Today, I ran in the Hitchin 10K Golden Mile, which is a special 1-mile race for children aged 14 and under. The race goes around Hitchin town centre, and it was my first time ever entering it. I was a bit nervous because the route looked confusing with lots of twists and turns. There were also hills, uneven bricks, and I knew I would be racing against boys and girls who were much older than me. But I was still determined to give it my best.
We arrived early, so I had time to walk the course before the race began. That helped a little, but it still seemed tricky to follow. Even with that, I was focused on doing well. As the race started, I sprinted quickly to get a good position and found myself in second place straight away. The boy in first place was very tall and looked much older than me, maybe even a teenager. He was running really fast, but I was going to try my hardest to stay close.
I ran as fast as I could and stayed behind him, not letting the gap grow. I wasn’t able to catch him, but I didn’t give up. I held onto second place for most of the race. Then, near the finish line, the boy behind me suddenly overtook me. For a moment, I was in third place, and I knew I had to react quickly. I stayed close behind him, waited for my chance, and then gave everything I had in a final sprint.
I was so happy that I managed to pass him again and take back second place just before the finish line. I even started to close the gap on the boy in first, which made me feel proud. In the end, I finished second out of 140 children under 14. That was a brilliant result, especially since I’m only nine years old! My time was 5 minutes and 49 seconds, which was a bit slower than my goal of 5 minutes 30, but this course was much harder than I expected with all the hills and uneven paths.
After the race, I found out that the boy who won was 12 years old — three years older than me — and he only beat me by five seconds. That made me feel even prouder of how I ran. My average pace was 3 minutes and 33 seconds per kilometre, which is really fast. I was happy that I stayed strong the whole way and finished with such a good time on a tough course.
There was a prize-giving ceremony after the race, and they gave out trophies to the fastest boy and girl in each age group. Even though I came second overall, I was the first nine-year-old boy to finish, so I got a trophy! I was over the moon. It was a brilliant day, and I felt very proud. I definitely want to come back next year, and I have two big goals — to beat my time and to beat that 12-year-old boy who came first this year. I’m sure that with more training over the next 12 months, I’ll be even faster and ready for the challenge!
