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Race Report: 2017 Festival of the Feet Half Marathon

The Festival of the Feet at Georges Hall was an amazingly friendly and well organised event. 3 loops around Lake Gillawarna made up the half marathon distance. 

Although everyone had commented that this was a hilly race; I'd taken this with a grain of salt - I've run UTA, there can't possibly be 'real' hills here!! However, I think the looped course and the repetitions were what made it seem hilly. The overall elevation was negligible but it was very much constant up and down. 

My transport there was super easy as Richard drove and dropped me off. He continued on with the kids to his sister Debbie's house as she lives just down the road. I got picked up afterwards and got to have a yummy lunch with Richard and Debbie afterwards. I chose to do this as my 'birthday' race, so it was quite unusual to have Richie and the kids drop me off. It was a frosty but clear morning so I stood in the sun trying to warm up and met some lovely new RMA friends at the start line including Emma, Ruth and a few others. 


 At every possible turn or path crossing there were volunteers, they were absolutely everywhere and all smiling and offering encouragement! One  older guy even ran alongside me for a few seconds while he told me I should be running with my arms lower down to help me swing 'those long legs', my immediate thought was 'righto mate get out of my personal space' but he was actually right; at this point in the race I'd collapsed into a bit of a hunch so put my ego to the side and tried to keep my arms down near my hips. 

I wasn't fast at 2:16 but hadn't specifically trained for this one. Plus I wasn't feeling 100% in the back end of the race either. I was getting passed by kids and wasn't in the best head space. This was due to some recent experimentation with LCHF eating and low intensity running. I'd been running at a MAF HR of 145 for months but in the weeks leading up to this race I'd stepped it up a notch and taken the food protocols on board as well. I was keen to see how far I could go on fat. I was 6th female in my age group.... out of 7!! I felt lightheaded and clammy for the final third of the race and scarfed as much fruit and lollies as I could at the finish line.

Would I do this one again? Probably not... it's really just a path through a park so doesn't hold that much appeal in terms of scenery, however the organisation and positive vibes were second to none. I'd highly recommend this race as a first event for anyone just getting into racing. It was super friendly and really well organised. 
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Location: Lake Gillawarna, New South Wales, Australia

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