I don't normally compete, but last year I ran my first 5K and won it for my geezer age group. Now, of course, I am running it again and have the added pressure (from myself) to win again.

It's an extremely hilly run about 360 miles from here. We don't have hills like that here. So I ran the hill program on the tread today and it just wasn't the same! Too many buttons to push trying to simulate the actual course.

Any advice you can give me for training for steep hills?

I just ran a 5K on a VERY hilly course (the track runners I talked to said it was the hilliest course they'd ever run) and got a new PR, even on that course. My strategy was to turn up the resistance on the elliptical and go as fast as I could for the last 10 minutes of my workout and to run outside (a little bit of hill) as opposed to the treadmill as much as possible.
On the day of the race, be willing to drop your speed on the way up the hills (I even had to walk for about 10 steps up one of the hills on my race) and fix your eyes on a spot--NOT the top!--about 10 steps ahead of you, and make yourself focus on getting to that spot. Also, make up the time lost on the uphills by going as fast as you can without falling over on the downhills, working on recovering your breath as you go down. If you lean back and keep your back straight, you can fly down the downhills and make up a lot of time.
Congratulations on winning your age group last time, and good luck on your race!

How about some sort of interval training on stairs? I was reading about this the other day. Depending on your activity level (and yours seems pretty high seen as you're fit) the article recommended a few options. One I'd suggest for you is to sprint up the stairs, then jog back down to "rest." Repeat for about 20 minutes or so. Alternatives would be to rest for 30 seconds at the top and walking down; or, not resting but walking down, etc., you get the idea. Not necessarily a hill workout, but, it's comparable in that it'll get you used to a different type of terrain, if you will, which in turn would help with the hills. Either way it'll be a form of crosstraining and can't hurt! Good luck to you...I have done two 5Ks and for my second was not prepared at all. Imagine my surprise when I beat my personal best and "ran" it at 30 minutes even. I was thrilled!

My advice would be to really work your legs out- weighed squats, weighted lunges and leg press etc... You not only want to have good cardiovascular strength, but also strong legs to be able to tackle the steep uphills. Also use a machine such as the stair master or the cross trainer on your non running days. Be careful while training on up and downhill courses, particularly if there is a lot of turns, it often causes problems such as runners knee. You can also go to a local spot that has a steep grass hill or similar and sprint up and walk down- work on speed training.

Stairs!! Yea, they help a LOT with hill endurance... This winter my client and I had to do a lot of indoor training at a complex, once/week we did stairs and wow I was amazed at her improvement and mine once outside... lunges and squats help a lot too...