I started at the Avery trailhead at 7:43 am. It was a perfect day temperature-wise starting at around 32F and only getting up to around 41F. The early morning cloud cover broke around noon and it turned into a beautiful sunny day. There was a brisk northern wind on the ridge lines that was harsh early on but felt good later in the day. The trails were in great condition but the heavy rainfall the day before caused a few sloppy areas and the creeks to be higher than normal. There were a few areas of the trail that had turned into small creeks themselves.
I wore a Solomon vest to carry all of my food and water. I carried around 1200 calories and ended up using around 900. I carried 3 soft flasks of water, 2 in the front and 1 in the back of my pack that I ended up not needing. My 2 front flasks weren't quite empty when I got to the pipe spring around mile 20 and I refilled them there. I did finish them off just before getting to the end.
I had a strong start and felt great all the way up to the Hickory Nut Mountain climb. At that point I had been averaging 9:30 min/mile but that climb slowed me down considerably and I wasn't ever able to pick it back up again after that. Thankfully the trail mellows out on the West side of the mountain and there are no more major elevation changes. I averaged around 11:30 min/mile after Hickory Nut and finished with an overall average of 10:20.
Overall I am very happy with how the day went and seeing my wife finish her FKT a little later made for a perfect ending.