This year the MK 20 wasn’t quite timed right for me to be doing it, so I needed an alternative. The best time one, and the easiest one for me to get to was the Hillingdon 20 (formerly the Finchley 20). It’s not an area I know that well so I’d be going into this one not really knowing what to expect. My previous 20 milers hadn’t been brilliant this training cycle, but I figured if I could get around this one okay then I’d probably be okay for Manchester Marathon - knowing that it wouldn’t be a PB race this year.

I stayed overnight at a nearby hotel, so the daylight savings change wouldn’t be too big of a deal. It was still an early start to the day and I headed over to Ruislip Lido to park up, and then walked to the Athletics club which would be race HQ today. I saw Carmen, who I happened to bump into in Limassol last week - we’re both doing Manchester marathon so have similar plans, and have had the same unfortunate luck with rolled over races. I guess there’s a reasonable chance I’ll see her in Manchester too - it’s nice to come across familiar faces.

The start was about half way between the Athletics club and the lido, in an industrial area. We were told it’d be four laps, and to remember where we see toilets and water stations during the first lap so we’d know for subsequent laps. I started towards the back to keep my pace down at the start, and then after a few minutes I relaxed into a steady pace along Bury Street and round onto Pinn Way where the first water station and toilets were located. I’d not used the loos before the race as I’d not thought about it, but figured I’d manage a few laps before I’d need to stop.

I quickly realised that this route is incredibly well marshalled so they could keep the roads open to traffic. Marshals would stop and start traffic at the right times, and would make sure everyone is safe, and that the locals don’t get too annoyed with us. I found the majority of the marshals were also incredibly energetic when passing them on each lap, and never stopped cheering us all on.

I kept my head down a lot in the first lap to keep the rain out of my face, and concentrating on the feet of runners in front to know where I was going. What I hadn’t accounted for though was that the runner in front of me was shorter, and when they rounded a corner safely, I ran face first into a bush that was hanging over a fence. After that I didn’t make that mistake again, and found that my #visorclub visor was actually keeping most of the rain out of my face anyway.

The hills didn’t seem that bad and I was confident I was going to complete the first lap at least without walking. Then I reached Joel Street. For a race called ‘Hillingdon 20’ that goes through an area called ‘Northwood Hills’ - there’s a definite clue about the elevation changes. Joel Street was by far the worst of these, and just seemed to keep on climbing, but on the first lap I managed it without walking. In fact, I finished the first lap without walking and thought maybe I could manage the second lap too. I got around as far as High Road bus stop before I decided I needed to give my legs a rest, so started to walk.

At the top of Park Avenue for the fourth time I could finally turn right onto Bury Street. Towards the finish. I heard a marshal say there was only 400 metres to go, but that didn’t sound right. I thought it’d been about half a mile to that industrial estate. I walked a little along this stretch, and when I got to the top of a hill I could see some cones on the path ahead. I started running again, and then realised that the finish had been moved into the car park of the athletics club - so perhaps I hadn’t needed to save my legs for another hill climb after all! I took it easy around the corner onto the muddy ground, and crossed the line in 2:38:50 in position 75 of 191 finishers. Not a fast 20 mile for me, but then with those hills and the pause in the middle, that wasn’t any surprise.