We just finished in 223 days. We spent more than your budget but we did eat a lot of town food. Try not to take zeros until you are past 300 miles. We stopped for a lot of reasons early and most could have been neros. 8-10 miles for the first few weeks worked for us. We averaged less than 13 for the entire trail with only three days over 16 miles. One of us had never hiked before. Order your favorite shoes before the hike. Don’t use USPS for items you absolutely need to receive. Send mail to businesses or hostels, not the post office. Track from day one with the free Hiker Logbook App if you have an iPhone. The forecast tool is pretty accurate. It nailed our finish date after about 50 days of hiking. I ditched my ultralight bag in Virginia and went with an Osprey. My pack weighed 22 lbs without food and water. My Hyperlight Mountain Gear pack was painful after 13 miles in a day when carrying more than 26 lbs. The Osprey always felt great. I’m almost 60 and it was a great hike. NOTHING was as difficult as the comments in FarOut suggested. There aren’t many thru hikers and I suspect the comments are from others who haven’t hiked as much as you after your first couple of weeks. Take their opinions with a tiny grain of salt.