I started at 6am on March 27th, 2025. I had a 3 liter bladder for water in my back pack and made some grilled cheese sandwiches for fuel. While it was a good choice fuel wise, I found them hard to chew without also breaking them down with water. I lost one of my gloves before I even got to Joliet. I decided to skip resupplying in Joliet even though it meant making it to the Subway in Channahon with less than a liter of water left. I got a Spicy Italian and 5 bottled waters at Subway. The Subway resupply was definitely needed as I was pushing very hard for the first half of the trail. I ended up finishing the first half in 10 hours, as I wanted to give myself a chance to finish under 30 hours. I hit the pain cave at mile 52 or so and struggled my way to Seneca for another resupply at Casey's. I bought two Mountain Dews, and two waters to top off the bladder. After spending a few moments on the park bench near the trail and going back into Casey's for a bio break, I realized that I just didn't have it in me to run another mile, so I walked the rest of the way. I also switched to Strawberry Kiwi Honey Stinger gel for fueling at this point, but they made my stomach hurt, so I did not eat as many as I would have liked. There was a lot of lightning happening from miles 70-80 but the rain was concentrated elsewhere, so the poncho went unused. The last 8 miles of this run were brutal and it is something that I will never forget, but I am glad that I got it done.