I had kind of blocked out the hills on this course...I mean, I remembered them, but I forgot that on top of the serious hills, the entire first two miles are pretty much all uphill. My inhaler fell out of my pocket about a quarter-mile in, and when I stopped to pick it up (dude...$40 copay, and it's brand new), I got passed by the girl in my age group. Crap. Of course, with the way the swim starts in this race, you really have no idea where you are in your age group, but at the time, I thought she was ahead of me. She stayed about 20 yards ahead of me for the entire run, and I could see her but couldn't quite catch her. I was determined not to walk any of the run, but man...those hills suck. Still, I'm pretty proud that I *almost* got my goal of under 10 minute pace for a really tough run. And it turns out that the girl I couldn't quite catch must have started ahead of me, because she ended up in third place in our age group. I got second place, only my second time earning a podium spot! Woohoo!