Cross country

Before the day of cross country, I was extremely enthusiastic about the event, in order to save up energy for it, I drank recovery drinks after my training on tuesday so that I would have enough energy. All my canoeing friends were also excited about it and they were also aiming to get at least top 20 places. I, was not quite confident myself about what placing I would get as i thought there were alot of people in the level that could beat me. Thus I was only aiming to get top 20 or even worse. On cross country day, I drank half a can of red bull to fuel my run as I didn't have breakfast. At the starting line, I was extremely nervous, there were alot of competitors whom i thought would easily win me. The horn blew, all the competitors starting running. There were alot of runners who ran extremely fast at the start- actually most of the runners. As I reached the clock tower, my friends told me that I was one of the last of the competitive group. Then, I gave up hopes of getting Top 20 but continued to push on at that pace. after doing about 2.4km, I caught up to quite a number of people but thought that I still was not doing well enough for Top 20. I could feel my pace get a little faster each time and my stamina gave me the edge over other competitors. As I was reaching the final 400meters, I saw my canoeing captain about 200meters, i tried to chase him by sprinting, as I reached the 100 meter mark, he finished but I continued to sprint, trying to clock my best timing. Competitive runners had a card that indicated their class and register number, once we passed it to the teacher, we got our placing. Once I passed the finishing line, I handed over the card to the teacher and got the Top 50 keychain, I didnt expect to get another card but a person passed me this card which said "Sec 2 6th" I was surprised as I thought many people were in front of me. I was extremely elated and tired as I pushed very hard during the run. It was a gruelling run but it was extremely worth it, I had improved from 55th position to 6th position which was a 49 position improve from last year. My timing was 14:48 for 3.6km and I think that it was a good timing as my fastest 2.4 then was only 10:30. i think the key to winning races is mental stamina and endurance as your mind is only one not tired at all during a race.