Lessons learned:

If you have a few 90 degree sweeps & 90 degree down-turn (junction box) - use a helper!

Lube the wire

Maybe I should have just pulled to each turn, rather than the entire length at once.

The result was a push-pull-tug-jerk-sweat process. I had a decent taper where the 3-wires were hooked to the fish-tape & I figured using 3/4 PVC conduit was going to make for an easy 40' pull.

The consequence is that while I got the wire through, I've noticed about every foot or so ( of the exposed end) a small amount of the clear plastic coating on the sheathing is scraped off (probably from making the downward turn through the junction box). The sheathing of each wire appears untouched. I'm assuming that's nothing to be concerned about. Am I correct in this?