I left the trailhead near Fontana at 6:18am with a friend pacing me in the dark for the first handful of miles until I got comfy in my own groove. He returned back to his car to drive around to greet me in at the finish. I had another friend run 9m in from the Bryson City finish end to pace me through the end. I carried all of my fuel and hydration. The day before setting out it had rained most of the day so the many small streams were running for some rock-hopping fun. The big creeks have bridges so you don't have to worry about wading through any deep water. There were also many trees down that have not been cleared since Hurricane Helene came through. The day was gorgeous for Feb 1. Started near 40 degrees and warmed up as the sun came out from the clouds late morning. I had one good fall trying to jump a downed tree. I did a couple of small backtracks to the trail where I got a little confused but was able to correct it fairly quickly as I had the course uploaded to my watch. All in all a gorgeous day and a gorgeous trail, even with the wet conditions the trail was mostly runnable using some caution. Finishing through the tunnel is a pretty fun way to end the route!