After several years of missing out on the Anaconda Forster Adventure Race due to club commitments I was really looking forward to heading up and having a go now that I’m clubless and free. Admittedly, after the Bay Adventure showed me just how awesome I am not I had pulled back from two days to one, but was still keen to swim, run, ride and kayak around the Myall Lakes.
Then as my wife Joanne was updating her online shop with stainless steel water bottles and checking out what events are coming up at the Sydney Opera House (we are huge Shakespeare buffs and enjoy seeing the Sydney Symphony Orchestra whenever they are playing something cool – not to mention that I think cellist Catherine Hewgill is a bit of an alright!) she noticed that my all-time fave author Sir Terry Pratchett is appearing there on the same day for a talk and Q & A.
I was torn. Do I forget Mr Pratchett and head up to Forster to do this race I had been keen on doing for the past three years? Do I compete in the Anaconda and hope that Terry comes back to our shores some other time?
I think it shows the level of commitment I have towards racing to say that within a minute I had decided to bail on the Anaconda and put it in my calendar for next year. You see, Terry Pratchett has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and although which as far as I am aware is not life-threatening will probably mean that he is no longer able to tour and meet fans like me. The Anaconda Adventure Race will most probably be on in 2012.
It’s a bugger, but I think that if I miss the opportunity to hear and maybe even meet my favourite author of all time I will regret it forever.
