Today, I took part in a junior parkrun at King George Park in Bushey. This park was actually the first parkrun I ever went to. To be honest, I never really liked it much before because there’s a big hill, and running up it is really tough. Usually, we go to Pitshanger parkrun in Ealing instead. I like Pitshanger a lot because it’s very flat, and I’ve done really well there. My best time at Pitshanger is 7 minutes and 48 seconds, which I’m really proud of.
Even though I find hills hard, I know that practising on them will make me a stronger runner. That’s why I decided to run at King George Park again. I wasn’t expecting to beat my 2K personal best, but I wanted to try and beat my best time on this course. My last best time at King George Park was 9 minutes and 21 seconds, which I ran a long time ago. This time, I set myself a target of 8 minutes and 15 seconds. I also knew there was a really fast boy running who would probably come first, so my goal was to finish second and beat everyone else.
When the race started, I got off to a great start and quickly moved into second place. The fast boy sped off into the lead – I think he’s about 14 years old, which makes him around six years older than me! That’s a big difference. Another boy tried to take second place from me. He looked a bit older too, but didn’t seem that strong. I kept pushing and stayed focused. After about 200 metres, I passed him again quite easily and held on to second place for the rest of the race.
I ran as hard as I could and felt good all the way through. In the end, I finished with a time of 8 minutes and 22 seconds. That’s a huge improvement of 59 seconds from my last run at King George Park! I only missed my target by 7 seconds, which I’m still really happy with. The older boy who came first only beat me by 18 seconds, so I was quite close to him, and that made me proud.
I also finished far ahead of the rest of the runners. I think everyone from third place and onwards came in after 9 minutes, so there was a big gap between me and them. King George Park is a tricky course with a steep uphill section followed by a fast downhill part, which makes it much harder than Pitshanger. But I really enjoyed the challenge and think it helped me improve.
Overall, I’m proud of myself for giving it everything. I didn’t feel any heel pain either, which I had earlier in the week on Thursday, so that was a nice surprise. Even though I think I can still do better next time, I’m very happy with how I ran today. It was a great experience, and I feel like I’m getting stronger every time I run.
