Rachel Entin just accomplished one of the most mind-boggling athletic feats in recent memory.
She won the Cocodona 250 outright, beating every single competitor—men included—by over an hour.
For context, this is a 250-mile race with more elevation gain than Mount Everest, run through the unforgiving Arizona wilderness.
And she did it on just 19 minutes of sleep over 56 hours, looking fresher at the finish line than most people do after a 5K.
Jump to:
- The Evolution of a Champion
- Dialing In the Machine
- The Viral Finish That Changed Everything
- The Attitude Shift
- When Mindset Becomes Performance
- The Cornmeal Blessing
- The “Why Not Me?” Philosophy
- Sleep Deprivation Superpower
- The Origin Story: From Anorexia to Ultra Champion
- Lessons for Everyone
- The Spiritual Dimension
- What’s Next
The Evolution of a Champion
This wasn’t beginner’s luck. Entin has now won Cocodona three times, but this year represented something different entirely.
She shaved seven hours off her previous year’s time, finishing in 56 hours and beating legendary ultrarunner Kilian Jornet, who also broke the men’s record.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
I guess it’s all relative, right? It was easier to go seven hours faster this year.
Her first attempt at Cocodona tells a starkly different story. She didn’t understand nutrition, pacing, or sleep strategy.
She bonked catastrophically at the halfway point, spent three hours off-course recovering, then suffered through 10 hours of vomiting while crawling forward at half a mile per hour.
She still won the women’s race.
Dialing In the Machine
Year two brought a nine-hour improvement simply by figuring out proper fueling. Year three? That’s when everything clicked.
Entin partnered with Precision Fueling and Hydration, essentially outsourcing all nutritional decisions to sport scientist Emily.
She just gives me what I need and it’s my job to eat it and like that is our transaction.
The formula? Approximately 60 grams of carbohydrates and between 300-800 milliliters of fluid every single hour.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Plus what Entin calls “beige foods”—real food to counteract the overwhelming sweetness of sports nutrition products.
Counteract barfing with beige. I should put it on a t-shirt.
The Viral Finish That Changed Everything
Videos of Entin approaching the finish line traveled across the globe within hours. She looked impossibly fresh, smiling broadly, surrounded by her crew and teammates.
Her kit wasn’t even dirty. She could have been starting the race, not finishing it.
Meanwhile, Jornet looked appropriately destroyed—hunched over, clearly suffering as expected after such an ordeal.
Within three days, Entin gained 130,000 new Instagram followers. The BBC, Guardian, New York Times, and ESPN all covered her achievement.
A relatively obscure athlete became a global sensation overnight.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
The Attitude Shift
Here’s what makes Entin’s 2025 victory even more remarkable: her primary goal wasn’t winning.
After finishing 2024’s race feeling flat and negative despite winning, she watched second-place finisher Manuela Vilaseca cross the line radiating joy and gratitude.
I did not have a single placement goal. I did not have a time goal. Those were my goals. To have a better attitude at the finish line.
This represents a profound shift from outcome-oriented thinking to process-oriented living.
Entin discovered something counterintuitive: choosing gratitude and joy doesn’t diminish performance—it enhances it.
If I choose to be grateful to the experience itself, I’m going to perform better no matter what.
When Mindset Becomes Performance
In 2022, Entin became obsessed with winning at all costs. She DNF’d two major races, ended one in an ambulance with a stomach bleed from excessive ibuprofen use.
That’s what happens when the only focus is victory.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
The lesson? Your attitude directly impacts your performance, especially over extreme distances where variables multiply exponentially.
During this year’s Cocodona, around mile 200 in Sedona, Entin hit a dark patch. Legs tired, 100 miles remaining, Jornet somewhere behind her.
She started spiraling into negativity before catching herself.
When things are getting hard is when I need to double down and figure out what kind of person I want to present to the world.
The Cornmeal Blessing
At the base of Mount Elden—the final brutal 2,000-foot climb—something extraordinary happened.
A Hopi woman in street clothes appeared in the middle of the trail. She told Entin her lead was inspiring beyond comprehension, that her impact on women everywhere was massive.
Then she offered cornmeal, symbolic in Hopi culture of community and strength.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
I’m standing in the middle of the trail holding this cornmeal. I just like wipe it on my thighs. And that’s the moment that I decide that I’m climbing this entire thing. I’m going to run this entire climb.
She ran the whole climb—something she never predicted possible—eventually leaving her fresh camera person behind.
Near the summit, she scattered the remaining cornmeal off a cliff, thinking of Jornet struggling behind her, passing along the strength she’d been given.
The “Why Not Me?” Philosophy
When Entin left the lead pack around mile 50-60—running alongside Jornet and Joe McConaughy—it required confronting serious self-doubt.
Why can’t I be the one leading? Why not just take what I’ve earned?
This mantra—”why not me?”—became a global headline, but it represents something deeper than athletic confidence.
It’s about not talking yourself out of possibilities when your resume supports the attempt.
Entin applies this philosophy beyond racing, recognizing she’s undermined herself professionally for years despite qualifications that clearly warranted advancement.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Sleep Deprivation Superpower
Nineteen minutes of sleep over 56 hours sounds impossible. Her first nap didn’t happen until nearly 200 miles in—and lasted five minutes.
She took two more seven-minute naps before finishing.
Entin doesn’t train for sleep deprivation because she doesn’t believe it’s trainable. Instead, she banks sleep beforehand—10 hours nightly for a full week leading into the race.
During the race, she follows a simple protocol:
- Run until literally falling asleep while moving
- Set a timer for five minutes and sleep immediately
- Wake up; if still tired, set another five-minute timer
- Repeat as needed
It’s almost like when your computer is going haywire and you just turn it off and back on again. I just need to reboot for five minutes.
The Origin Story: From Anorexia to Ultra Champion
Entin’s relationship with running began in darkness. She was an overweight kid with zero self-esteem who didn’t even make her high school cross country team—too slow to meet the tryout standard.
During her junior and senior years, family and relationship drama triggered a severe eating disorder.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
If I can’t have happiness at least I can have this and like I can be beautiful.
She discovered running as a mechanism for burning calories, spending hours on treadmills while severely restricting food intake.
Instead of attending college after graduation, she went to rehab. Twice.
The Turning Point
The first rehab stint was performance. She faked recovery, got out, and within a month realized nothing had changed.
I don’t want to live this way anymore. Like I want to believe that my life does not have to be this grim.
The second time, she committed fully, recognizing that if running was going to remain part of her life, she needed to figure out how to do it safely and sustainably.
It took four years to truly learn how to fuel properly, to view eating as part of the job rather than the enemy.
Lessons for Everyone
Entin’s message extends far beyond ultrarunning. When asked what life lesson translates from her experience, she returns to fundamentals:
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Mindset and responses are the only things that we really have complete control over.
Nobody makes you feel any particular way. You choose to allow them to influence you.
This reframing transforms victimhood into agency, whether you’re dealing with a difficult coworker or mile 230 of an impossible race.
Entin practices this mindfulness in everyday situations—being put on hold, dealing with rude patients as a physical therapist, navigating LA traffic when she lived there.
These mundane moments become training grounds for extreme situations.
The Spiritual Dimension
Multi-day ultras aren’t really athletic competitions. They’re closer to spiritual odysseys or psychedelic journeys.
You cannot run 250 miles without confronting exactly who you are. Everything compartmentalized comes up. Every uncomfortable thought demands attention.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
There are thoughts that are going to come up and you alone have to manage and deal with those thoughts.
This is the opposite of addiction, which uses substances or behaviors to run away from discomfort.
Ultra racing means running toward the thing that makes you uncomfortable.
Entin believes modern society has become addicted to avoiding discomfort—scrolling phones rather than sitting with difficult feelings.
She credits running with making her a better person precisely because it forces confrontation with uncomfortable truths.
What’s Next
Entin’s preparing for UTMB—the Super Bowl of ultrarunning—in Chamonix, France.
True to form, she has no placement expectations. Her goal is simply to have a good time that week.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
She’ll arrive in late July to run the entire loop before race day, setting herself up to perform to her potential while remaining curious about what unfolds.
That curiosity—combined with her service-oriented commitment to making the sport more accessible and inspirational—represents her greatest strength.
To who much is given, much is expected. I have been given a lot and so there should be a lot of things that are expected of me.
Rachel Entin didn’t just win a race. She demonstrated what becomes possible when you choose joy over suffering, process over outcome, and gratitude over complaint.
Even—especially—when things get impossibly hard.
