Well the day did not start well for me, left my kit bag with all my gels and my drinks at home, so pre-race it was a mad dash to get a couple of bottles of lucozade to keep my carb levels topped up during the race.

We got parked up and made the short walk to Glebe Football Club, where we were met with a beautiful sunny day and a really friendly atmosphere. "Race registration is next door!" We were told, "check your name on the list and what number you are to help us out!" It seemed a reasonable request, I found my number next to my name and joined the queue. "147, Avery" I said to the woman handing out my number "147? Down there, you're in the wrong queue!" The weird thing was though, I didn't see any signs indicating different queues, but I obliged and got my number.

After the pre-race warm up, we all made our way to the start line where we were given our brief, which consisted of "have a good race, it's PB weather and conditions and be careful of the rabbit holes, we tried fill them in with flour but you might fall down them." We didn't mind, this was trail running after all.

3-2-1 and we were off! I was with the first 10-15 runners and we set off at a good, fast pace. The first few miles were nothing special and I chuckled as we ran along an A road and an underpass. Was I back in Milton Keynes?...

The race then took a detour into the woods and the scenery was beautiful, running in woodlands, jumping over streams, ducking under low branches and running alongside fields with horses and other animals in them. Trail running really is something totally different to road running and the natural sights around were stunning.

I was maintaining my pace well and although running at a pace which wouldn't trouble the leaders, I was happy with how I was running and felt a top 20 finish was more than achievable for me.

Then disaster struck for all of us just after 6 miles. We were shown which way to go by marahals, followed the arrows, ran out the woods and then BANG! Nothing. Not a single sign, marshal or arrow telling us where we needed to go. Nothing, nada and no crowd supporters we could see in the distance. We were lost and off route, our group of 25 runners were then joined by around 10 more.... then 10 more. This race had become a total stand still for around 5 minutes.

"let's go this way!"

"no that's not the right way!"

"they've changed the route so it's a bit different"

"let's try this way."

An absolute shambles.

We all went back into the woods and agreed to try and honour the order so that the leader wasn't unfairly right at the back. Back in the woods and after a few paces we realised we were lost again.

"hang on" said one female runner "I'll have to get the map out". So we all huddled around her as she logged onto the race website and got a map up. Exactly what happens at every half marathon...

We still had no real concept of where we were so decided to aim back towards a road and head back to the start to inform the organisers. After running for around a mile, we found our way back on the course, but back at the 10km mark and was miles back down the field. Many of these people who were now in front of us were originally miles behind and I was playing catch up to try and make up my time and position. This race was now becoming a long, demoralising and downbeat slog. After running around a bit more woodland in a foul mood and trying to make up a position I unfairly lost, I reigned it in for the last two miles and saw it as nothing more than a long training run.

Normally when I finish a race, I punch the air for photographers, high 5 people, do something silly but today was not one of these days. I was not really in the mood so just wanted to cross the finish line. 1:41:39 and a 48th position. I was gutted, I have hit the wall before and have ran poorly in the past but this was a new level of annoyance. To drop down the field and finish with that time due to nothing I had done was a bitter pill to swallow and the normal medal biting picture I take post-race was not to be taken today.

Positives from today: the weather was nice, the course was beautiful and the marshals were friendly and energising. Nice medal too and the pre-race atmosphere was very friendly.

Negatives from today: the organisation which caused the front pack to get horrendously lost. The lack of acknowledgement that the organisers had made a mistake "well you must've missed the sign" yeah mate, like 50 people running sporadically with numerous minutes in between each other will all miss this sign. The fact I nearly got hit by a car twice due to marshals stood in the wrong place also needed to be addressed.

Conclusion: It's a shame one huge, massive gaff has ruined what was a lovely little trail half marathon. Let's see what next year has to offer.

PS One of the people who beat me on paper was a man and a dog.