In the absence of any normal racing for the summer of 2020, I was looking for an alternative challenge, and the Jubilee Greenway FKT seemed to fit the bill. Based on the distance and minimal elevation I thought that knocking an hour off the existing record was a good target to aim for.
I started at Buckingham Palace early on Saturday morning, and went clockwise following the TFL route as closely as possible. I knew that I would have to make a few adjustments based on gates being locked at that time in the morning, and construction along the route. I didn't expect to encounter one less than 2 miles into the run, being unable to get into Kensington Gardens, but West Carriage Drive was viable and only fractionally longer. Victoria Park didn't open until more than 2 hours after I passed, so I continued along the Regent Canal then Hertford Union Canal just parallel to the route. Everything else went fairly smoothly, although given that I had never run further than a marathon in advance, this would be venturing into uncharted territory. The marathon distance coincided roughly with passing the Cutty Sark in about 2:40, and I did experience a bit of a deterioration in pace subsequently, but it wasn't too dramatic. I could have continued to push a lot harder, but in the absence of any support and needing to cycle home afterwards, I thought it more prudent to be somewhat conservative.
Not many photos taken along the way, but a large amount of GoPro footage captures the endeavour pretty authentically.
I'm sure plenty of people are capable of knocking more time off this, but I wanted to go quite hard to ensure it wasn't going to be too easy for them!