Standing on the winner's podium with a Commonwealth Games gold medal dangling around his neck, Michael Shelley was the smiling marathon man who may never have been.

There was a time several years ago when, plagued by pelvic injuries and dropped from the Australian Institute of Sport's scholarship program, a deflated Shelley pondered the legitimacy and long-term future of his athletics career.

Shelley was then a middle distance runner but, following a painful year-long recovery, master coach Dick Telford floated the idea of pushing him in the direction of long-distance running.

It was an experiment that paid off, culminating overnight in a gold-medal winning performance on the damp streets of Glasgow.

The 30-year-old Queenslander defied a strong African contingent to streak home in a personal best time of 2:11.15.

He became the first Australian to win the Commonwealth Games men's marathon since Steve Moneghetti in 1994, and joins Dave Power (1958), Robert de Castella (1982 and 1986) and Moneghetti as the only Australians to have won the event.

Moneghetti, now the Australian team's chef de mission, was there to see Shelley's thrilling win. He even ran over a bridge to seek out Shelley with a couple of kilometres to go to let him know victory was his.

"I've got to pinch myself, it is very exciting. To come back and actually win is indescribable," Shelley said following the race.

"Now I have had a bit more experience, to come away with my first win is indescribable.

"You just try to run the best you possibly can and it was a dream, to be honest. I'm still buzzing, I can't believe it."

As a child, Shelley was an avid Brisbane Broncos fan and could be seen kicking a rugby league ball around his backyard for hours. But his slight frame - even now he weighs only 60 kilograms - made him an unlikely league player.

Instead he turned to running, and graduated from the same Gold Coast high school that produced Olympic hurdles gold medallist Sally Pearson and tennis player Sam Stosur, a US Open winner.

Shelley had been a 1500-metre runner at the AIS when he suffered a debilitating round of pelvic injuries.

But soon after switching to distance running, he experienced success.

He won the 2009 Sun-Herald City2Surf, Australia's pre-eminent fun run, raced over 14 kilometres and traditionally dominated by marathon runners. Australian Jess Trengove, who raced to a bronze medal in the women's marathon in Glasgow overnight, is also a former City2Surf winner.

Shelley made his marathon debut in Rotterdam in April 2010, clocking a time of 2:13.05.

Later that year, he powered home to a Commonwealth Games silver medal in Delhi - only the second marathon of his career. His modest goal before the race had been simply to finish.

At the time he was living at home with his parents, and dedicated his silver medal to them.

"I'm still unemployed [so] thanks, mum and dad," he quipped at the time.

"They're the reason I'm still running and are a major support. I had about 12 months of just feeling sore and not feeling great. [My athletics career] was up in the air. My parents and my brothers kept me motivated."

Overnight, Shelley took the lead in the marathon with five kilometres to go, and surged ahead to cross the line ahead of Kenya’s Steven Chemlany.

Shelley admitted it took a long time to start believing he could win the race.

"It probably wasn't until a kilometre out that I got a bit of a feeling. I just kept pushing on. My main idea was to stay relaxed and I was always there in the lead group.

"At 35k there was a surge. I just had to stay strong and it paid off."