Today I ran at Pitshanger Junior Parkrun 30th March. I was really looking forward to it, but I knew it might be tough because I had hurt my back the day before. I had fallen over and landed quite hard, and even though I wanted to run, my back was still sore. While I was warming up before the race, I could feel the pain in my upper back starting again. I thought about whether I should still run, but I decided to give it a go and just try my best.

As soon as the whistle blew, I started running. I felt okay at first and tried to focus on keeping a good pace. But as I finished the first lap, the pain got worse. I had tears in my eyes because my back was really hurting now. It was hard to breathe properly, and my upper body felt tight and sore. Even though I was in pain, I didn’t want to give up. I was running well and didn’t want to stop when I had already come so far.

Today I ran in a race at Cassiobury Park with Watford Harriers, and it was such a great experience! The race was quite long – I had to run a distance of 2 kilometres and 500 metres. That’s 2.5 km in total, and I knew it would be tough, but I was really excited to give it my best shot.

I ran really fast and was so proud to come first for the under 10 girls. That was such an amazing feeling! Out of all the boys and girls in the race, I came 14th overall, which made me even happier. There were lots of fast runners, so finishing that high up made me feel really proud of myself.

Today I took part in the Under 11s District Cross Country Race at Gardens Field School. Most of the girls running were in Year 5 or Year 6, but I’m in Year 4, so I really wanted to do well again. Six girls from my school were taking part, and this was the final race in the Under 11s District League. I knew that after the race, there would be trophies for both schools and top individual runners, so I was even more excited.

We all lined up at the start, ready for the race. It was meant to be two and a half laps long, and the full distance was meant to be 1.1 kilometres. I got a decent start and found myself in about eighth place. The beginning of the race had an uphill climb, which was harder than I expected. But I kept going, trying my best to stay strong and focused.

Today I took part in the National Schools Cross Country Race in Coventry. I was racing in the Year 4 girls’ race, and there were around 100 girls running. I felt really excited because it was my first time running in a national race. I had been looking forward to it for a long time and really wanted to do well.

Before the race started, I found a good spot on the start line. But as soon as the race began, a girl behind me pulled me back, which gave me a really bad start. It was very upsetting, but I didn’t let it stop me. I told myself to stay strong and focus on catching up. I knew I had trained hard and wanted to give it my best.