Today was an amazing day as I ran in the Radlett Rotary Fun Run, and I couldn’t have been more excited! My brother had run here last year, so I was really looking forward to having my own go this time. My dad had entered me into two races: the junior 1.5km race for the Under 11s and, right after that, the 5K race.
I love running 5K adult ParkRuns, so I wasn’t too worried about the distance of the 5K. However, I was a little nervous about doing the 1.5km race first and then going straight into the 5K afterwards. Still, I was determined to give it my all and felt confident I could do well. The weather wasn’t ideal—it was raining heavily, and I knew it was going to be a real test of endurance.
The 1.5K race was up first. I started off fairly strong, finding myself in around 10th place early on. As the race went on, I kept pushing and managed to work my way up to 4th place. I tried my best to catch the boy in 3rd, but no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn’t quite close the gap. Even so, I was really pleased because I knew the three runners ahead of me were boys, which meant I was the first girl to cross the finish line! I completed the race in 6:39, with my watch measuring the distance at 1.49km and a pace of 4:28 per kilometre. It wasn’t my fastest, but considering the steep hill on the course, I was still proud of the effort.
Right after the 1.5km race, it was time for the 5K. Despite the rain continuing to pour, I was determined to give it my best shot and see if I could be one of the fastest girls in this race too. The weather made things tough, but I managed to finish in 22:57, which was actually faster than my usual 5K times. It turned out the course was slightly shorter at 4.64km, which explained the faster time. I placed 22nd overall out of 100 runners, and since most of them were adults or much older kids, I was thrilled with that result. In my age group, I was the first girl under 12, which made me incredibly happy.
After the race, they held the award ceremony, and I was buzzing with excitement. I won a beautiful trophy for being the first girl in the Under 11s 1.5km race. But the surprises didn’t stop there! When they announced the results of the 5K race, I found out I was also the fastest girl in the Under 12s category, so I received a second trophy! To top off an already incredible day, they announced that I had placed 2nd overall for all the girls in the 5K, which meant I got a third trophy!
It honestly felt like the best day ever. Three trophies in one day, and I was absolutely over the moon. Even though I wasn’t too thrilled with my race times and felt a bit lucky with how things turned out, I’m determined to keep improving. When I come back next year, I’ll be aiming for faster times and hopefully repeat this amazing achievement!
