Melbourne man Tristan Miller is set to storm the record books when he crosses the finish line in his 52nd globe-trotting marathon in as many weeks.
Miller will complete his final marathon in his home city on Monday, capping off a remarkable year-long odyssey that has taken him to every continent.
The 33-year-old is expected to receive a hero's welcome when he rounds off his adventure at Albert Park Lake, cheered on by hundreds of supporters in the RunLikeCrazy Marathon, organised in his honour.
The gutsy fitness fanatic has braved illness, injury and a permanent state of jetlag to conquer 52 marathons in 52 weeks across the world, raising about $15,000 for UNICEF and Facing Africa in the process.
Miller flew into Melbourne last week nursing fatigued legs and shattered calf muscles but high on adrenalin, which has been the driving force in his marathon mission.
"I've said a number of times that I'm just being held together by sports tape and the will to get through it," Miller said on Sunday.
"It's (the last marathon) just going to be surreal, but more than anything it's like coming home and just going for a nice long run with all your friends.
"And when I say friends I'm using that in the broadest possible sense because there's a lot of people who have been following me and messaging me on Facebook all year long."
Miller sold virtually everything he owned to fund his marathon adventure after he was made redundant during the global financial crisis.
More than $120,000, seven pairs of runners, a swag of PBs and 42 countries later, he is looking forward to a well-earned rest and a possible place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Miller has clocked up more than 2300 race kilometres in marathons that took him across desert plains, alpine passes, cityscapes, the Great Wall of China and even the ice fields of Antarctica.
Along the way he battled snow, tropical humidity, food poisoning, crippling exhaustion and loneliness but managed to rack up a personal best of 3.03 hours in Berlin.
Miller said the highlight was coming second in the 100-kilometre ultra marathon in Mongolia, even if he paid for it afterwards when he hit the lowest point of the trip.
"The week following that I got really, really sick, I was just really run down and I got a bit of food poisoning that basically had me attached to a toilet for two weeks," he said.
"By the end of the two weeks going along the Trans-Siberian railway ... it was very lonely ... I was just kind of sitting there in my own space getting a little bit down on myself."
The RunLikeCrazy marathon kicks off at 8.30am (AEDT) on Monday.
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