Living in Manhattan and looking for an ultra opportunity at a time when there aren't many races, Jay and I noticed that a route we often run for training is an official FKT route, and that we could make a go at the FKT. Part of what is great about this route is how accessible it is and logistically simple to run. Simply take the train to Croton and hop an Uber to the start, and you're good to go.
The plan was to run the route north to south and we were lucky enough to have a friend who lived on the route where we could drop Gatorade and water. That said, there are multiple spots to pull over if you want to re-fuel along the route. We broke it up into 4 ten mile segments and at the start everything went smooth. We made our way south through Westchester and were feeling good. Another great thing about this route is how easy it is to follow. It is well marked, smooth and historic. As we made our way to Irvington we grabbed our supplies at our friends place and continued our way south.
As we made our way into Yonkers we navigated a few tricky turns and made our way to Tibbets Field and then entered into the Bronx. As the trail turned into roads leaving Van Cortlandt Park, there were some challenges in terms of dealing with the traffic and cars, but we managed and made our way to The High Bridge. From there we were in Manhattan and worked our way from West Harlem across Central Park and onto Fifth Avenue. Once again there was lots of foot traffic and after 06:00:53 we made it to the Statue at Bryant Park.
Overall this is a fantastic route and should be the gold standard FKT in metro NY due to it's ease in getting to, how well marked it is and how well it can be run.