 90% of my training mileage) on recovery and taking care of my legs. I also focused on strength (light-weight and resistance training), flexibility (yoga, stretches), balance (yoga), endurance (mostly running) and diet (nutrition). I reduced 15 lbs (from 170 to 155) and felt light and strong.

I ran multiple back-to-back 50Ks every week and sometimes over the same weekend, one 48 hours run focused solely on time on feet, one hard vertical run with 4 ascents to Mt. Diablo clocking 50 miles with ~18000 ft cumulative gain in a single run. Most of the long runs were packed with vertical. In ~5 months of training I put in 1200+ miles with 300K+ ft gain

With all the training, I felt quite strong and I knew that I am physically ready. Mental part was still unknown as I had not ventured beyond 100 miles and 2 nights. I knew this is going to bite me later. I got most of the gear sorted out and trained with all the relevant gear too and got logistics done.

Talking about mental part – I wasn’t able to visualize the entire distance and race. We rehearsed by going over the course profile but couldn’t visualize our sleep, breaks etc. so we decided to approach as we go. I had two others of my friends join in racing cocodona – Kaushik and Bipul. My running philosophy has been “Run with group but race alone” and I had not taken any pacers or crew before in my 100 milers. Kaushik insisted me to take support from crew. I agreed to take crew support, but no pacers and I am glad I gladly took crew support. Without crew, this race would have been immensely difficult.

Planning

This was the most difficult part. There were no race reports but had to rely on race communications, some of the videos of few sections by fellow runners. There were many unknowns in this race just because of its inaugural nature and our inexperience with 200+ miler. Little did we know before we started as to what surprises are in store for us in terms of terrain, weather, aid stations, support, sleep etc. Also because of our inexperience, it was difficult to visualize and plan sleep break etc. We decided to adapt during the race and take power naps on the trails and use crew vehicle and sleeping stations as much as possible. We were confident about our physical conditioning to take on the vertical (no matter how steep and long) and long mileage.

Any 200+ miler planning is enormous as there are many variables like – which food to take, race gear (when and what depending on the extremes of weather), your aid station times (these never work in my case), foot care, hydration and the never-ending list. Be assured, things will go wrong.

We (my fellow runners – Bipul, Kaushik and me and crew – Hima and Pavan) drove to Phoenix with the rented camper van and checked into airbnb home a day before. We got our shopping done, collected our race swag and bibs, dropped our drop bags (total – 3 in my case and 2 with crew) at the race start.

Race (as it is unfolded)-

When race was unfolded, every day was a big surprise and we got hammered by its relentlessly long and technical course between aid stations, weather got warmer every day and all those trails with tons of rocks made downhills much harder to run. My goal was just to finish this race and keep myself 3-4 hours away from cutoffs which fell off the curve in first 50K itself.

Start to Crown King (0-37.2) – Tough section – heat, hills, longest stretch without water in the heat of the day

We started off with Stefan, Kaushik, Bipul and few others in our corral. Stefan ran with us for few mins and then he went on to finish in top 15^th. Bipul also got disappeared after a min or so. Kaushik and I ended up running 195+ miles together (almost). We settled in a good conversational pace. 0-11 miles went easy with nice and very slow pace.

This was supposedly the hardest section (from 11 miles to 33) where we had 22 miles of stretch without aid and it was during the heat of the day. It’s also one of the most remote, rugged, rocky and it packs a big vertical. Race administration had advised us to pack at least 3L water at cottonwood AS (11 miles) but then it proved out to be too little. Lot of people packed 5 Ls and still ran out of water. I got 4L and I thought it would be more than sufficient. I shared some water with Kaushik but I ran out of water 4-5 miles to the lane mountain. We had couple of big blunders in this section which put us to back of the pack early on.

#1 – we thought 200+ miler is more about easy pace, lots of breaks with some running sprinkled in between. We were wrong and we took many unnecessary breaks despite feeling ok. #2 – We had wrong information about cutoffs. We thought Crown king cutoff was around mid night whereas it was 8:30 PM which they realized was wrong and extended it (so are the other cutoffs too).

I had some GI distress at this time but nothing significant. It got ok with couple potty breaks. We were quite dehydrated in this section. Many folks ran out of water 5-10 miles to the aid. We ran with World record holder Gene Dykes, Mark and few others and then over the entire course, we all ended up staying together. Gene’s comment later on as race progressed was – “this is the toughest 200+ amongst a bunch in US, Bigfoot is easy compared to this one”

We saw many runners lying down in whatever shades they could find and so we took as many breaks as we could. Dehydration was setting in. We tried to find water nearby but couldn’t find any water sources. Last few miles seemed to go forever long.

Luckily, we met with one of the race course manager with water 2 miles to the lane mountain aid. He told us about the correct cutoffs, and he gave us water. Drinking 2 cups of water felt like I got another life and then I took off briefly from Kaushik after this. I ran last two miles hard enough to save some time for me to go for another potty break and also replenish myself with some water and food at Lane mountain.

With Kaushik joining me back at Lane mountain, we ran downhills to crown king and reached there 15 mins before the original cutoff. It was great to see Hima and Pavan there who organized everything for us. We could not have got a better crew than these two gentlemen. I don’t remember how much time we spent there but we changed into night clothes and gear, new hydration pack (salomon now), got my lights out and left crown king completely energized. Next crew access would be at Wamatochick which is 34 miles from there.

Crown King (37.2M) to Camp Wamatochick (71.4M) – runnable but completely relentless with rollers

We thought we would bank a good time in this section and break ourselves from chasing the cutoffs. Course marking in this section immediately after leaving crown king was non-existent. This was a good runnable section and, in my memory, very few nicely groomed runnable trails in the whole course otherwise. We were already fighting sleep at this time having gone through heat and dehydration early on, we took few trail naps. Despite running a good easy pace, we still could see that Mark and few other runners were catching up to us. Apart from having couple of arguments between me and Kaushik regarding the pace, I don’t remember much in this section, as we reached Battle Flat (52 miles) sometime around midnight or so. I was in a good shape and this is where Bryan Paisley caught up to us after fighting crown king cutoffs. He ended up making a very good time thereafter. We took some refreshments with no hot food at the aid, we headed on.

At that time, we were not aware of the course to Camp Kipa from there. This was a relentless long section with steep rollers that are unrelenting. I was feeling sleepy here and I asked Kaushik to go without me from here as I wanted to catch a nap and another potty break. With quick 5 mins trail nap and potty break, I started chasing Kaushik going through those endless rollers while constantly checking GaiaGPS map to make sure I am on the right course.

I caught up to him couple miles to Camp Kipa. He seemed quite tired by then with heat and all the hills. We reached Camp Kipa after that relentlessly long stretch and by this time it was warm out there. We got refreshed at Camp Kipa and by this time, I was quite nauseated with those bean roll-ups. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any good hot food options at the aid stations. Frustrated and disgruntled but we moved on. The next aid was mostly downhill with runnable section, but we walked instead in that heat. We reached Camp Wamatochick and felt great to see our crew out there again.

Camp Wamatochick (71.4 miles) to Mingus Mountain (112.9 miles) – city roads, long stretch in ranch, poor course markings to fain ranch

We were quite tired by now with lack of sleep and constantly chasing cutoffs. I felt bit feverish, my throat was feeling choked up and my nose bleed had started by then. As we pressed on, I forgot to take menthols from Hima for my sore throat. At this time, gulping anything and pushing down the throat was painful. With fever and sore throat, I was praying to myself that this should not be COVID symptoms.

There was lot of walking with discomfort by now and I wasn’t in a good shape by the time we reached whiskey hill. This entire section was a first low point for me. On leaving WH aid, we went through Prescott town and city roads. I was quite uncomfortable and wasn’t a very happy camper while going through so long on paved roads – getting in and out of Prescott. We both were feeling quite sleepy but felt quite awkward to catch a nap on walkways as we had not hit trails yet.

We hit the dirt just before Watson lake and it was already dark (second night) by then. I decided to take a short nap. That is where Kaushik heard Andre Lee talking to Mark and Russel about the Watson lake section and how tough it will be to follow the course during night. Apparently, this section had large boulders that we had to scramble on over those boulders in pitch dark for almost 1.5 miles while following the white dots on rocks. It must have been a beautiful sight during the daytime but it was truly difficult to follow it at night. Kaushik suggested that we should go with the group – Andre Lee, Mark, Russel and we followed the group instead of catching sleep. Andre, like a good Samaritan, helped us navigate through this part of the course. We would have got lost without Andre in this section. I tried to get away from my sleep and focused on the course as any misstep on these boulders and you would fall into the unknown.

My feverish feeling had gone away by then drinking any fluid or eating/gulping was still painful. I had my left heel and fascia started bothering me with every leg turnover by then and it was getting painful with every step. I thought it must be plantar fasciitis which is acting. In my regular running, I could stave off PF by raising legs and wearing compression sleeves but here there was no long sleep or recovery.

Once we crossed this section, we went on the long stretch of fire road on the top to Iron King aid. I was sleepwalking on this entire stretch and fell behind Kaushik. I then caught him just before the aid station. We took some Ramen noodles and broth and moved on to the fain ranch. We hit 100 miles mark somehwere here.

This is quite a flat stretch through fain ranch but with poor markings, sleep deprivation and foot pain, I did not feel like running it at all. This was another lowest point for me where I was seriously contemplating about stopping and getting it all over. With pain, sleep deprivation and my grumpiness, I asked Kaushik to go ahead without me. I had decided walk to Fain ranch and call it quit at this stage – almost 99.9% decision was made. It’s highly unlikely that I will ever come back in the race if I make up my mind. Being alone in the fain ranch and just 3-4 runners behind me, it was hard to follow already scarce course marking. We have to cross over through ladders, long tunnel and locating those things through markings were tough. I struggled but kept moving. With Mark and Russel joining me, it helped me navigate this tricky section.

A mile or couple miles to Fain ranch aid, I remembered packing few ras malais which I gulped in one go. That gave me a good sugar shot and suddenly, I thought of running to aid forgetting all the problems. We still had plenty of time to cutoff to Mingus mountain and I thought Kaushik must be waiting at fain ranch. I reached fain ranch and saw Mark and Russel were sitting by fire. Then I came to know that they called it quit here.

I reached here and asked about Kaushik. They mentioned that Kaushik left 15 mins back. I grabbed couple slices of cold pizza and left without spending a min in my quest to regroup with him. I was a changed man after this and covered lot of ground by running and moving at steady pace. Steep hills and vert didn’t bother me with all the training. I felt like running uphills but held myself back on getting myself spent, still too early on (110 miles). Sleep issues were intermittent at few times during this section but I covered this section quickly.

Mingus Mountain (112.9 miles) to Sedona (160.8 miles) – totally relentless stretch especially to Sedona around Casner mountain

I caught up with Kaushik while he was resting at Mingus mountain. Hima took me to aid sleeping station and I got much needed 30 mins nap here and put on recovery boots.

Kaushik left 15 mins earlier than me from here. I replenished my stuff and I left at around 11:15 AM and I felt quite fresh at this point. Weather was warming up and next section was mostly downhills to Jerome but in the middle of really hot day then. First 3-4 miles were very technical downhills but then rest was rocky downhills. I ran first 3 miles and caught up with Kaushik. We both moved steadily on the rocky downhills beating heat to Jerome. During this section, we met with Gene who was fighting with his blisters and his pacer was trying to fix him up. We met with Andre Lee who was in fact enjoying the hot temperature. He was much well conditioned in the heat because of being local and having trained in heat. With all the tired and sleepy state of mind, probably it was hard for us to run those rocky downhills but now If I look back at it with fresh legs in mind, it could have been easy runnable downhills despite being rocky. We went through Jerome and to the aid and spent some time to refresh ourselves for the next section.

Next section would go through some junkyard with steep downhill along the powerline climb and then through the town and Verde river crossing.

We moved slowly but moved steadily to Dead Horse aid from there. Kaushik has lost his one shoe in the river, so we lost some more time as he was moving slow with only one shoe.

We called up Hima to get a new pair for him and I pressed on. He then caught up with me at the aid station. We had a nice and short birthday celebration at Dead horse for Kaushik. With Pavan joining us to pace from here on, that lifted our spirits.

Pavan did great job navigating us through this section to Deer pass while both of us feeling super sleepy. We got few trail naps there. I had some coffee at Deer pass aid and that helped me staving off my sleep. I felt better on the way to Sedona then on and after first climb I decided to move alone as Kaushik was relatively slow with his sleep issues in this section. We also met with Gene Dykes again here who was struggling and moving very slow with his pacer. Later I heard that he decided to quit before he reached Sedona.

That stretch to Sedona through mountain was just too long. I was checking my GPS from time to time to make sure I am on course. This was another relentless section in the midst of heat.

I had some back and forth just before reaching the aid and Kaushik and Pavan finally caught up to me as we reached Sedona aid.

Sedona (160.8 miles) to Cinder Pit (204.5 miles) – very hot, some super technical and then quite runnable, some vert too

I caught quick 10-15 mins naps here. I was feeling really tired by now and started having more sleep deprivation issues. I met with my Bay Area Friend Lindsey who stopped by the aid to meet with me. She offered us to tour next 3 miles going through the mountains and that 360 deg view was out of the world. It was great to catch up with her on the bay area memories and those 3 miles flew by quickly.

This time it was the super-hot day and I could already feel the dryness. Despite filling 3 liters of water, I was already down to may be 0.5 litre in first 3 miles itself. I could sense that I will run out of water very soon with all the heat popping up over us. We had some tough technical scrambles here and it was super hard for me to focus with sleep issues and as dehydration was setting in. With 5 miles from Sedona, I used all my water despite using it as sparingly as possible. I could feel the dehydration with hard to focus on trails and I was feeling severely disoriented. There were 5 more miles, and I had no idea if it would be uphill’s, downhills, or technical sections. I asked Kaushik and Pavan to press on without me and not to waste time because of my issues. They moved on and I kept moving albeit much slower.

I was more worried about my phone battery at that time which was low, and I couldn’t trust course markings fully. 3 miles to the aid, I saw there was an ice cooler and some water that was left on the road. This was a huge and pleasant surprise and I felt like I got another life again with all the water and ice. I drank a bottle and started running after this. I chased down Kaushik and Pavan just before a mile to Huntley Tank aid and felt really happy to regroup once again. Just a bottle of water and some ice brought me back to life and this was the second time, I came back from almost dropping to back in the race. We reached Huntley and felt lot better. This section has lot of dust with constant traffic on road. Next section to Black tank was all runnable downhill but very dusty. We kept moving and reached there just before 8 PM. We had 20-25 mins to leave and take on a big climb to Turkey butte with few switchbacks and then flat/downhill to Cinder Pitt (all runnable). I was quite spent by the time I reached Black Tank. Hima geared up to pace Kaushik and me from here on to Fort Tuthill.

On our way to Turkey Butte around the switchbacks, as soon as I saw sweepers with us, I switched into my climbing gear and pressed on from there on. I broke with Hima and Kaushik on the climb and moved ahead. Banked 25-30 mins and I caught a nice trail nap at the top for 30 mins. I was joined by Hima and Kaushik there as I woke up and we kept trudging along to Turkey butte. Kaushik was going through sleep deprivation at that point and so is Andre too. I suggested Kaushik to catch a nap at Turkey butte instead of waiting for Cinder Pit and I moved ahead. From there on I kept pushing until I reached Cinder pit. I crossed 200-mile mark during this section and I texted my brother that I can smell the buckle at this time.

I was moving much better and thought I may not need nap again until finish from now, again too much of wishful thinking where things were changing every 10-15 mins.

Cinder Pit (204.5 miles) to Walnut Canyon (234.6 miles) – Runnable, relentless and doozy with all the running in maze

I reached Cinder pit by around 6:45 AM with plenty of time for cutoff. I filled in water, ate banana pan cakes and pressed on. After going for a half a mile or more, I realized I forgot my trekking poles at the aid. I had to run back to the aid to get my trekking poles. Lost some time but this was irrelevant if I look at 121 hours of my overall time. I started feeling sleepy and as I entered that mazed forest before Fort Tuthill, I felt even more sleepy. I could not find a rock or any place where I could catch a trail nap. I was also feeling little disoriented with loss of direction as to which way I was moving. I was constantly checking my gaia maps and this whole section was very frustrating to me despite being flat and absolutely runnable. Initially I thought I would move in and out of this aid in just 15 mins but when I reached Fort Tuthill in the middle of the day, I felt like catching a nap of 30-60 mins would make me feel better. Another hot day!! Pavan woke me up after 40 mins or so, I changed my clothes, checked my feet with the medic (they were all good), changed socks and moved on. Next section to Walnut canyon was mostly flat (I was told) and runnable but it was super long and very relentless. First 3-4 miles went well but then I started feeling very sleepy and I started having hallucinations for the first time. I thought I was going in circles. I could see many of those wooden caricatures as human or animal figures.

Most of the times, I thought I lost course marking and I was going back and forth. I decided to just hike as fast as I can. I kept <20 mins/ mile pace and was able to move but hallucinations and disorientation were really heavy on my mind in this section. My optimistic time here was 8:30 and aggressive time was around 7. I reached around 8:35 at walnut canyon. By this time, there was lot of mental fight going on in my head.

Walnut Canyon (234.6 miles) to Finish (256 miles) – Hallucinations at their peak, technical uphills, super difficult and dangerous during sleep deprived state

Pavan helped me here with tomato soup, rice and I caught a nap for 35 mins. My mind started playing with me at this time while telling me that elden climb is totally optional and I don’t need to do it. I can still get buckle without this climb. I was also feeling like we are driving to different towns and we are running these 10-20 miles stretches. I couldn’t think straight. This continued on for quite some time until Elden aid. It was really cold and I got 4 layers of clothes, two layers of hand gloves and I left this aid alone. Just a quarter mile from aid and I realized, I needed a company else I will lose myself at this stage with all mental fight going on in my head. I came back and talked to Michael Lee who was supposed to pace his runner Bruce. He was supposed to leave after 10 mins, and I decided to wait for them.

I left with Michael and Bruce together and then I was confident that I have a great company. Without their company, this stretch would have become quite painful. Bruce was also in sleep deprived state. Any trail naps of 5-10 mins were super welcome at this time. I felt awkward in asking for trail nap by myself as they were running together. After our last trail nap just before elden climn, I remember asking for 10 mins more but Michael Lee pushed both of us constantly. Bruce kept on asking Michael as to when the real climb would start and when it started, I felt quite difficult to balance myself. Last 2 miles of climb is just hopping on from big rocks and stairs to the top of Elden (~9100 ft). Somehow, I could keep myself moving with them till the top. They took off just before I reached to the top and Bruce went in/out of Elden aid quickly. I took 10 mins break there while having ramen and broth constantly reminding myself that race is not yet over.

My legs felt fresh there and with last 8.5 miles all downhill to the finish, I knew I will put on my downhill sprint here so I wasn’t worried much about time. I took off from there and got into good pace catching almost 10+ runners on the way down. I caught up with Bruce and Michael. We chatted a bit and I left. While going through Buffalo park, I saw Jim Walmsley and had exchanged few words. I was in no mood to take any photos at that time as I was just trying to get this race over. Hima was waiting at the finish line despite pacing Kaushik on a longest stretch a night before. And there I went through finish. It was an amazing feeling to end this long race amongst many known faces.

This was by far the longest race that I have run and experienced so many ups and downs. This finish would not have been possible without Hima and Pavan’s support so special Thanks go to both of them. They were so meticulous in their planning and supporting us all those aid stations while pacing as well. I would also like to thank race organization team and fellow runners who put together lot of information on group pages. Steve and race administration did great job in pulling through such a massive event over 5 days and as any race for the first time, there will always be something to improve.

It’s one of those races you need to do once to learn how to deal with the enormity of it and then go back and execute it differently.  I have never had to deal with sleep deprivation before, but I know now how I could have done it differently, it sure needs experience. All in all, finished result is always sweet and I am glad we have all but great memories of Cocodona. I may return one day to refresh all these memories and do things differently.

What worked for me

1. All the vertical training and time on feet
2. Taped feet for blisters prevention
3. All the heat, cold gear and lights
4. Crew support was immaculate and make/break for the race
5. Problem solving on the fly

What didn’t work for me or I could have done better

1. Number 1 – Sleep (and lack of planning for sleep)
2. Lack of planning and execution – Timing stretches properly to have hot sections during evening, night or early morning.
3. Heat training
4. Lack of adequate planning – May be attributed to lack of experience with multi-night runs
5. Efficient packing of drop bags and hydration pack
6. Too many breaks early on
7. Aid station food

Race Gear

1. Hydration – Tailwind, Osprey pack with 3 L (first 37 miles) then Salomon 12 ADV pack with 2L backpack
2. Shoes – Altra Timp (10.5), spare shoes Altra Timp (11 and 11.5 size)
3. Gaiters – Altra
4. Socks – Injinji trail toes, Xotoes
5. Tape – Leukotape with Benzoine
6. Watch – Coros Vertix
7. GPS – Gaia GPS on phone
8. Jackets – Arc’teryx norvan insulated hoody, Arc’teryx proton LT, mountain hardware puffy, salomon wind breaker.
9. Light – Headlamp (LED Lenser – 1×18650 battery), Waist lamp (Ultraspire 600 lumens – 1×18650 battery) – Total batteries – 2 for each night and 2 as a backup with me always.
   1. Spare lamp – Kogalla (left with crew, didn’t get to use it