After last year's unfortunate incident involving a lack of arrows telling people which way to go, all I was thinking about was the Snoop Dog and JT song 'Signs'.  I quite liked the race, but was seriously put off by what happened last year.  Being lost again in the woods was something I did not fancy, but thought I would sign up to support a local race one more time and see if last year was a one off.

I arrived at race HQ at Glebe Football Club, got my car parked and made my way to the registration area.  I picked up my number with no issues, but the bag drop wasn't well signposted at all.  After walking around the clubhouse looking for where to go, I conceded defeat and asked for assistance.

"Up and around the corner mate!" I was told, but even walking in the direction of the marshal's extended index finger, I still couldn't find it.  After sticking my head in numerous changing rooms, I finally found it, dropped my bag off and made my way to the start line.

The people at the front of the start line with me were familiar and after having a quick chat discovered that a number of these were also part of last year's lost expedition.  After a quick de-brief which genuinely consisted of "you know the normal health and safety bits and follow the arrows, not the person in front of you" we were away!

We left Glebe and made our way along the 'A' road and towards the Common. Regardless to last year's issues, Chislehurst really is a lovely part of London/Kent and even the local houses have a lovely charm to them.

Once in and around the Common I maintained my pace and was comfortably in the top 20. One thing that did slow us down a bit was the narrow trail routes and those walking their dogs in the opposite direction of the runners.  After side stepping a golden retriever, I made my way out of the woods and trails and on to the side of the major 'A' road.  This bit was tough as although it wasn't particularly steep, it did go on for quite a way and the gradient did have a noticeable incline.  At the top I took the handbrake off and bombed down back toward the woodlands.

The crowd support was subtle but nice, and there is a middle section of the race which you pass through a number of times.  There didn't seem to be a large number of aid stations, but all of these were sufficiently stocked up with water and there were people standing around with jelly babies too.

As I say, the route is very nice, although there is a bit of backwards and forwards and running in the opposite direction to those behind you but on the same pavement. There arent any barriers separating the crossing runners so I found my pace slowing down as I was trying to weave in and out of other people who were in my path.

After a final loop of Chislehurst Common, we made our way back on the underpasses under the 'A' road and back towards the start line which was now acting as the finish.

I bombed down the last .1 mile stretch and was handed a silver medal for my efforts. The medal allocation was gold for the top 10, silver for places 10-30 and bronze for the finishers after that. I was delighted with the medal because although this meant I had a top 30 finish, it was a bit of redemption from last year when I was in a silver medal position only for me to lose it due to a wrongly placed sign (which I heard a different excuse for today).

I went back into the clubhouse and after checking in with two members of the Avery Fan Club (Dad and uncle Tony) I checked the printed times to see I finished in 18th place overall with a 1:31:32.  Normally I would be slightly disappointed with a half over 90 minutes, but this was a different terrain to road running and there were lots of running backwards and forwards against the flow over other runners.

Conclusion: This race has got a LOT better and I would recommend it now there are signs showing the right way. There are still a few teething problems, but they will sort this out with more races and more experience.

Would I come back next year?  More than likely!