Grateful for the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Race

What a fantastic morning!
Today I'm grateful for the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile race.  I had one of my very best races ever (third behind Hartford where I qualified for Boston and of course, my number one:  the Boston Marathon) and for sure had a PR for a 10 mile race.  I dug back through my times not only here in DC for the Cherry Blossom, but also for the CRIM race in Flint which I did several times (also a ten-miler) and today was my best by far.  I finished in 1:12:50 (according to my watch...we'll see where the official time comes out when the results are posted).  My best before this was 1:22.  I'm pretty pumped.
So, what went right today?  A lot.  Here are a few things:
(1)  The weather was perfect.  It was 48 degrees with no sun and no wind.  The announcer at the start say, "this is a no-excuses weather day!"  He was right.
(2)  This is the second race I've run since MacKenzie was born.  I was pretty excited to be out with runners again.  Lots of adrenalin.
(3)  I put together an excellent play list with good timing.  I usually read when I run, but today I put together some tunes and they had me pretty fired up.  I planned the last two miles to end with "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" by the Grateful Dead (from a set in the 80's, so it had some fire) and "Fire Inside" by Bob Seger.  These also were the songs that helped propel me to my Boston qualifying time in Hartford a few years ago.
(4)  I was running with a team.  The Bethpage running group was all here together and it was really fun to be a part of a group of runners.
(5)  My dad was here.  I saw him twice on the course.  When you know you have someone out there on the course working hard to see you, it really does help.  It was fantastic to have time with him this weekend.  Even when you are in your mid-30's, it still feels really great to have your parents around to support you.  Awesome.
(6)  My legs felt great.  Sometimes no matter how well you train and prepare, your legs just aren't with you.  Today they were.
(7)  Running in DC is just fabulous.  Seeing the monuments as you cruise along is just inspiring.
(8)  My mental gymnastics were working.  Running is as much about the head as it is the legs.  Today, my head was in the game.  I had a couple of moments where I thought, maybe I should pull back a bit and my head kept me pushing.  Eventually it came down to, "What's the worst that can happen if you push too hard?  You'll slow down and finish slower than you started."  I kept saying that until mile nine and half way through mile nine I knew I could keep it up all the way.
It was a great race.
I love running.  I love credit unions.  At this event the two converge and it's just a really cool thing.
I'm super grateful today.