SerpApi.Org
Josh Kerr didn't dream about being the fastest person ever to run a mile when he was a kid. He dreamed of pulling on a Scotland vest and representing the country - his country - in the Commonwealth Games.
That wee boy is now a big man. Arguably the biggest in middle-distance running following his staggering evisceration of the men's mile world record on Saturday.
And now the 28-year-old has a chance to not only fulfil his childhood dream, but to do it by winning gold in Glasgow in front of his own people and at a track that holds memories stretching back a couple of decades.
Speak to Kerr about Scotstoun Stadium and he'll tell you about being windswept, soaked and sunburnt all in the same race. About scrapping with kids from Kilbarchan. About learning how to race not just your rivals but the conditions, too.
"I think some of my biggest performances and learning curves were there," he muses, speaking a week or two out from his record-breaking London outing.
"I've battled there for years and years and it will be nice to be the one that knows the wind and the rain and all that much better than anyone else."
'These are my roots and this is my blood'
Kerr's compatriots Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley might quibble with that claim, mind, having endured their own share of west of Scotland weather.
All three will be eyeing podium places in the reinstated mile event on 1 August, but Kerr is the only one of the three pals in prime physical condition and is, clearly, the big ticket in the field for the iconic event.
Representing Scotland - and being Scottish - matters to him. He travels home from his New Mexico base four of five times a year. Drops in on his old club on many of those trips. Is on the phone to his family in Edinburgh every day.
And he comes home this summer eager to be right in amongst it with the rest of Team Scotland and with a wrong to right.
Kerr is big on building narratives - the Project 222 branding of his world record attempt was unlikely anything athletics has seen before - and has already sketched out his story for the Commonwealths.
He was a spectator at Glasgow 2014, watching Wightman. Being overlooked four years later for Gold Coast was one of the biggest disappointments of his career, he says. Then an untimely blow-up in Birmingham in 2022, finishing last in the 1500m.
Glasgow will be his redemption.
"This is something we were dreaming about as kids," Kerr says. "I was in a Scottish development squad talking about the Commonwealth Games all the time and that is the kind of stuff that you don't forget.
"Being part of Team Scotland is just everything I wanted to do when I got into the sport. You should never drift too far away from that and I never have. Growing up, I wanted to be standing on that start line with my Scotland vest on.
"I mean, I love it. I put it up with... you've got the Olympics, the worlds, and the Commonwealth Games. That's the way I've always viewed it and if ever I get a call up for the Commonwealths I'd be the first one there.
"Time goes by, and I've lived out in the States for a long time, but these are my roots and this is my blood and I just want to do myself proud and do Scotland proud."
