frustrated 2-7 TD post.. (kinda long)

After a few months of griding it out the lower limits of UB's TD tables I have a bankroll sufficient to play 10-20. Despite that I've been having enough trouble at 5-10 than I haven't taken my shot at 10-20 yet. Obviously Im going to encounter better players at 5-10 and beyond, but it feels to me like the rules of this game totally change. On top of all the added aggression with inferior hands people play against me, i cant believe how many awful hands I've been losing to. I just haven't been able to make enough decent hands to snap off all the rough Ts and 9s people have been raising me with. Fortunately Im still winning at the lower limits so the actual financial loss has been minimal. I end up feeling like the fish at several 6 handed tables despite sticking to the tight semi-aggressive play I've used successfully at lower limits. Im wondering if Im just running pretty bad (this has only been 20 hours of play or so) or doing something wrong that works so well just a level below.
Here's a situation I run into quite often: I raise with a solid two draw in position with one caller. I end up with something like 2349x and am checked to. With two draws to go I typically check behind and take my free draw to make a better hand. Im starting to feel like this is a leak as ill lose to people who obviously bet in my place and than show down T9432 to beat my missed draw. When i do keep the nine and bet often i find people had checked to me and are also drawing one. When they than bet out at me after the 2nd draw I dunno if i should keep drawing to my smooth nine or fold. I feel that keeping the nine forces harder decision and makes it impossible for you to get in any big bet raises when both of you are pat which isn't good. I have several more questions but this post is long enough as is. Any comments appreciated!