After seeing Richard McDowell smash the FKT last week with 3:43:30 (sorry Richard!) I decided I might as well give it a go before I get distracted with potential upcoming races. I did a recce last Sunday and yesterday on the east side as that was the bit I was most unfamiliar with (bizarrely - as I live on the east side but that was the first time I've ever been through the Woolwich foot tunnel).
I started at 8am at the Greenwich Foot tunnel since that is the closest point to where I live and ran clockwise despite my recce being anti-clockwise! I've done most of the route over my years of running/run commuting around London so it was a pretty clean run with only very minor hiccups along the way. There was a section of closed footpath just before the Woolwich foot tunnel on the South side but there were diversion signs to follow. I carried my nutrition with me (basically gels and some carbs in the 500ml I carried from the start) and I topped up with some water at a tap on the East London university campus which was much later than I wanted being at 28 miles (and only having had 500ml until then!) but it was the first public tap I spotted. The Woolwich to Greenwich section was a bit narrow with tight corners and busy towards the end as it was after 11am. It could have been worse if the weather was nicer as was quite windy with approx 13mph SW and gusting to 25mph and 18-20 degrees so a bit warm and windy really!!
I imagine on a good day it would be possible to run in the 3:25-3:30 range (splitting 50km circa 3 hours flat) so I might have to wait until a 5 degree winter morning for a revision attempt ;-) A few less photos might buy me some time too..