Pictou County runner, 54, hoping for record 5th Blue Nose win

As an accomplished long-distance runner, David MacLennan of Scotsburn, Pictou County, has covered many of the county's roads in his 54 years.

"Most of my longer runs I do now are on the old rail bed here because it's mostly flat and of course there's no traffic and it's a great place to find a good pace," he said.

MacLennan said he has friends who used to run in half-marathons, but once he joined the Pictou County Roadrunners club, he was "hooked on the long stuff."

MacLennan, a drug store manager, is getting ready to run in his 15th Blue Nose Marathon. He's raced in all 14 previous events, but failed to complete one when his legs cramped up in cold weather.

MacLennan won the men's title at the Blue Nose in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009.

Last year's winner won't be running this year

Only one other person, Greg Wieczorek, has won the men's title four times, but he'ssidelined with a hamstring injury and won't be running this year.

That improves MacLennan's shot at winning, but he wantedWieczorek to be in the race.

"I was hoping Greg would be there so I could just kind of draw off of him and see what happens," said MacLennan.

Wieczorek won the Blue Nose Marathon last year with a time of 2:41:07.MacLennan said his goal is to run therace in 2:45:00.

MacLennansaid he will never be able to match his all-time personal best, 2:33:00, which came in the 2000 Johnny Miles Marathon in New Glasgow, N.S.

He said he isn't sure who the other runners in the race will be, but he's expecting a lot of top runners who are much younger than him. Regardless, he's ready for the race.

"I know I've had good training over the winter and I just need good weather on the day of the race," said MacLennan.