I was misinformed

Whomever told me that the Kansas City 1/2 marathon course was flat was a damn liar. That was without a doubt one of the hilliest courses I've ever run in my life. I knew I was in for a long run when less than two miles in there was a hill that was over a half mile long and seemed to go straight up. You know you're in trouble when over half of the people running around you are walking at the two mile marker.
I had an okay race, even though it was really cold when we started out. I couldn't feel my toes for the first mile, then I hit the monster hill, and just when I found my groove with my legs, the stomach started acting up. I'm not sure if it was the blue Powerade, the smell of Gates BBQ, or a combination of all factors, but I seriously felt like I was going to hurl for the last eleven miles of my race.
I managed to pull just over a 9:00/mile pace, and my "unofficial time" per the Kansas City Marathon webpage was 2 hours and 29 seconds. I'm pretty sure that my official time will be a little faster when the chip times are posted.
Other than the nausea and the hills, the race was a good one. I really enjoyed the bands that were stationed throughout the race course, and the crowds were great. There were also a lot of really nice people running. People were very social at this race, which is a nice change for a lot of the races that I've run. I think that if I'd been more pyschologically prepared for the hills, then I would have had a little bit more of an edge than I had. I think it really was detrimental not to be familiar with any of the course, which is a good lesson to learn before running Chicago.