Running Cocodona

My Ultra Running Journey

Cover Image for My Ultra Running Journey
Aaron Wagner
Aaron Wagner
Established 1976

The TLDR or short version of this story is that I agreed to meet my half-brother Phill for the very first time and run the JFK50 mile race with him. I think I agreed to that sometime right before everything got shut down in early March of 2020. I didn't really know what I had gotten myself into or where it would end up until the grip of the COVID pandemic was full swing.


Ah, the pandemic. How many people took up ultra running during these last few years because of gyms being closed or they just had more time on their hands. I'd like to think that I would have done it anyway. My running journey had already begun eight months prior.

Here's the full story.

I was once an athlete. I was proud of my achievements in high school track and field. I won state titles in the pole vault and triple jump and helped our team to three championships and two runner up team titles. I competed nationally in the decathlon. I love that sport and always will.

Soon after going to college at the University of Cincinnati and planning to enjoy the sport I loved so much, I had an epiphany: I was not and would not make a living being a decathlete. This was kind of ironic since during the time, two decathletes were doing just that. Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson.

So I moved on.

Over the years, I stayed active and along with my wife, have enjoyed many other active pursuits. Biking, hiking, climbing, backpacking, canyoneering, and eventually just trying to keep up with our three sons. That last one has taken the most time and unfortunately left me in the worst shape of all. Parenting isn't easy and don't let anyone tell you different. But as a workout to stay in shape; it kinda sucks.

Just as I was turning 40 we had our third (and final) son. A few days after my birthday, while sleep deprived and weary, I jumped onto a short wall that had been my daily routine for the six years prior. This time was different. My knee tweaked/popped and generally didn't feel too good.

A torn medial meniscus was the diagnosis. A week later a surgeon put Humpty Dumpty back together again and sent me on my way. He said I should go to PT and that I should be fine, just probably not a marathoner. That didn't bother me at the time because I had never had intentions of running a marathon.

...

Fast forward a few years and by then I'd been in a downward spiral for a while. I had gained weight and was depressed. I didn't sleep or eat well. I was very moody and yelled a lot. My rock bottom was realizing that I couldn't play with my growing toddler the way I had with my older two sons. I felt like I was failing him.

I convinced myself (and somehow my wife) that if I got this new fangled Ōura ring I would break my bad sleeping habits and then I would start feeling better which would allow me to exercise (run) which would make me eat better which would make me less moody, etc... and it mostly did do all that. I still mess up my sleep about once or twice a month and I'm still a night owl, but it's much better than it was.

I got to the point that I was running every week. Over the course of six months I probably lost 40-45 pounds and was running more and more. Sometimes I like to look back and see how slow it all started and where I am today.

First Runs

This journey started on March 15th, 2019.

Eventually, I convinced myself I would sign up and run the Flying Pig Half-Marathon. I think by then I started to watch some YouTube running channels regularly and was learning more about the endurance running stuff that I had never bothered with when my focus was pole vault technique or throwing the discus.

I guess you could say I was pretty well hooked on running by this point. It was probably October of 2019. Around that same time, I had a fateful message in my inbox from the genetics website 23andme. A new relative was matched. My half-brother.

I won't go into all the details, but basically we knew one another existed. We reached out through DMs and eventually got on the phone to talk. As a then 43 year old who was feeling pretty good about my life at the time, it was very good timing for me. Had I found him just a year earlier I don't know that I would have been in a good headspace to handle the emotions.

Finding out that my dad (our dad) was alive, but had a major stroke 15 years earlier was a huge revelation among many. I hadn't spoke to the man in about 32 years. All of this was well and good, but the more impactful aspect was meeting and getting to know Phill and his family.

Over the next few months, Phill found out about my recent health breakthrough with running and I learned about his passion for calisthenics and generally being very fit. Just a few short months into our phone and texting relationship I got a call one day right before the pandemic asking if I wanted to do a race in November called the JFK50 mile. Phill works with some military folks who were putting together a team.

How could I say no. This was the chance for us to meet in person. Phill lives just 20 minutes or so from the starting line. We had no idea that the world was about to be shut down due to COVID-19.

With the pandemic upending everything, I continued to run and decided to sign up for the Aravaipa Insomniac Virtual Race Series in order to keep motivated for the JFK50. Not only did it work, but it also probably led me to finding out about the Cocodona 250 when the first preview video went online. I don't really know how or why I found Aravaipa Running, but I suspect the YouTube algorithm may have had a hand in it.

2020-Insomniac Virtual-Web Banner Vertical

My first 50k was a virtual one for the Stunner series race. I ran 45 laps around my slightly over 1k block. It was surprisingly fun and I probably wouldn't have attempted it if it wasn't for an Aravaipa LIVE Stream that I was invited on for the Adrenaline race. I remember Jubilee Paige during that stream, encouraged me to get to the ultra distance. She also suggested I sign up for TikTok. That one I gladly declined.

Pandemic Ultra 50k

And I guess I'll leave it there. I got into ultra running because my half-brother asked me to run 50 miles with him when I was only planning to run a 13.1 mile half-marathon. The funniest thing to me is that I recently found out he agreed to run the JFK50 that first year because he had a little too much to drink at his company Christmas party and couldn't back down to some bravado with the boys. 🤣