Hi Tek, The hike itself was pretty amazing. I did an 8 day Lemosha route - the longer route allowed for greater acclimatization to the altitude which caps out around 19,500 ft on Summit day. Most days we hiked between 5-8 miles with lots of elevation gain --- hike high and sleep low. You pass through 5 different climate zones, from cloud forest to artic, so each day looked a little different. You are camping, so tent sleeping in mummy bags the whole trip which was it's own challenge. Summit day was definitely the hardest. They like to have you hike it at night, so they woke us up at midnight to eat a little something (you are already at 15,500 ft so not much of an appetite) then start hike around 1:30 am. It's cold --- I think when we went it was around 15 F and windy as you get higher. It's only a little over 3 miles, but due to the steep climb and elevation, we didn't reach the summit until around 8 AM and we were a pretty fast group. The sunrise on the mountain was just beautiful (see pic). Once you reach summit you stay just long enough to get pics, then they hurry you as they don't want you at that elevation for too long. The climb down was really hard --- you are already tired and it's steep and hard on the joints even with hiking poles. Once you hit base camp, you rest then hike down further. I think we did another 6 miles and stayed at high camp that day. Last day was about 7 miles down which was again pretty hard on the joints, but at that point you just want a shower and a bed so it's not too hard to push yourself. I was fortunate to be able to stay in Tanzania and do some safari's and go to Zanzibar to relax on the beach for a few days before coming home. Definitely a once in a lifetime trip. In terms of training, I did lots of local hikes, but I'm in Northern California so while I could do distance (10+ miles) elevation was hard. So in addition I joined a gym about 4 months before the hike and started taking weight training type classes and yoga classes to build strength and stamina. Then after the hour class I would do an hour on the treadmill at a 12-15 incline. I feel like I was in pretty solid shape for the hike.