Cody McKesson, the Sedona-Oak Creek School District’s orchestra and music teacher and head coach of the varsity cross country team, is currently fundraising for the American Cancer Society while gearing up for the Cocodona 250 run, which will take place on Monday through Saturday, May 6 through May 11.
March 14, near the course he will be running through Sedona as part
of the 250-mile Cocodona race in May. McKesson also coaches the
SRRHS cross-country team. David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers
McKesson is no stranger to long-distance running. He has previously taken part in the Black Canyon 100K, and his idea of fun is running from Uptown to Dead Horse State Park and back in time to take his pet husky on a quick three-mile hike.
He was inspired to undertake the Cocodona 250 by having known several people who died from cancer, beginning with his high school orchestra teacher, Jeannette Lund, who died in 2017 when he was a senior.
“[Lund] started out with 19 string students and through the years, made it grow to over 200 students this past year,” Lund’s obituary stated. “Her passion was to teach music to all students. She understood that music made students better beings. She never gave up on any student of any ability. She strived to make it fun and learning. Jeannette was instrumental in helping to bring back musicals to the school.”
McKesson said that he always wanted to be a music teacher, but Lund inspired him to focus on orchestra in her honor, and he went on to study at Lund’s alma mater, Concordia College. Inspiring the SRRHS graduating class was one of the reasons that McKesson decided to run the 250 miles, especially because seniors are eight of the 11 students in one of his elective classes.
“As a third-year teacher, this will be my first group of seniors I will have ever graduated,” McKesson said. “I’ll only get that opportunity once. They have impacted my life in a profound way and I wanted to show them how much they can be truly capable of if they set their heart to something.”
McKesson set his heart on training for the Cocodona 250 after watching last year’s participantsrun the route through Sedona that follows the same route he uses to commute to school.
“I just had this feeling inside I wanted to do [the Cocodona 250],” McKesson said. “I kept on thinking about that at night wanting to do this race. So I signed up for it this fall … I want to really show these kids teaching that we are capable of doing so much. And more than you think if you just keep progressing forward, keep moving. And [if it’s] something you’re really passionate about, you can do it, and then I started the fundraiser.”
After McKesson began training, his aunt Debbie Ranallo died from cancer on Nov. 25, following his grandmother Gracelyn Helgeson, who died from cancer on April 3, 2010.
“My favorite memory of [Ranallo] was just her laugh,” McKesson said. “Our family is really loud, really talkative when we’re at these gatherings. But you could always just hear her laugh over everybody and just seeing her smile just made the atmosphere so much better. She loved going to the lake, we’d go to the lake with her and her family in Minnesota. She loved to go riding on the pontoon and drinking margaritas and a lot of good memories on the lake with her.”
Unlike several other runners that do ultra-distance runs, McKesson will not have a crew assisting him. He described it it as going “lone wolf.”
One of the key strategies for ultra-distance runners is formulating a sleep strategy, and there are a few aid stations along the route that will offer dedicated sleep stations with cots. Some of the runners will take naps along the trail, while others will attempt to push through.
“Last year there [was a] guy who was telling a story of hallucinating [about] all of the rocks and trees around him [coming to life] like he was living in a cartoon, everything was googlyeyes talking,” McKesson said. “[But] I am going to listen to my body. And if I’m tired, I will sleep for 20, maybe 90 minutes, and if I’m not tired, I won’t sleep. My goal is to just listen to my body [and] try to tune in with my senses because your body gives you all the answers. We’re just too stubborn to listen to it sometimes.”
As of Friday, March 14, McKesson had raised nearly $4,200 toward his goal of $5,000.
“I will choose to put my mind and body through suffering during this 250-mile race,” McKesson wrote on his fundraising page. “A privilege I am proud to have. My grandma did not choose. My high school orchestra director, and the reason I myself am an orchestra director, did not choose. And most recently, my aunt did not choose to suffer.”
Donations to McKesson’s fundraiser can be made at runsignup.com/runcodyrun.
