I'm going with a small group on Sunday if you want to join up with us. I've summitted the last 3 years with different groups and levels of experience, and different times of year, last fall I did an October summit that required crampons.
I'm taking 2 newbies this year, one guy and one girl, they are both in pretty good shape. Personally, I think 1-2 AM is a little early. The first year we went with a couple of people in marginal shape (all first-timers), we absolutely took our time with long breaks (30 mins at Trail Camp, etc.) and still summitted in 8 hours, back down in 6. Net hiking time was probably less then 6.5 hours up. You should make trail camp in 3-3.5, 1.75 up the switchbacks, 1.75 to the Summit, those are all leisurely times, not counting long stops.
