Race Report: The Wilmington Half Marathon

I have been trying to qualify for the New York Marathon for a long time. A really long time. Because I'm better at [relatively] short-distance races, even though it's tougher to qualify for than Boston, because New York allows you to qualify with a half-marathon time, it has always seemed tantalizingly possible for me to do. Rather than rehash the many times I have tried this, I will just offer the links to my posts about [most of] my attempts.

2011: Bridges Half Marathon: Needed a 1:30, ran 1:31:38. 

2012: Mississippi Blues Half Marathon: Needed a 1:30, ran 1:31:00. 

2013: Myrtle Beach Half: Needed a 1:25, ran 1:26:36

2013 (Fall): I was in shape to do a sub-1:25 but tripped during a cool-down run, got injured, and ended up not running any half-marathons

2014-16: Injuries and triathlons

2017: Houston Half: Needed a 1:32, ran 1:45 in HOT weather. Then ran a few more halfs but the closest I got was 1:36. 

2018. Houston Half again. Didn't even do a race report. Needed a 1:32, ran 1:35:13.

2019: Kiawah Half. Needed a 1:32 and ran a 1:38.

2020: Focused on the Ironman

2021: Covid wiped out this year and I'm not even sure what happened

Which brings us to 2022. My plan for this year was to not even think about running fast and work on the ultra distances. But then I somehow lost 14 pounds at the end of 2021 and it seemed like I might finally have the speed to qualify for New York, especially since I turned 55 in January and now all I needed was a 1:36. How hard could that be? I honestly thought it wouldn't be too hard, despite the fact that I had only run that fast once since 2013...

So I signed up for the Wilmington Half Marathon on February 26. I executed a two-month training plan, which went exceptionally well. Would this finally be the day I would qualify for New York? On race morning, I was as confident as I ever had been that I could do it.

To run a 1:36 half marathon, you need to average 7:20 per mile. But courses and GPS watches can be inaccurate, so I decided to set myself up to run a 1:35:00 -- a pace of 7:15 per mile. Several friends were running in the race, but I expected Jake and Ben to be well ahead of me, and Joey, Chad, and Kaylen to be somewhere behind me. There was no pace team doing this pace, so my performance in the race would be a matter of me and GPS watch. The weather was nearly perfect, 50 degrees with a north wind. The course arced from Wrightsville Beach in the east to downtown Wilmington in the west, a bit south of the start. There was only one section of less than a mile where we would be heading north into the wind, and only a few gradual hills on the course. In short, conditions could hardly be better.

After jogging a few hundred yards as a "warm up" I found my way to the start line, where I saw Ben near the front and gave him a fist-bump and wished him luck. He was using the race as a tune up for his marathon next week but still would finish about 20 minutes ahead of my planned time.

The race started on time and soon we were headed out of Wrightsville Beach and across two bridges onto the mainland. I monitored my pace and forced myself to slow down a couple times. Even so I ran the first few miles faster than planned, 7:09, 7:08, 7:08. Still, that meant I had over 30 seconds in the bank, and I didn't feel at all like I was struggling. My watch clicked through Mile 4 at 7:12, which also would have been great except for the fact that there was no mile marker here. For the first three miles, my watch and the mile markers matched perfectly, adding to my confidence that I would be able to monitor my pace accurately. Now with no Mile 4 marker in sight, I was a bit confused.

Finally the marker showed up at about Mile 4.4. I could only hope that it was just this marker out of place and we wouldn't somehow have to run an extra four tenths of a mile. I was ahead of pace but not THAT far ahead of pace. Fortunately the Mile 5 marker once again matched my watch perfectly, and I ran that one in 7:08 so I now had at least 50 seconds in the bank.

I ran Mile 6 in 7:18, which caused me a little concern since it was a fair bit slower than the first 5 miles. But I was still feeling fine, and with 50 seconds in the bank, I could actually afford to run even as slow as 7:25s for the rest of the race. 

Mile 7 proved to be the toughest of the race. It started on an uphill onramp, then turned straight into a 12-mph headwind. I reminded myself that this part of the course was probably the only place where we'd be running directly into the wind, and that I did have 50+ seconds to burn, so I just tried to put out the same effort as the other miles. Towards the end of the mile, we turned out of the wind and my watch clicked through the mile at a 7:28 pace. So now I had 40+ seconds in the bank and less than half the race to go. I could still do 7:25s for the rest of the race and hit my goal time, and there shouldn't be any more headwinds.

This section of the course did prove a bit annoying though, as we were on a full-on expressway with the traffic coming towards us. One lane was coned off for the runners but cars still raced by at 55+ MPH just a few feet away. It was also a little hilly because we occasionally crossed an overpass. Miles 8, 9, and 10 went by in 7:13, 7:13, and 7:27. My math was getting a bit fuzzy at this point but I was pretty sure I had at least 50 seconds in the bank. The Mile 10 marker was off by about a 10th of a mile, which set me to worrying again about the overall race distance possibly being off. If we had to run even an extra 10th of a mile, then my 50 seconds would quickly evaporate! But assuming the race distance was accurate, I should be able to cruise in at a 7:35 pace and still hit my goal.

Fortunately the Mile 11 marker again synced with my watch, and I ran that mile in 7:24, which meant I had at least 45 seconds in the bank and only 2.1 miles to go. I could run 7:40s and still make it!

I ran Mile 12 in 7:17. I was going to make it! My friend Ian had dropped out of the race with a niggling injury but had driven us to the start and now I saw him running ahead of me, carrying all our gear towards the finish area. Soon I caught up to him and jokingly told him he'd better hurry up. Actually the race course included a short out-and-back before the finish so he had plenty of time to see me finishing.

Ben was at the turnaround, having finished his race in 1:16. He ran along with me for a quarter mile (really a jog for him) and then let me go on solo to the finish line. Ian was a couple hundred yards from the finish and caught a great picture of me as I realized I was going to make it:

Yeehaw!

I ran through the line with an official time of 1:35:15, securely under my goal! I did it! As it turned out, I was second in my age group as well. I could hardly believe I had finally made it! Soon I was on the podium getting my photo with the two other age group winners (out of 40 in our division), and then it was time to celebrate! 

YESSS!!!

The only caveat: I've officially qualified for New York, but I'm not necessarily going to get an entry to the race. There are a limited number of slots for the race, and they are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. I know registration opens up on March 9, but so far there's not much information about how exactly it will occur and how they decide who gets the spots if it's a big free-for-all when registration opens up. But even if I'm not able to register this year, I won't let myself be disappointed. At this point, it's become much more about the quest to qualify for the race than actually DOING New York. And if I somehow can't register this year, I still feel like I've earned a spot, so I will just enter the lottery each year until I get in to the race. 

One thing they can't take away from me, after over 10 years of trying, is that I QUALIFIED FOR THE NEW YORK MARATHON.

Now all I have to do is come up with a new goal. Fortunately, I have a few ideas....

Click here for the Strava record of my race

NEW BIKE! Fezzari Empire SL Pro

Last summer was a sad time for the Munger bike garage. I lost one bike due to a cracked frame and then the replacement bike (purchased used from a friend) was stolen a couple months later. Of course we were in the middle of the COVID bike craze so finding a new bike was a challenge. Many bikes simply weren't available, and custom builds were booked out a year or more. But I had been seeing ads for Fezzari bikes so I checked out some very positive reviews and then checked out their website.

Fezzari is a small manufacturer in Utah that (like nearly every bike brand) outsources frame-making to Asia and quoted a reasonable-sounding 6-8 week delivery window. So I started to configure bikes and was torn between the Empire SL and Empire Elite series. The SL is the top-end frameset and has a much more elegant look, while the still-very-nice Elite could be had for a similar price with those oh-so-desirable deep-section carbon wheels. 

After a little more research I opted for the high-end SL at the entry level, with a lighter frame and more refined cockpit but basic aluminum wheels. I figured I could easily upgrade to carbon wheels later and then I'd have a very serviceable backup set of wheels that maybe would get some use on gravel. There was only one hitch. I could get the basic black frame in 6-8 weeks but the beautiful Lava Rock Red color was backordered through February of 2022. Back in August of 2021 this seemed like an ETERNITY. But it just didn't make sense to order my forever bike in a color I wasn't in love with. So I sucked it up and ordered the SL Pro in the color I really wanted. And then I waited.

Finally, on January 31, 2022, my beautiful new bike arrived, a day earlier than promised! It even came with a little note inside the box:

Isn't that nice?

As you can see, the bike was very well-packed and padded, and as I pulled it from the box I could see it had arrived fully intact, with nary a scratch or ding to be seen. It probably took longer to remove all the padding than it actually did to assemble the bike. All that was needed was to install the seat, bars, pedals, and front wheel, and it was ready to ride...

... almost. 

That's because this bike came with SRAM Force eTap derailleurs and shifters, which meant the two derailleur batteries needed to be charged for an hour each before riding. After an hour I plugged the rear derailleur battery in and tested it out to see if it worked. It did! I could at least ride around the block while I waited for the front derailleur battery to charge. I hopped on and the shifting seemed... sluggish. I could probably shift my 1993-vintage steel-framed bike quicker than this! I wondered if I had really charged the battery properly. I went back to my garage and looked at the other battery in the charger. A blue light and a red light were on, but I could see there was also a yellow and a green light. Did I need to wait for the green light before it was fully charged? 

It was at this point that I jarred from my memory banks a piece of wisdom my dad had shared with me 40+ years ago: "When all else fails, read the manual." I consulted the manual, and sure enough, the red light indicated the battery was NOT being charged. After some fiddling with the cords I got the yellow light to glow, indicating "charging." I would have to wait for the green light for this battery to be fully charged. It was already 4 pm, and I had two batteries to charge for a minimum of an hour each. I wouldn't be able to get a ride in before darkness. After making a self-deprecating post on the Pathetic Triathletes Facebook page I resigned myself to waiting until Tuesday to get a proper ride in.

In the meantime, I decided to spend a little more time familiarizing myself with the bike. I installed a Garmin mount and Varia headlight / taillight. I added two bottle cages (after some deliberation about which of the THREE provided mounts to use. You can install three cages on the bike, but there's not quite room for three, 24-ounce bottles. I think I will eventually get a third cage, though, since that is where I put my tool kit).

Around 6 pm I got everything charged up and installed the SRAM app on my phone, which then instructed me to upgrade the firmware on my derailleurs. After doing that, in the twilight, I finally rode my fully-operational bike around the block, before heading in for the night. Here's a photo of my setup:

Pretty!

Tuesday dawned bitterly cold, so I had to wait until the afternoon before it was warm enough for a longer ride. It was still cold enough that I decided to wear my lobster-claw gloves, which would make for a nice test of the ergonomics of the shifters. 

As I finally launched myself onto the open road, I noticed the ride seemed a bit rough. I was feeling every bump through the wheels and frame. This could partly be due to more aggressive geometry than my previous bikes, but in retrospect I think my tires were a bit over-inflated. The Empire comes with 28-mm tires, and I've previously ridden on 25s which I habitually fill to 100 psi. I did decide to fill these to just 90, but checking out this tire pressure calculator, it looks like even that was too high. For my weight plus the bike, I should have been at 73 psi in the front and 80 in the rear. (I should add, by the way, that this bike weighs in at 20 pounds including my lights, computer, and cages. Not bad for a size-large frame!)

The next new feature to familiarize myself with was the shifters. The SRAM system has just one button per lever. The right lever is for upshifting, taking you to a smaller cog in the rear. The left lever is for downshifting. To shift the front derailleur you press both buttons at once; since there are only two chainrings the derailleur simply upshifts or downshifts based on the current location of the chain (you can reconfigure the buttons using the phone app but this is the basic setup). Using the left shifter to move the rear derailleur is definitely going to take some getting used to, but the left-down and right-up is very intuitive. It also helped a LOT that I had added a "Current Gear" field to my Garmin 530 bike computer. I could easily glance down and see what gear I was in, front and back. No more peeking between the legs and not quite being able to tell whether I had one more gear left to tackle the huge hill in front of me. With 12 cogs on the rear cassette, it's not an easy visual perception task to tell precisely what gear you are in, but the "Current Gear" field makes it a snap. 

I had chosen a hilly route, with grades up to 9 percent, so there was lots of opportunity to test the shifting, which, with now-fully-charged batteries, was smooth and instantaneous. The bike came with plenty of gears to handle the hills. The chainrings are 46 x 33, and the cassette ranges from 10 to 33 teeth (for you bike nerds, the configuration is as follows: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24, 28, 33). I never felt the need to use the easiest 33-tooth cog, but I could tell it would have come in handy on some of my rides last summer where grades exceeded 17 percent. On the downhills I did use the highest gear a couple times but never felt like I was close to spinning out, even at 35 mph. I would say I could have easily continued to pedal and engage the drivetrain at 40+ mph. I could imagine a race setup where I would move to a 10 to 28 cassette, but honestly, at my level, it's probably not necessary. I'm considering buying a set of carbon wheels for a racing setup but if I did I think I would stick to the 10-33 cassette, or MAYBE a 10-30. 

Look at all those gears!

One initial disappointment with this bike is that while it is advertised as having fully internal cable routing, it doesn't quite ship that way. I was expecting the brake cables to run inside the handlebars and stem, then through the frame to the brakes. In fact, the cables were taped to the exterior of the bars, as with most bikes. They then route through an opening just under the stem into the steerer tube, and continue internally from there. It's just not quite as clean as I was hoping for. The bike is indeed set up for fully internal routing, but I guess they don't want to ship them that way because they need to remove the bars for shipping, and with internally-routed cables, there wouldn't be enough slack in the cabling to do that. That said, it's still a very clean look, and I don't think I'm going to go through the trouble of re-routing the cables right now. When I need to retape the bars in the future, then I might give internal routing a shot, but as you can see from these photos, the cabling is still very nice -- certainly the cleanest I've had on any bike to date. 

The cables exit the fork and chainstay in a particularly elegant manner, very close to the brakes. I really appreciate this detail:

These detail shots also show off the finish of the frame nicely. It's almost a half-matte finish. You can really see the finish in the photo of the chainstay above, where there is a protective plastic tape under the chain with a shinier finish, which contrasts to the rest of the frame in the same photo. I like the frame color ("Lava Rock Red") a lot. Understated, but not boring!

As I rode on, I was able to appreciate how the bike handled on corners, on rough pavement, and at speed on hills. Other than the stiffness I mentioned above that should be partially addressed by reducing tire pressure, it responded well to every situation. I made a point of getting out of the saddle on a couple of the climbs. At first I felt like the brake levers might not shaped perfectly for riding out of the saddle, as the top of the lever protrudes at a bit of an awkward angle. But then I tried gripping around the base of the lever instead, and I got the response I was looking for. I think the top of the lever is better suited to riding in an aero position, with the forearms parallel to the ground. Then the lever-top provides the perfect angle for hanging on as comfortably as possible in that stressed position. I might tweak the angle of the handlebars just a bit in the future to dial in this grip, but I think it's definitely something I will get used to. I could ride very effectively out of the saddle either gripping the base of the levers or the drops, delivering instantaneous power to the drivetrain.

As you might expect for a brand-new high-end bike, it rides VERY quietly. It's almost silent when you are pedaling, with no rattles of any sort even on a rough road. When coasting, the freehub doesn't deliver quite the "buzz" that some riders admire, but that doesn't seem to affect performance. The drivetrain engages almost instantly when you shift. The only occasional bobble I noticed was when shifting from the large to the small chainring. I think this might be unavoidable in this configuration where the small ring is so dramatically smaller than the big ring.

That's a big gap between rings!

But maybe it's simply a flaw in the SRAM system. I'd be interested to know if any readers notice a similar issue on their bikes. Otherwise the shifting was perfect. I certainly never experienced any chain rub, even when dramatically cross-chained. 

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this bike. It's beautiful, it rides well, and it will work for me in a variety of contexts, from racing to bikepacking to possibly even some gravel riding. It's raining today or I'd probably be out riding it rather than writing this review! The first real test of the bike's capabilities will be on May 1, when I'm signed up to ride in the draft-legal sprint duathlon at the US national championship. Expect to hear more about the bike then (and probably between now and then as I ride it more and have more thoughts).