This FKT was certainly not meant to be a competitive one- I didn't really train all that much for it (I came up with the idea for it 2 weeks prior to my start), and mid-January is a terrible time of year to do this. It was a awesome way to challenge myself, see what I could do, and get a bunch of my friends together.
I live in Arlington, which is no more than 1hr from any given section of the trail, so I went home every night. A friend would come pick me up at around 5am each morning, I'd start around 6:30am, and go until around 7:30pm. A friend would meet me in a car along road crossings every 4-12mi (depending on what we were feeling), and that would serve as my aid stations. They'd help refill my vest, feed me, etc before I set off once more.
Day 1 I had about 20mi of pacing. Day 2 I had no pacing. Days 3-6 I had pacing for almost the whole way, with a few small sections of running alone (no more than 4mi at a time I believe). My friends would switch off between "aid stations".
Overall, this effort went as well as I think it could have gone for it being so last minute with not much training in mid-January. It definitely felt very difficult, especially the last two days where I encountered rain and snow. Mornings were very cold (my eyelashes froze over once!), and I practically lived in handwarmers. It took me a day longer than my goal, but I still got it done.
Oh- I was also attacked by a barred owl on the evening of day 2, which is why that day was cut a little short. Apparently that guy is well known in Medfield, and the locals known to avoid that section of trail at Noon Hill reservation after dark. He's very territorial, and there's even a news article about him. Luckily I was wearing a hat and hood so he didn't hurt me too bad, but wow was it terrifying to be alone in the dark and get swooped on by an owl three times (he followed me down the trail for a bit as I ran away).