The accomplishment that I have achieved was competing in the 2023 National Cross-Country Championships. One of my major attributes is my running capability, as I have done this for a long time. By qualifying for the Championship’s, I was very proud, but I learnt something in the process of preparing for the race that is very important and that I now do. There were 3 main parts of this achievement, one being qualifying for the race, preparing for the race, and actually running it. during this process the main people that were involved with my achievement were my family as they were always supportive of me and my brother, as we both raced. There was around a 5-month difference between when I qualified for my race and when I actually ran it, which I spent training. During that break I trained very hard, which was a change because in the past I rarely did any running except for the actual competition. This is where I learned that with hard work and dedication to training, my performance and times would improve massively. From when I qualified to the race I took 2 minutes off my time, which was due to all of my hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, two weeks before my race I strained my hip flexor for the second time, which meant that I had to fully stop running if I was to be able to run at the competition. For those two weeks I did many stretches and exercises, specifically for making my hip feel better. Going into the Championships I knew that I couldn’t be too hard on myself as I was still carrying an injury, and I just had to try my best. I ended up coming 22nd in my division which I was quite happy with, as I hadn’t done any running for the last two weeks. Now I realised that my times improved a lot when I was training, and even though I got injured I still made really good progress. Because of this I have decided to continue doing running training even though I have no big competitions soon. By doing this both my fitness and times will improve so I will have a better chance of doing well at next year’s National Cross-Country Championships. This year’s National Cross-Country Championships were amazing, and I can wait for next years.