How Rachel Entrekin Worked With One of Her Sponsors to Make History at the Cocodona 250

Rachel Entrekin made history during the Cocodona 250 Mile ultra marathon, becoming the only woman to come first in the contest overall.

While such a feat is impossible without cultivating unimaginable grit and perseverance, a refueling strategy she developed with one of her sponsors also helped Rachel to achieve such a prominent milestone.

A sports scientist with the nutrition business, Emily Arrell, worked closely with the athlete to revamp how she powered her body throughout the grueling ultramarathon.

Previously, Rachel primarily ate when she was hungry, according to Runner's World.

But after analyzing Rachel's running habits and dietary needs, Arrell came up with a specific plan that would help her body to operate at peak performance levels. Operating in tandem with other members of the runner's team, Arrell had prepared a slew of gels, chews, and fluids for her to ingest between aid checkpoints.

Rachel had high praise for Arrell's work on fine-tuning her body to achieve the phenomenal race time. "I'm just the racecar. Emily is the mastermind," she was quoted by the outlet as saying.

In general, Arrell calculated that Rachel needed to consume more carbohydrates than she had previously.

This amounted to 60 grams of carbs per hour. Monitoring her water levels was a bit trickier, however. And the amount fluctuated depending on how hot it was and the time of day. Rachel drank anywhere from 300 to 800 milliliters each and every hour.

The gels and chews she was consuming are on the sweeter side, so Arrell had prepared a variety of different meals for the runner to scarf down. According to the sports scientist, she ingested "proportionally more real food out" at Cocodona than other runners in different ultramarathons would normally eat.

Rachel said her savory foods of choise were mashed potatoes, rice, ramen, and broth: "Basically if it's beige, I'm all over it," she told Runner's World. Moreover, the meals were bland, but packed with necessary nutrients to keep her going for hours on end.

As the name implies, 250 miles of straight running requires not just an insane level of physical fitness and coordination, but mental fortitude as well. Rachel said that three "dirt naps" she took over the course of the three-day race were integral to her success.

She slept for five minutes at the Kelly Canyon aid rest stop. She then took two additional naps, which lasted for 7 minutes each. While running, Rachel says she fell asleep while on her feet and kept bumping into her pace setter, Dom.

And then there were hallucinations: imaginary animals whose forms couldn't be pegged down running in her peripheral. At one point in the race, Rachel said a "shape-shifting bird" was behind Dom's head. It was so apparent that she asked if he saw it. He did not.

The Cocodona 250 is a 253.3-mile route that goes across the Sonoran Desert, the Bradshaw Mountains, and Sedona. It began in 2021, and 2026's race has garnered headlines for Rachel's staggering completion time of 56:09:48. Second place belonged to Killian North, who crossed the line at 57:28:36.

Tragically, one of the runners who participated in the brutal endurance challenge passed away. The Guardian reported that a runner succumbed to a medical emergency during the 2026 Cocodona 250 on Tuesday, May 5.