First and foremost, I would not have had the motivation to go back here if Whitney hadn't come back and bested my time last year, so shoutout to her because she's awesome.
I hiked up from the Sunapee parking lot with my friend Marty, who was kind enough to drive me to the start and pick me up at the end. Once we got to the summmit of Sunapee, Marty turned back, and I took care of a few needs before starting just prior to 7 AM. The trail was wet from the rain the day before, but it did not rain on me the whole time, and I was grateful for that even if my feet were wet.
Right off the bat, I was faster. I came back this time with the FKT attitude and a pack that was as lightweight as I could make it. I was an hour ahead of myself by mile 8. I stopped for water for the first time at the Washington shelter, but quickly realized that my filter was not working. I drank unfiltered water for the rest of the day, ensuring that the sources I used were not straight out of a pond with a beaver dam and were flowing quickly. Water was abundant on the trail after yesterday's flood watch, so it was not an issue. Fingers crossed I don't end up with Giardia in a week. Overall, things went as well as they possibly could have. It was fun to get to a place and think about what had happened in that place the last time I ran it.
This route is so runnable. I was able to run so much more of it without the big pack. I hope that the next unsupported woman is the one to do this in the self-supported time, but today wasn't my day for that. I have been having an issue with my right knee/hip/glute/foot forever now, and that pain held me back a bit. Maybe someday, when I am 100% healthy, I will come back and give it another go, but I'll probably need to see another effort before I find the motivation for that!