Cocodona 250 - May 1-6, 2023 - My favorite race ever!

This was my second time running this epic race across Arizona, and it was an even better experience the second time around! We were back to the original route this year- starting in Black Canyon City, traversing up and over the Bradshaw Mountains through Crown King to Prescott, up and over Mingus Mountain into Jerome before dropping down into the Verde Valley, through the towns of Clarkdale and Cottonwood, up into Sedona, then climbing up onto the Coconino Plateau, making a big counterclockwise loop around Flagstaff with one final climb up and over Mt Elden, and finally finishing in Heritage Square. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have run this race twice, and so thankful to my wife, mom, pacers, and all of my friends for their unbelievable support during this epic adventure.

I was able to finish the race this year in 102:50:54, which was a 17 hour improvement over my time in 2022. This was good for 46th place out of 192 runners (137 finishers).

Strava links to the run (unfortunately broken up into two parts):
  / strava  
  / strava  

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Race start - Black Canyon City to Cottonwood Creek (miles 0-11)
4:17 - Cottonwood Creek to Lane Mountain (miles 11-33)
20:15 - Lane Mountain to Crown King (miles 33-37)
28:06 - Crown King to Kamp Kipa (miles 37-63)
42:38 - Kamp Kipa to Friendly Pines (miles 63-71)
48:20 - Friendly Pines to Whiskey Row (miles 71-78)
59:09 - Whiskey Row to Iron King (miles 78-92)
1:05:24 - Iron King to Fain Ranch (miles 92-97)
1:10:37 - Fain Ranch to Mingus Mountain (miles 97-110)
1:35:47 - Mingus Mountain to Jerome (miles 110-126)
1:49:00 - Jerome to Dead Horse (miles 126-135)
1:55:00 - Dead Horse to Deer Pass (miles 135-148)
2:02:13 - Deer Pass to Sedona (miles 148-163)
2:07:02 - Sedona to Schnebly Hill (miles 163-180)
2:17:52 - Schnebly Hill to Munds Park (miles 180-191)
2:19:22 - Munds Park to Kelly Canyon (miles 191-202)
2:22:33 - Kelly Canyon to Fort Tuthill (miles 202-211)
2:26:42 - Fort Tuthill to Walnut Canyon (miles 211-228)
2:28:50 - Walnut Canyon to Mt Elden (miles 228-241)
2:36:23 - Mt Elden to the finish (miles 241-250)
2:42:49 - Epic sprint battle with Brian Bondy
2:45:26 - The finish line!
2:48:08 - Alternate angle of my finish
2:52:10 - Favorite moments from the livestream
2:55:32 - Post race thoughts

Thanks so much for watching!
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