I started around 6am from Gordon Hirabayashi CG, heading counter-clockwise. The forecast looked great with overcast sky and highs in the low 80s, so much better than my first attempt in June!
I carried 3L of water up to Summerhaven. Unfortunately I discovered the public bathroom and water fountain at the Mt Lemmon Community Center are now closed after apparently being damaged from vandalism, so I stopped in and asked the people working the desk if they knew of any other public water. They kindly let me fill up my bottles in the sink.
From there I ran steadily down to Hutches Pool to collect another 1.5L and then just tried to stay consistent to the end. In the last 2 miles I realized I didn't have the actual FKT route downloaded, and was following a different one which sent me on a parallel "unmaintained trail" parallel for a mile. And then at the end I couldn't remember if the route was supposed to drop into the campground immediately or stay on the AZT another .3 and then cut down. Guess which one I picked? Pretty dumb to mess up my own route, I guess I was a bit out of it. Anyway this might get flagged but I'm satisfied beating my last time by almost 2.5hrs!
This is a seriously tough route that really gives your body a beating! Great to see others go for it too and knocking down the time!