Today, I competed at Pitshanger Junior Parkrun in Ealing, and I was really excited. My goal was to beat my personal best, which was exactly 8 minutes. I had set that time just a couple of weeks ago, and I knew it would be tough to improve on it. But I was determined to start strong, run at a good pace, and overtake as many runners as possible. From the very beginning, I wanted to put myself in a good position and push hard all the way.
At the start of the race, I found myself in ninth place. I focused on running as fast as I could while keeping my energy steady. One by one, I worked on overtaking the runners ahead of me. The weather was perfect for racing – the sun was shining, and it was 11°C, making it a great day to go for a new personal best. I felt confident as I made my way around the course, determined to stick to my plan.
As I completed my first lap, I was right on track. My pace was strong, and I was heading for a finish time of around 7 minutes 55 seconds. Everything was going smoothly, but as I started my second lap, I ran into a problem. There was a lot of traffic from runners who were still on their first lap. I had to move onto the grass to overtake them, which made my run harder. It slowed me down slightly, but I didn’t let it stop me from giving my best effort.
With the finish line in sight, I pushed myself to sprint as fast as possible. My legs were tired, but I knew I had to keep going. I crossed the line in 7 minutes 59 seconds – beating my personal best by just one second! It was a small improvement, but every second counts. I finished in seventh place overall and was the third girl to finish. I felt incredibly proud of my performance.
I’m really happy with how consistent I’ve been in my 2K runs. Getting another PB felt amazing, and it’s given me even more motivation to improve. My next goal is to get closer to 7 minutes 50, and I believe I can achieve that in the next few weeks. I’ll keep training hard, and hopefully, next time, I can take even more time off my record!
