NSPCC Milton Keynes HM - 26/7/09

I achieved two unwanted firsts today

1. Missing a turn and doing a half-mile diversion
2. A DNF

I'd just come up a stiff little incline when I saw two groups of (clearly front-of field standard) runners coming towards me along two separate paths! Thus three groups of runners met at a point all asking each other what was the right way to go! The consensus seemed to be to go back the way I had just come (down the hill). There followed another brief pause whilst another subway-turn option appeared, but we ended up carrying straight on. Finally the correct route appeared as the main field passed below us down a steep grass bank. We all descended to re-join the race.

Disaster at 7.9 miles - click to enlarge image and magnify the fun!

I can not put into words what that interlude did to me mentally. In my head the race was over and I heard several other runners expressing similar views. The extra distance and the dithering must have added over 3 minutes to my time (and many others had goner even further before turning back). My heart was no longer in it. Admittedly, I had been struggling to maintain my target pace, but this just finished me off. There did seem to be a shortage of marshals, and many key turns were only accompanied by a small unmanned yellow arrow. Clearly at this turn, at least 20-25 runners missed the arrow (if indeed there was one). In any case, where was the ****** marshal !!!!?

The shortest way back to HQ was to follow the race course, otherwise I would have taken a shortcut to achieve my DNF. I had no intention of doing any more racing - I just wanted to get my bag and go home! I jogged the final 'proper' 5 miles very slowly and stopped several more times and walked. On one of these stops I untied my chip and threw it into a bush. In my mind, this was a DNF and a cruel joke. I did not want to get a time recorded. I walked most of the way up the final incline and deliberately missed off the final 200m loop in order to avoid crossing the finish line.

I didn't have the energy to seek out any officials to make a complaint, but I did hear some rumblings between other runners. My guess would be that many of the top 20-30 placings will be a farce. In all honesty, I don't think I would have met my own targets for this race, but if someone really wanted to know how to crush a runner's spirits, then here was object lesson!