I decided beforehand to get the digital stamps along the course so that was the route I followed while looking for the stamps, but I wasted probably an hour trying to do this and I couldn't even find the last two digital stamp QR codes along the trail. It was 35°C (95°F) on July 30th in Fuji City with a feel-like temperature of 46°C (115°F) that day. I started later around 4:40 pm and to run through the night to try to avoid most of the heat but running through the city was brutal. I was sweating so much that my shoes became full of water and they started squishing around like I had just done a river crossing. About 20 km in I became nauseous and felt there was a physical excursion line that if I crossed I might puke, so I started to run-walk and stop eating and drinking for the next 10km. After about 35km, I have finally reached the part of the course that becomes a trail. It's a difficult trail to move at night as there are a lot of things to trip on but I felt I made decent time on it. I then reached the Fujinnomiya's trails 6th station and started to ascend up Mt. Fuji. I was a little worried about altitude sickness but I felt very good when going up Mt. Fuji and preferred it to the road running earlier. I summited a little before 2:30 am. So the first half took me about took me a little under 10 hours. The trail was very crowded so I couldn't move as fast as I would have liked but since I blew up the last 30km it didn't make much of a difference. Descending Mt Fuji was more difficult than climbing. As soon as I started my trekking pole snapped. I reached the road around 6:00 am. I was able to run for a little bit but I ended up having to walk the majority of the last 30km. It killed the time I was shooting for so I am a little disappointed by that.
I carried all my food, around 5000 calories in different bars, dried fruits, and drink mixes. I started out carrying 2L of water and refilled at public faucets along the trail that are shown on the course guide map of the Mount Fuji Climbing Route 3776. I ended up eating about 4000 of the 5000 calories. My Garmin said I burnt over 7700, perhaps if I ate more I could have run more of the last 30km.
Gear:
Salomon Agile 12
Black Diamond Distance Flz Z-Poles 125
Salomon 500mk Soft Flask x4 (one with a straw)
Evernew 2L Soft flask
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
Buff
Phone
Earphones