I set out on the 2.7 mile walk from the house at 4:35am headed to the start from the Hattiesburg train station. Turns out it's hard to get a ride at 4am. Coffee in hand, I checked the weather and realized I had missed the forecasted cooler snap by about 24 hours. Feels like at the time was 72F, 94% humidity. 24 hours later it would be 55F, 90% humidity. On me from a fluids standpoint I had a 20oz handheld and one soft flask. Calorie wise I had north of 1,000 calories that carried relatively comfortably. I opted against the extra weight of a headlamp although I knew I'd pass through some dark spots on the early parts of The Trace prior to the sun coming up. I've navigated these darker sections before and knew there was typically nothing in the footpath impeding a solid foot step. No regrets there. I started at 5:30AM on the dot. Early on there was some doubt about how the humidity would impact the overall effort. As I started working up a good sweat, the evaporative cooling in what I was wearing coupled with a slight breeze put the concerns at ease. I let go of the "what ifs" surrounding if I had waited a day for the cooler weather. I was here in it now. I didn't have Tuesday off. The training impacts of the higher humidity would be more beneficial anyways. That was the last I gave it any more mental real estate for the rest of the run. 6:15 rolls around I'm 6 miles in. Morning prayer group (ZOOM) time. Those 15 minutes were well spent and helped refocus my attention on the opportunity I had in front of me. The overwhelming gratitude I have for the gift of running and life in general. I let another hour go by then FaceTimed the girls before school and day care. They had woken up happy and were in a good mood. My 3 year old asked me about "the race" and how it was going. It made me laugh as I explained I was out there by myself today. I wished them a good day and put the phone away. I knew I had to be intentional about fluid consumption and treat the water fountain stops as efficiently as possible. I got through Sumrall Station by just refilling the 20 oz handheld. Calories and fluids were going down pretty smoothly. I was pleased with how well the miles were clipping off and the ability to clip right back into the paces I was running after the water stops. Between miles 25 and roughly mile 32 I found myself completely out of fluids. My stride felt strong. I was rolling smooth. I couldn't help but wonder if I had sabotaged the effort by letting myself get behind on fluids. As I approached Bassfield I had the system down in my head how I was going to get in an out as quickly as possible. Hand held refill. Soft flask refill. Water on face. Water in hat. Out. Good grief the pumps on the water fountains are slow. I reminded myself how much worse off I'd be without water later than short changing a fill up. 9:24 mile - the outlier of the day. Not too bad all things considered. Took a few miles to find that sub 8 minute pace rhythm again but I got there and happy to do it. I texted my wife a picture of my watch at mile 35. I had told her I was starting at 5:30AM and to factor being in Prentiss in 6 hours plus or minus some depending on how it goes. "Look at you! That's so fast! I'm about to leave" was the message I got back. Ride's on the way. Cool. See how much I can beat her to the finish by. Miles 40, 41, 42 clip off with the excitement of accomplishment increasing. The mile markers were off by 1/4 for the majority of the run. I knew once I saw 43 I was inside my last mile. I was well on my way to a sub 8 minute mile average finish. My stomach felt good. My legs felt great. I felt strong. But most importantly I felt ALIVE. I had messed around and ran the whole Trace before lunch time. Official elapsed time 5:43:57 | Pace 7:53. Solo unsupported. 3:23 - 26.2 split | 4:01 - 50k split.