Today, I took part in the Middlesex Young Athletics League race in Perivale. I was chosen to be one of the scorers for my club’s under 11s team, which made me feel very proud. In each race, two athletes are selected as scorers for the team, so it felt special to be one of them. I knew I had to give my best and try as hard as I could to get a great result for myself and my club.
The race was 600 metres long, and I felt confident because I had been doing really well in training. My best official time in a track meeting before this was 2 minutes and 1 second, but I had run 1 minute 54 in practice, so I knew I had the chance to beat my personal best. I was focused and ready to run fast.
As soon as the race started, I sprinted off the line and quickly took the lead. I wanted to stay ahead right from the beginning, and I managed to build a small gap of about 2 or 3 seconds. I felt very comfortable while running, and everything was going well for most of the race. I stayed in front and was pushing hard to make the gap even bigger.
With about 100 metres to go, my legs suddenly started to feel tired, which isn’t normal for me. I kept going, but I could hear footsteps behind me getting closer. Just before the finish line, the boy behind me managed to overtake me. He crossed the line just ahead of me and beat me by only four-tenths of a second.
Even though I didn’t win, I was still very proud because I ran a new personal best — 1 minute and 52 seconds. That’s a huge improvement for me, and it shows that my training is working. I was slightly upset because I led for nearly the whole race and felt like I should have won, but it was also a big lesson. It showed me that I need to finish even stronger next time and keep pushing right until the end.
Overall, I came second and helped my club earn 10 points, which is a great result. Only one club scored more than us, with 12 points, so we’re really close to the top. I’m already looking forward to the next race at the start of June, and I’m determined to win it for my team. I know what I need to work on, and I’m going to keep training hard to get even better.
