On February 25th I ran the Arizona Trail Santa Catalina Loop clockwise unsupported.
I started around 5:31 in the dark from the gate at Gordon Hirabayashi before the fee area. I began with 2 liters of water and 1/2 liter of Powerade. I saw one man walking his dog, I think he said “running at this hour?” But couldn't be sure. It was chilly, but I shed my jacket fairly quickly as I made the climb to Shreve Saddle. I filtered my first bottle before Hutch’s Pool in the creek. I pushed fairly hard up to Romero Pass, I did however stop a few times for photos. Around mile 16 I started to get cramps in my thighs that would come and go the rest of the loop. (I forgot my pickles!) I filled up another bottle in the creek before Marshall Gulch TH to get me to Summerhaven. This is where I started seeing my first hikers. I would later see some of the same people at other locations later in the day. I filled up all of my bottles at the community center restrooms at the public water fountain. The next section was the hardest… Now fairly high up, you drop down a few thousand feet on the forest service road and finally meet up with the trail again. This is easy to miss by the way, so pay attention. I felt like I was never going to get to the top of this grueling climb. I actually sat down for a few minutes on the way trying to force gels down and settle my stomach with ginger chews. Before the top I filtered one bottle in a creek. Thankfully the sun was slowly beginning to move to sunset which gave me some shade here and there. Around mile 31 I stopped and laid down for a few minutes to try and let a gel absorb. It seemed to work, and I was able to get some energy back for the final unrelenting climbs before the finish near General Hitchcock campground. I ended up running the downhills after the last steep section to the finish for a time of 12:43:49.
I estimate I roughly used 1500 calories, and around 5 liters of water (1 liter left at finish, probably should have drank more of this.)
This was an incredibly challenging loop and comparable to R2R2R in my opinion.