Jim White has seen more than his fair share of change in Canberra over the years.
And the Wanniassa resident says he's spotted much of it while running, regularly pounding the pavement in streets around the nation's capital.
For decades, the 70-year-old runner has worked his way up to competing in the Canberra Times Fun Run, and this year will be no different.
"It was the first ever fun run that I competed in," Mr White said. "It was the only fun run that I did every year for eight years."
While he competes in other fun runs around the country, Mr White says he always returns to the event in Canberra, and he has the records to show for it.
This year, Mr White will compete in his 42nd Canberra Times Fun Run, the second most out of anyone in the event's 44-year history. His wife Maria, is no stranger to the run either, having competed in 36 of them.
"It was our first fun run that we did together," Mr White said. "I want to end up doing 50 of them."
This year's race, however, will be especially significant for him, coming just after he suffered a suspected aneurysm while running three weeks ago.
"I got halfway around the course, and then I felt a bad headache on the top of my forehead. I lay down and then I got a big pain in my neck," he said.
"All I could do was lie down and yell out for help, and then someone nearby called triple zero. I thought that this would be the end and that I was going to die."
Mr White was in hospital for eight days following the incident, and while he hasn't been able to run long distances since, he says he's still planning on competing in the 10-kilometre fun run.
"This is going to be my first major run since, and I'm going to try and run it slowly," he said.
Coming back from injury to compete in the fun run this year would be one of the most memorable feats Mr White has achieved in his more than four decades running in the event.
He says his most memorable runs so far have been for a different reason, all thanks to a green mankini.
"I've done a lot of runs in dress up, the first one I did was as Borat. I was a bit concerned about doing it at first, and I had disposable overalls to use before the start line," Mr White said.
"I then took those off and ran with the mankini and wig and the glasses. A few people in the crowd cottoned on as to who I was."
He says other costumes in previous years have included Kermit the Frog, complete with a banjo, as well as Gumby and Pokey.
- The Canberra TimesFun Run is on November 10, beginning at 7.45am with staggered starts for each distance. To register, visit canberratimesfun.com.au
