And then, there is a triathlon. It's in San Francisco, and Sami tells us that it proves that you can go from unhealthy and out of shape to hard-core athlete. There are representatives from every single season, including season seven's iron woman, Tara. The fastest woman and fastest man will run away with $25,000 apiece, courtesy of Brita. Mark is focusing on not drowning, which I think is a good first step. Tara, who has lost 134 pounds total, looks great and is totally going to kill it. I mean, you just know. Hollie's in it too, and this is her second Olympic distance triathlon. She tells us that she might be able to give Tara a run for her money.

The triathlon begins! There is swimming en masse, and we see past contestants Sunshine, lady Ryan, Antoine, and Tracey. During the swim, some contestants start to pull ahead. Sami goes over the distances with us -- 1.5K swim, 40K bike ride, and 10K run. Mark starts to hyperventilate and can't keep a solid stroke. Matt seems to be close to him. Hollie and Tara, meanwhile, are neck and neck for the ladies, with Sunshine right behind them. Mark and Matt go into the transition together. We get glimpses of other former contestants -- O'Neal, Cheryl, Jerry, Ed, Ashley, Mike, Drea, Coleen, Erik, Rebecca, Sione, Stacey, Alexandra, and Antoine. Mark tries to keep up with the more experienced Matt, and gets a bit rubber-legged. He does a fine job, and even takes the lead. Tara seems to have pulled clearly ahead for the ladies. This is in part because Hollie has gone too many laps on the bike. D'oh! She uses this as an inspirational lesson. Abby, Nicole, Miggy (Miggy!), and Pete run. But the ultimate winner is season five's Mark, at 2:47:32! Well done, sir. Matt comes in next at 2:58:12. Also not so bad. Tara finishes first for the women, and just behind Matt, at 2:58:53. A whole bunch of other folks finish, including Sunshine, who is typically sweet about it. Vicky and Cherita are there, looking great, and it makes me wish we had some sort of before and after pictures of folks so we could really get a good look at them. Mark and Tara took home $25,000, but the rest of us took home...inspiration.

And there you have it! Only two episodes left before the live finale!