The day began at 3:00 am (Saturday morning) when I woke up and began gathering my supplies. I'm not even sure I slept the night before because the nerves were real! I ate some oatmeal and a banana as my crew and I made our way to the Sonora Pass Hwy 108, PCT trail head. The goal was to complete the route in under 15 hours, but being that I had never run the first 26 miles, I was a little unsure what to expect as far as exact distance and time.
I started at 4:35 with Luis and Patrick running along, carrying my pack and soon my jacket and mittens as I quickly warmed up on the climb up to 10,000 ft. After 3.5 miles, Patrick turned around and headed back to the start so he could drive and meet me at the first road crossing (Ebbetts). Luis and I carried on and the miles seemed to go by quickly. We filtered water at most of the stream crossings and started to cool off around 7:00 am. We talked for the majority of the way until mile 18 or so when I eventually dropped him and made my way to Ebbett's Pass (~31 miles) around 6 hours and 12 minutes. My crew efficiently changed out the bottles in my pack, gave me a change of clothes and Patrick and I were on our way within 5-6 minutes. He carried bottles/filter and spring energy gels so I could have a lighter load. The next ~16 miles were exposed and it was really starting to warm up. As we approached streams, Patrick would stop to fill bottles and dip buffs to cool me off as I continued running. This made for more efficiency and little to no lost time. We arrived at the last crew spot (Blue Lakes Road) in just over 10 hours. I spent around 7 minutes taking care of a blister on my big toe and changing out bottles in my pack. Patrick hurried me out of the crew spot and we began the last ~12 miles of the route. The long climb on tired legs made it feel like it was going to take 5 hours to get to the finish. As we came to a long downhill section before the final climb, I tried to pick up the pace a bit as Patrick worked quickly to refill bottles and make sure I was staying cool. During the last climb, I told Patrick that I had hoped to break 14 hours. Little did I know that I was so close to breaking 13 hours! We descended ~1.5 miles to Carson Pass where my crew was waiting; yet I'm not sure they expected me so soon. I arrived in 13 hours, 5 minutes and 46 seconds and was filled with excitement that I had finished well under my original goal time of 15 hours.
This route is filled with unique terrain and the first 31 miles are mostly shaded with many different access points to water. Starting early meant that there were very few hikers in the first half. The second half is more accessible for day hikes, but everyone was very friendly and encouraging which lifted my spirits.