Today I ran at Pitshanger junior parkrun in Ealing. This is a 2 km run in the park, and I hadn’t done it for a few weeks, so I was excited to see what kind of time I could run. My best time before today was six minutes and 58 seconds, and I was determined to beat it. I really wanted to get a new personal best and break that time.
When I was lining up at the start, I noticed there were loads of children there. It looked like almost double the normal number, so I knew it was going to be tricky, especially when overtaking on the second lap. Before I was even ready, they shouted “go!” and I got a poor start. I was about third or fourth at the beginning, but I quickly got into my stride. By the top of the street, I managed to take first place.
I only stayed in first for a short time, because a boy I know, who is 14 years old and very fast, came past me round the corner. My aim was to run the first lap in three minutes and 25 seconds. I tried to stay as close to him as possible and even looked for chances to overtake, but he was going at a really quick pace. When I checked my watch, I saw that I had run the first lap in exactly 3:25, which was perfect. That gave me confidence I could beat my personal best.
On the second lap, I pushed as hard as I could. I stayed close to the boy in front, but the course was busy because there were so many runners. The path was narrow in parts, so overtaking was hard. Sometimes I even had to run on the grass to get around people. Even with all the traffic, I kept chasing and didn’t let him get too far away.
When we reached the final straight, I started my sprint finish. I ran as hard as I could, trying to catch him. I managed to pull level with him right at the line, and we both crossed with the same time of six minutes and 55 seconds. The results put me in second, but it was still a huge new personal best, three seconds faster than my old record.
I was thrilled with my run, and I was especially proud to see I got an age grading of 83%, which is amazing. There were more than 150 children running, and I came second overall with the same time as a 14-year-old. Since I’m only 10, I feel very proud of myself. It was one of my best runs ever, and I can’t wait to see if I can go even faster next time.
