Had the 26 year old entered and won the Dunedin Marathon on Sunday, he would have become the first person to win it in three consecutive years.
However, Payne has instead opted to run the half marathon in pursuit of a personal best time.
''I guess the main reason is that if I was going to do the marathon it would be more of a controlled training effort,'' Payne said from Auckland yesterday.
''But if I did the half, I could have a crack at a fast time and it wouldn't take too much out of the body. So I was weighing up trying to run a personal best in the half or trying to chase a bit of history.''
Payne, who grew up in Dunedin but moved to Auckland to work as a corporate lawyer in 2012, won the marathon last year in 2hr 34min 47sec despite battling a virus, while he won in 2hr 36min 29sec in 2013.
In addition to attempting to improve his personal best half marathon time of 1hr 9min 48sec, which he clocked in Melbourne last year, Payne is using Sunday's run to build for the national road relay championships in Christchurch next month.
He has not run a half marathon this year, but he ran the Gold Coast and Rotterdam marathons earlier in the year. He pulled out of the Christchurch Marathon at the 30km mark due to a hip injury in May.
He finished 30th in 2hr 24min 55sec in Rotterdam, a personal best over 42.2km.
''I've never really run a really good half, compared to my full times,'' Payne said.
''Even though Dunedin isn't that fast, I think I can give it a good nudge ... I would like to run a 68min [race].''
Also motivating Payne for Sunday is the fact he has not yet won the Dunedin half marathon.
He finished fourth in 2008, third in 2009 and 2011, and second behind Luke Hurring in 1hr 10min 12sec in 2010.
Payne juggles training with his job, which usually keeps him busy on average 12 hours a day.
''It's hard to balance a marathon programme around that. The only way I can do it is to do most of my training in the morning and as part of my commute,'' he said.
He runs the 7km to and from work each day, and can notch up 30km by the time he sits down at his desk at 8.30am if he works his longer training runs into his morning commute.
''I save a bit on public transport,'' he said.
''I think what paints Auckland in a better light is I don't need to deal with the traffic. It's a pretty good lifestyle.''
Payne was last in Dunedin to cheer on the Highlanders in their Super rugby quarterfinal against the Chiefs in June, and is looking forward to catching up with family this weekend.
He has entered the national marathon championships in Auckland on November 1 and the Queenstown marathon three weeks later.
Tony Payne in Dunedin Marathon
2014: First, 2hr 34min 47sec
2013: First, 2hr 36min 29sec
Half marathon
2011: Third, 1hr 15min 28sec
2010: Second, 1hr 10min 12sec
2009: Third, 1hr 14min 22sec
2008: Fourth, 1hr 13min 04sec
