By the time Cameron Myers was 10, he'd already made up his mind he wanted to be a runner.
It's why he linked up with athletics coach Lee Bobbin.
Oh, and Bobbin had Tom Palfrey as part of his stable - a fellow Canberra kid who had already won Australian titles.
Even then Myers was such a competitive beast he wanted to beat Palfrey - even though he was three years his junior.
It was a lesson a young Myers needed to learn - patience - to ensure his training sessions had the maximum effect.
While Myers moved on to join current coach, the legendary Dick Telford, when he was 14, Bobbin still looks at Myers with pride in the role he played in helping create the emerging star.
Bobbin will set his alarm Sunday morning to watch Myers' bid to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal at his first attempt.
It's shaping as a showdown between the now 20-year-old Canberran and Scottish world-record holder Josh Kerr.
They'll jump in the final of the men's one mile in Glasgow at 5.55am with Myers looking to spoil Kerr's party in front of his home crowd.
Bobbin will watch on as a proud teacher of a former student.
"Absolutely I do. I wish him all the best and I'll congratulate him if he wins and I'll commiserate with him if he loses," he told The Canberra Times.
"But it's all up to him at the end of the day and he's very capable."
Myers was also a talented soccer player when Bobbin started coaching him, playing in the junior levels of the premier league.
Even back then Myers was already dedicated to becoming a top runner, having started out with Little Athletics at Belconnen.
"He made up his mind that he wanted to be a runner when he was very young," Bobbin recalled.
"Probably about 10-and-a-half he came to me and the reason he came is because I had another good runner that was winning national titles for his age.
"Cameron was dead-set keen on training with him.
"That was his motivation for coming and joining me.
"He was very dedicated and never missed a session."
Not surprisingly, he was also a competitive beast - even at such a young age.
If he and Palfrey were running 10 repetitions of a distance, then Myers would push himself to keep up with Palfrey - something he could manage for a while, but then the age difference would tell.
Bobbin had to teach Myers patience.
"He was a definitely a hard worker and competitive," he said.
"When he was training with the guy that was older than him, you had to remind him that he was a couple of years older than him and that he had a couple of years more training.
"Because he would run himself into the ground trying to compete.
"That was detrimental to the session that we were doing.
"That was an important lesson that he learnt - that he had to take his time and get to where he wanted to be."
While Kerr goes into the final with the world record to his name, Bobbin pointed out time was now irrelevant.
This was a race.
Kerr had pacers when he ran his three minutes and 42.66 seconds two weeks ago.
But the final would come down to tactics.
Bobbin felt leading would be a mistake for Myers, effectively making him Kerr's pacer.
But allowing a slow pace and sitting in a pack would also be dangerous, opening the potential for a fall - like what happened to fellow Aussie Olli Hoare in Wednesday's heat.
Getting Kerr to lead at a good pace could be the key.
"Kerr is obviously a great runner and he's got the time on the board," Bobbin said.
"But at the end of the day, the Commonwealth Games final is a race.
"It's a championship race.
"Time becomes irrelevant, tactics become everything.
"Cameron definitely has the physical ability and the mental ability to win the race, but everything has to go his way as in he can't make any mistakes in his tactics and with a bit of luck Kerr might.
"At the end of the day, he can win it."
Nothing fazes Canberra's Cameron Myers.
He cruised through his qualifying heat before casually recovering from an F-bomb in his post-race interview.
Then the 20-year-old laid down the gauntlet to Scottish world-record holder Josh Kerr.
While Kerr will have the support of his home crowd in the one-mile final on Sunday morning, having set a new world record within the past two weeks, it doesn't daunt Myers.
The young gun Canberran vowed to do everything he can to ruin Kerr's party in his bid for a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Myers won his heat comfortably in a time of three minutes 53.85 seconds to qualify fastest for the final.
He never looked troubled, leading for most of the race.
When told Kerr said Myers would need to be "bloody good" to beat him, he didn't flinch.
"Yeah, it's a fair assumption, but I back myself against anyone in the world, so I'm not going to shy away from it," Myers told Channel 7.
"All credit to him. If he can come out and beat me on his home turf, yeah, fair enough, but I won't make it easy."
Myers has been revelling in Australia's success on the track at the Glasgow Games.
He felt it showed Australia was improving in the sport.
Myers pointed to Lachlan Kennedy's Australian record in the 100 metres, Torrie Lewis's efforts over the same distance and the two gold medals in the 10,000 metres.
Not even a slip of the tongue could knock the Canberran off-kilter.
"Until last night, I was like, 'F---, this is unreal'," Myers said.
"Lachie [Kennedy] running 9.85s and Torrie [Lewis] running under 11, Ky [Robinson] winning the 10k, Rose [Davies] winning 10k.
"It's unreal.
"We're improving as a country on the track and I think that's evidence.
"It's nice to have that momentum behind us."
Myers said his goal was to qualify and it was good to manage that while doing "nothing more" than he needed to.
He's based himself in Germany to prepare for the Glasgow Games.
"Honestly, not much. Just freshening up, getting a little bit more speed in the legs, just turning over, not doing anything differently," Myers said.
"Yeah, it's been going well.
"Based in Germany for the last three weeks since I got back from [the Prefontaine Classic in the US].
"It's nice down there. It's a nice vibe, calm. So it's good."
GLASGOW COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Sunday: Men's one-mile final at Scotstoun Stadium, 5.55am.
It doesn't get much tougher than what Canberra young gun Cameron Myers is facing in the men's one mile.
It's one of the toughest events at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with Myers set to make his Games debut on Wednesday night.
He's in the second heat, looking to qualify for the final on Sunday morning.
Just to show how tough the field is, Scotland's Josh Kerr will run in front of his home crowd fresh off setting a new world record of three minutes 42.66 seconds less than two weeks ago.
Myers has the second-best mile time - 3:46.06 - although he's one of 10 runners who have run sub 3:50 over the distance.
Five of those, including Myers, are in his heat - although Kerr is in the first heat.
The 20-year-old's coach Dick Telford said there could be some upsets, with the wind expected to be a factor in deciding who makes the final.
But he backed his young gun's race judgement to help get him through to the decider on Sunday.
"This men's mile is an extremely competitive event," he told The Canberra Times.
"As well as the new world-record holder, we have many other strong contenders.
"So a number of very good runners won't make the final and a slow first half could see some upsets, especially with the wind likely to be a factor.
"But Cam is good at summing things up in-race."
Myers' manager James Templeton agreed it was one of the toughest events at the Glasgow Games.
But he said it was a chance for Myers to compete for a gold medal.
"The mile field will be very strong," Templeton said.
"Not every event in the Comm Games is super strong, but the mile definitely is really good.
"It's a chance to run for a gold medal. Comm Games has such a great history. It's a path on the way. It's a fantastic competition."
He said Myers' preparation had gone to plan.
Myers has performed brilliantly in the Diamond League before the Games, including setting a new personal best.
He set a new Australian and Oceania record for the mile in the US three weeks ago.
The Canberran also set an Aussie record in the 1500-metres one week earlier in Paris on June 29.
"Look, everything's on track," Templeton said.
"He's rounded off his prep. He's feeling good and we await the heats.
"He's looking forward to the heats and getting stuck into it.
"Competing. That's what it's about.
"He'll be confident of doing the business and looking forward to the final, but not getting ahead of himself."
GLASGOW COMMONWEALTH GAMES
Wednesday: Men's one mile heats at Scotstoun Stadium, 8.10pm.
Heat two: Archie Davis (PB 3:51.09), Jiuteis Robinson, Jake Wightman (3:47.82), Geordie Beamish (3:49.09), Tshepiso Masalela (3:52.07), Neil Gourley (3:47.74), Daniel Sinda, Silas Chemutai (3:50.68), James Gormley (3:53.44), Foster Malleck (3:51.39), Brian Komen, Cameron Myers (3:46.06), Reynold Cheruiyot, Jake Heyward (3:46.7).
Sunday: Men's one mile final at Scotstoun Stadium, 5.55am.
