Frank Duffy 10 miler

Surprisingly the race today started only five minutes late; I think this was the most punctual adidas series race I have participated in. I started in the sub seventy minute corral and surprisingly there was no one in there who patently would struggle to do sub 120, never mind sub seventy. I had a few silent chuckles to myself when the compére kept referring to those in the sub seventy minute area as 'elite athletes'! If only...
The first mile went well and while many people passed, who were obviously running at an unsustainable pace, there was plenty of room. The two mile mark was near the base of Military road whereupon I passed many of those who passed me earlier. It's a very satisfying feeling to pass people on a hill who passed you at the base. On each hill today people passed me at the base who I invariably passed approaching the crest. Starting slow and working up to a neutral gradient pace as you approach the top always works for me; I normally gain a few places too.
The end of the first lap of the section of the park we were running coincided with the half-way point and we started back down Chesterfield road, where the race had begun. I passed the halfway point in 34:33. The next two miles were a slight negative gradient down Chesterfield before turning off towards the Kyber road for a shorter second lap. These two miles elapsed in 06:43 and 06:47. The right turn back up to the hills of Military and Glen road took us into a heavy shower and a strong head wind. At this point I lost a guy in a red t-shirt who I seemed to have changed places with for most of the previous seven miles. I felt surprisingly strong but withheld the urge to go faster. Mile eight elapsed in 06:52. Here I decided I would try and overtake a guy in a Dublin GAA shirt who I had changed places with in the first two miles of the race. I really closed the gap on both sets of hills but he slowly pulled away on level ground. At the second approach to the crest of Glen road hill, approaching Ordnance Survey road, I was within six feet. However, history repeated itself and he pulled away again. Mile nine was a disappointing 07:03 and I decided I needed to inject a bit of discomfort and completed the last mile in 06:26.
My finish time was 68:42. I was fairly pleased with this, considering the hills and less than ideal conditions. Additionally, there was still a little left in the tank at the end and I would definitely have done a sub ninety minute half. Still a long way from a sub three hour marathon but I am not going backwards at least.