Today I ran at the Beechwood School cross-country event. The race was meant to be 1.8 km around the school grounds. I’ve been struggling recently, and after a disappointing run at York House last week, I really wanted to perform better today.
My training times are still much slower than they were before Christmas, so I know I’m still several weeks away from my best fitness. Even so, I was determined to push myself as hard as I could.
At the start, I found myself in about fourth or fifth position. By my standards, that felt weak, as I would normally go straight to the front. I just didn’t have the stamina to take the lead early on. As the race went on, though, I began to move through the field and worked my way up to third place. I was steadily catching the runner in second and felt like I was getting stronger.
However, when we reached the final bend, we were directed the wrong way. Instead of completing the final loop, the course was accidentally shortened from 1.8 km to 1.64 km, and we were sent straight to the finish. That didn’t work in my favour, as I was gaining quickly on the boy in second place. Had we run the correct route and completed the extra distance, I’m confident I would have overtaken him.
As we sprinted to the finish, I was closing the gap and lost second place by less than a second. That was frustrating, especially knowing that the extra loop would likely have suited me.
I finished third with an average pace of 3:53 per kilometre. For me, that’s still slower than where I should be. Normally, I would expect to run between 3:35 and 3:40 per kilometre for this kind of distance, meaning I was at least 15 seconds per kilometre off my best. Over 1.64 km, that’s roughly 25 seconds slower than my true ability. The winner only beat me by about five seconds, which reassures me that at peak fitness I would likely have won comfortably.
Overall, though, it wasn’t a bad run considering I’m nowhere near peak condition. I was pleased to receive a third-place medal. Ironically, I also finished third in this same race last year when I was in Year 5 and competing against both Year 5 and Year 6 runners. This year, as a Year 6, I would have expected to win — so it feels slightly ironic to have two third-place medals from the same event.
Still, I’m proud of the effort. I know I’m not at my best yet, but I’m improving. I have the HSAA cross-country championships next week, and although I wish it were later in February to give me time to reach full fitness, I’ll push myself as hard as I can.
I’m confident that I will get fitter, stronger, and faster again. I can feel it building — and I can’t wait to start winning again.
