Today, I took part in a run at Leamington Spa. It was a 1.5 kilometre race, and I was really looking forward to it. I had been thinking about the run all week and was feeling both excited and a bit nervous. The weather was nice, and there were lots of other runners there too.
My previous personal best was last year, when I ran just one 1,500m race at StoneX Stadium. I got dead on six minutes and my target was to beat this comprehensively. I set myself a personal target of between 5:30 to 5:35 which I felt was achievable.
Before the race started, I found out that I was put in the outside lane. That was a little bit annoying, because it can make the run a bit harder. When you’re in the outside lane, you have to run slightly further than the others on the inside. Still, I told myself to stay positive and focus on doing my best.
When the starting gun went off, I began running. My start was okay — not the fastest, but not too slow either. I didn’t sprint too hard at the beginning because I wanted to save some energy for the end. I tried to keep a steady pace and stay focused on the race. There were a lot of people cheering, which helped me feel more motivated.
I got a time of 5:40.50 which was not bad at all. I was about 5 seconds behind my target but 20 seconds better than my time last year. My running pace was 3 minutes and 46 seconds per kilometre. That’s a good pace, but I know I can do even better next time. I think if I had started a bit quicker and pushed harder in the middle of the race, I could have got a faster time. I’m still proud of my effort, though, because I didn’t give up and I kept going strong all the way to the finish line.
Overall, it was a good day. Even though the outside lane made it a little tougher, I still enjoyed the race. Every run helps me learn and get better. Next time, I’ll try to improve my start and beat my time. I can’t wait for my next race!
