Today I ran in a one-mile UK Athletics accredited race in Ealing. This was very special for me because it was the first time I had ever run a mile on the road in an official race. Normally, I take part in 2K parkruns, so this distance felt shorter but also much faster and more intense. I was determined to do my best and show how well I could run over a mile.

At the start of the race, I managed to get near the front of the pack, which was a good position. When the race began, I pushed hard, but I still felt that my start was not as quick as it could have been. This is something I know I need to work on, because in such a short race, every second at the beginning makes a big difference. Even though I felt a little slow to get going, I stayed focused and kept pushing myself all the way.

Today I ran at Woodside Stadium, which is where the Watford Harriers running club, the club I used to train with, usually compete. It was a “minors” meeting, and my race was the 600 metres on the athletics track. My previous personal best for this distance was two minutes and four seconds, but I knew that was slower than what I was capable of. My goal this time was to run under two minutes, which felt tough but possible. I was excited for the chance to push myself and hopefully set a new record.

When I lined up at the start, I was expecting to race against other girls in my age group. Even though I’ve just started Year 5 at school, in athletics I am still classed as a Year 4 runner. So, I thought I would only be racing against Year 4 girls. However, at the last moment they combined the Year 4 and Year 5 girls together. That meant I would be running with older girls, which made the competition harder. At first I didn’t want this because I really wanted to win, but I told myself not to worry about it and just to focus on running my best race.

Today I ran in the Stan Allen one-mile race in Tooting. I was really looking forward to this race because I had never run a mile on the track before. The furthest race I had done before was 1500 metres, so this was a new challenge for me. The journey to the track was quite long, and when we were travelling there it was raining very heavily. For a while I thought the race might be cancelled and that I would not even get the chance to run. Luckily, when we finally arrived, the rain had almost stopped. It was still spitting a little, but it was only light and it wasn’t going to stop me from running.

My race was the fifth heat, so I had to wait and watch a few others before it was my turn. I was determined to do well and had set myself a target time of six minutes. I believed I could get close to that target, and I felt ready to push myself. When the start came, I didn’t hear the bell properly and because of that my start wasn’t as sharp as I wanted. I managed to settle into the pack quite quickly, but during the race I often found myself stuck on the inside, surrounded by three or four other runners, which made it difficult to run freely.

Today I went to Loughborough University to run in the Charnwood AC open meeting. I was taking part in the 1500 metre race. I was very excited to be back at this track because I really like it. The track is modern and looks amazing, and it feels special to run on. A few weeks ago, I had managed to get a personal best in the 800 metres at this very track, so it is a place that already has good memories for me. I was hoping to make more good memories in this race too.

The track at Loughborough is also very easy to run on because there are timers every 100 metres around it. This makes it simple to know how fast you are going and to keep track of your pace. When the race began, I started strongly and pushed as hard as I could. Sadly, I soon found myself at the back of the group. I kept trying my best, but I began to feel really sick. After finishing the first lap and about 200 metres into the second lap, I was sick on the track, which forced me to stop completely for a short while. I think it might have been the banana I ate too quickly before the race.