What a difference a year makes: Jingle All the Way 10k

A year ago I ran the Jingle All the Way 10k; my first race as an adult. Here are my stats from last year:
Time: 55:04
Pace: 8:52
Division (Women 20-24): 110/325
Women in general: 533/2114
5k split: 31:52
A year has passed; I since have run 2 marathons and a slew of other races. I have learned what it means to train; to do long runs and speedwork and figure out proper nutrition and hydration.
Here are my stats from this morning:
Time: 46:01
Pace: 7:25
Division (Women 20-24): 22/402
Women in general: 82/2255
5k split: 23:28
What a difference a year makes! The race went well, to say the least. I went out slow and cautiously: 7:29 for the first mile, and ended up running slightly negative splits. This was a good pace and I felt good the whole time, which is always better than counting down the minutes until the finish! This is a course with a turnaround, and there I heard "Go Vanessa" - it was Brian - my DC race buddy. That was great and lifted my spirits a little. I liked the turnaround because it meant you could sort of watch other runners and be distracted while running. There were lots of costumed runners: elves, santas, etc. One Santa was really fast - normally you don't expect that from someone wearing a full suit, but you never now. Around mile 4, I was "recognized" aka, someone from the Runner's World online community said "You're the medievalist!" That was pretty funny and unexpected. I couldn't really say anything at that point, but I did meet him afterward. The final 2.2 miles were when I really was pushing the pace, and it was a relief to see the finish banner and just throw down the hammer. I knocked off 34 seconds off of my time and set a new PR. Brian set one as well with 47:08, so victory for both of us. However, we had made a bet that whoever "lost" (although I do think we both were victorious) would by breakfast after. So, Brian treated me to breakfast at Busboys and Poets, which was delicious. Somehow, we were seated in a private room, and while it was originally just the 2 of us in the room, more runners from the race kept trickling in (I think it was the closest restaurant to the race), and so we turned into a party room of runners. Breakfast was good, and it was excellent to catch up with Brian. Here's a picture of us from brunch. We're hoping to do another race together early in 2010.
All in all a great race, and a great progress report from a year's worth of work. It feels rewarding to know I'm making great strides (pun intended) and that I can continue to work at knocking off more time.