I talked to Brannon who ran this route the week prior to me so I knew that the heat and lack of water on some parts of the trail would be the biggest obstacles for me. I tried to start as early as I could and ended up hitting the trail around 5:45am. Starting this early was great and I made it all the way to the Cloud's Rest climb before I encountered any other people on the trails. Even the backpackers were still in their tents at this time. I felt great descending from Cloud's Rest and made good time on the descent. Around mile 19 I ran by the Merced River and quickly scooped up some water in the B-Free filter bottle I was carrying. I ran drinking out of the bottle and squirting it on my head. I still felt great over to the Panorama trail and up the initial climb on that trail and was thinking I had a shot at a sub 5 time but the last climb of the day did me in. That section is exposed, in the sun and it was starting to get hot out and I was forced to hike a good bit of this section. I finally made it up to Glacier Point where I refilled my bottle at the tap and squirted water all over my face, head and chest and then took off hitting the final descent down to the valley as fast as I could. I finished the day with a dip in the river and then walked to Yosemite Village where I ate a huge lunch at Degnan's Kitchen before catching the YARTS bus back to Tuolumne Meadows.
I started the day carrying 2.5 liters of water. I had a 2 liter bladder plus a 16oz soft flask. I also carried a 1liter B-Free water filter bottle to filter water from the river. I carried 10 GU gels with me of 100 calories each and consumed 8 of them during my run.