Africa

What special joy to be back in Africa! Africa is the most beautiful of continents, for certain the original Garden of Eden! We are all from here and it is a perfect homecoming.

I was greeted by unseasonal and very heavy rain on St. Patrick's Day as I arrived bleary eyed from the long trip. The rain made everyone happy, quite the opposite from our Western world! There has been serious drought here and rain equates with life and new beginnings. It is essential to the cultivation of food crops. Out of season rain is an extraordinary gift.

My son is in the air today and should arrive tomorrow. He will be so excited to be back in the continent where he grew up. Marcus is also in the air and will arrive in Africa tomorrow for the first time ever! Peter is already in Kruger Park enjoying wildlife that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world. He has not been in Africa before either. Thank you Africa for being the only continent, apart from unpopulated Antarctica, not to kill all its animals as settlement occurs. It was the first settled continent, making this achievement even more remarkable. There must be environmentalists all over the continent!

Saturday is Race Day! The excitement builds! My sister, who arrived from New Zealand yesterday,  and I head for beautiful Cape Town on Thursday. This will be a very challenging course, with two serious mountains in the second half of the course. How will it feel to summon up the energy to get up and over and down to the finish line after 56 kilometres? I must not think too much about it yet. I run the risk of burning up my energy in worrying about it! It will be a fabulous day!

My race number is 50337.

RACE DAY TRACKING: Follow the progress of friends and family on Race Day, and view your finish time and results, by downloading the RaceTec app from iTunes or Google Play.

If you wish to make a gift to my lifesaving team, please visit https://www.lghfoundation.com/projects/nigel-deacons-two-oceans-gratitude-support-oncology-at-lgh/