Tough course... gets hillier as you go. Of course, fools go out way too fast. I lined up behind the first row of runners, immediately got passed by a dozen or so people, worked my way through them for the first mile or two. I am always surprised at how consistently-bad people are at pacing, whether it's 6.2 or 140.6. Made up ground on downhills, was conservative on climbs, passed people throughout without ever being passed after the start. On Vomit Hill was approaching a runner, decided to walk the hill and was able to keep up with him running, then exploded past him at the top as he was spent. Made what I thought was going to be my last pass around 8 or 9k and then crested a hill to see a pair of guys looking like they were running together. Wasn't quite sure where I was, but figured I was approaching overall podium at this point. Really surprised to see anyone, let alone two runners together, at this point, and thought they might have not been racers. Then they separated and the one wearing compression calf sleeves stopped from what looked like cramping. He restarted, then stopped again and I blew past him. The other guy was within view, but looked too far out to pass. When he started walking on the final stairs, I thought I had a shot at him, but he looked back and saw me and started running again, and there was just no way. He turned out to be in 4th, and I finished 7 seconds behind him in 5th.

Nothing.