Today I ran at St John School cross-country event. The race was meant to be 2.7 km, and I knew it would be tough because the course included many hills. It was 2½ laps in total, and my teacher had warned me that there was a lot of uphill running, so I knew it would be a challenging course.
Since Christmas, I haven’t been running at my best because I was severely ill. Although I’ve been training hard, my races in January were disappointing as I was still far from peak fitness. However, I’ve been feeling stronger recently and was excited to see what level I could perform at today.
As soon as the race started, I sprinted off the line to secure first place early. Once I got into the lead, I was determined not to let it go. The course was tough — slippery in places, with sharp inclines and wet ground — but I kept pushing and stayed focused on maintaining my lead.
In the end, I won by a comfortable margin, finishing in 10 minutes and 38 seconds. My watch recorded the distance as 2.68 km. I was especially proud because I set a new Year 8 course record for this circuit — even though I’m only in Year 6. Beating a record set by runners two years older than me felt like a huge achievement.
I also finished around 10 seconds ahead of the boy in second place, who is from my school, which really helped our team’s overall performance. I was delighted to receive the winner’s medal and even more pleased that my confidence feels fully back — I’m back to winning again.
Although our school finished second overall — which is still a great result — we were slightly unlucky as our final scorer finished outside the top 20. Even so, we had fantastic individual results with first, second, and seventh place finishes, which is something to be very proud of.
My average pace was 3:58 per kilometre, which is excellent considering the wet, slippery conditions and significant uphill sections over a long 2.68 km course.
Most importantly, I’m proud of both my individual win and our team’s second-place finish. My confidence is back, my fitness is improving, and I feel like I’ve returned to the level I know I’m capable of.
