After Isaac reset the standard on this route, I've wanted to go back and see how much time I could take off. When I saw the delightfully cool forecast, I decided to pull the trigger. Conditions/timing/training weren't ideal in a lot of ways, but worked out alright.
Compared with my first hard go at this route, I had much better start preparation, making sure to use the portapotty by the lake before starting. My nutrition was much more dialed, with no solids. I took on about 340-350g carbs (didn't measure the drink mix that precisely). I carried 2.2 L fluids (3L last time), which had the benefit of ensuring I didn't carry a bunch of extra weight like my first effort. I'm not in great uphill running shape muscularly, but have a great aerobic base from the spring/early summer. I thought the ridge trail might still be a mess from the spring's ice storms, but there were only a few blowdowns on the southern ridge, and the Orange Diamond trail was nicer than I can ever remember it. Thanks to whoever got out there and cleaned up that mess! Everything is bone dry. The leaves are even falling from the trees - I didn't expect that to be the most challenging aspect of the trail conditions, but it definitely was. In places it was tough to see any of the trail surface beneath all the dried dead leaves. This is August! Crazy.
My legs felt pretty crap even by the time I hit South Moose the first time, but I was there in just barely over 1 hour, so I felt like it was going well. I think I was a little low on carbs in that first hour, then I caught up and felt better and cruised the ridge.
I managed to catch a toe on the N. Moose descent and scraped my knee, elbow and hand/finger, but it wasn't too bad. It didn't slow me down like the last time where I really hit my knee hard and had to walk it off. I slowed a bit just because I was shaken, but was able to run just fine.
After hitting Goose Pond Rd. in 1:33, I felt like the record was well in hand, and I felt decent. I managed to push up the N. Moose climb decently hard. Because I felt like I was so far ahead of the time, after that it was tricky to stay mentally engaged. I kind of thought I might mange to get under 3 hours when I hit North Moose under 2 hours elapsed. But the next few miles let me watch that slip away as my legs turned to jello and I started chanting the mantra "pick up your feet, don't fall" over and over. Keeping up the fueling, I managed to continue moving decently well, but nowhere near the very hard effort I'd have had to put in to get near 3 hours. Ultimately I managed to pick the feet up, not fall, and finish in 3:08:21.