Illawarra's Forrest Gump entered the region yesterday for the final leg of his 26,000 kilometre 18 month run around the world for charity.
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And there still by his side after five continents was his support crew, wife and official photographer Carmel Denniss.
They were also joined by his cousin Karen Ryan, of Mt Kembla, and two teachers who taught him more than 30 years ago at Lake Illawarra High School.
Dr Tom Denniss has already run more than 26,000 kilometres and has only four days left to go in his epic circumnavigation of the globe on foot for Oxfam.
Yesterday he ran from Marulan to Moss Vale.
He has now covered more than 99 per cent of his journey.
Today he will reach Albion Park and tomorrow he runs around the southern and eastern side of Lake Illawarra with the help of students from his old school.
The cross-country runners have been organised as a welcoming committee by his old year 11 general studies teacher, Barry Ellsmore, who will soon retire after 37 years at Lake Illawarra High School, and Dr Denniss was the first inductee into its Hall of Fame.
Mr Ellsmore ran with his former student for 100 kilometres through Bulgaria and yesterday they completed another 10 kilometres together along with Dr Denniss's former year 11 English teacher Richard Baker, of Nowra.
Mr Ellsmore said they had all remained friends for more than three decades.
The students will meet Dr Denniss at the Water Ski Club at Balarang at 9.30am tomorrow and run with him around to his old school, before his brother Paul, on a bike after a knee replacement, and his sister Linda help him cross the bridge into Windang. Dr Denniss will also be cheered on by his mother, Eileen.
Asked if he minded if other people joined him on the lake leg, he said that would be good.
"It will be great to see the Pacific again," he said.
After crossing the bridge, Dr Denniss proceeds north through Wollongong towards his final destination this Friday, the Sydney Opera House where it all started on New Year's Eve 2011.
When he finishes he will have completed 622 marathons in 622 days across five continents, following the guidelines set out in the Alternate Book Of Records.
Dr Denniss said the biggest challenge from Saturday would be readjusting.
"I feel a little trepidation about finishing because it has really become my life," he said.
"When you do something for so long every day, it just ends up becoming what you do. Going back to a normal life will be like starting again. I don't want to go back to work full-time yet. I think that would be too big an adjustment getting on a train and commuting to work five days a week."
Dr Denniss said he would probably just run two to three kilometres a day for a while and enter some Masters' games in shorter-distance events.
Meanwhile, Mrs Denniss, who now refers to herself as Mrs Gump, said she had mostly shopped for bread and milk during the last 18 months and was looking forward to visiting a shopping centre again.
