Today I ran at Beechwood School for their cross-country fixture. The race was supposed to be 1.8 km, but due to an organisational mistake it was shortened to 1.62 km. Unfortunately, that didn’t really work in my favour, which I’ll explain.
Since the York House race nearly two weeks ago, I’ve definitely been feeling stronger. However, my training times are still slower than they were before Christmas, so I know I’m not back to peak fitness yet. Even so, I felt stronger than last time and was excited to race again to see if I could improve on my fourth-place finish.
At the start, I didn’t get the best position and found myself around fifth. I knew I had to stay focused and keep close to the leaders. As the race went on, I began to feel stronger and gradually moved up into second place. I was closing the gap on the girl in first and felt like I was building momentum.
As we approached what should have been the final turning point — with about 400 metres left to run — a marshal directed us the wrong way. Instead of running the full final section, we were sent straight to the finish line, which was only about 100 metres away. That was frustrating because I felt I still had energy left and was pushing hard. I can’t guarantee I would have caught the leader, but I truly believe I would have had a strong chance if we had run the correct distance.
I finished second in a time of 6 minutes 55 seconds, averaging 4:15 per kilometre. Before Christmas, I was running similar races at around 3:55 per kilometre pace, so I know I’m currently about 20 seconds per kilometre slower than my peak condition. If I had been at full fitness, I believe I could have won by a significant margin.
Despite that, I’m proud of finishing second. The top three receive medals, so I was really happy to come away with a medal. Considering I’m still not at full fitness, it was a strong performance and shows I’m improving each week.
I know I probably need another two or three weeks before I’m back to the level I was at before Christmas, but I can feel myself getting stronger. Next week I have the HSAA (Herts Schools) Cross Country Championships. I wish it were in a few weeks’ time so I could compete at full fitness, but I will give it everything I have. I know it will be tough while I’m still rebuilding my pace, but I’ll keep working hard.
In a few weeks, I hope to look back feeling stronger, fitter, and ready to start winning races again.
