England's veteran distance runner Helen Clitheroe is adamant she will continue to be an athlete past the Commonwealth Games where she is set to race in the 5000m this weekend.
The 40-year-old has no intention of hanging up her running spikes just yet, as Glasgow 2014 is the culmination of a lengthy return from injury to top class competition that ruled her out of London 2012.
She is realistic however, when it comes to carrying on until the next Olympics in Brazil in two years time.
Helen said:"I wanted to prove to myself that I could get fit again and get back to competing.
I hope I can inspire older athletes. There's me and Jo Pavey both in the distance running team, we're both 40 - to have one of us that age is pretty unusual - two of us is pretty unheard of.
I had my best year in athletics at 37. Most athletes have retired by that age - if I can inspire people to carry on that would be great."
So what about her own future?
"After the Commonwealths I want to get another few another 5000m races and I will assess from there.
Rio 2016?! I think my husband would string me up if I went home and said I wanted to go for that!," she joked, before adding: "It's not easy being an athlete financially these days and at this stage of my career I have to justify what I'm doing. So I've not definitely ruled it out but I'd say it was very, very unlikely."
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| Helen after winning European championship gold in 2011 |
" The Commonwealths have been a massive part of my career. Kuala Lumpur '98 was my first senior international meet, I won a medal in Manchester, and I captained the woman's team in Delhi four years ago.
Glasgow 2014 was a real motivation when I was injured. I missed London 2012, and after seeing how amazing it was, I realised how special it was to perform in front of a home crowd. It meant so much to get the phone call to say I'd been picked, so I'm definitely still excited for the Commonwealth Games," she said.
The Preston-born runner is up against strong competition from Kenya's women, in the shape of Mercy Cherono and Janet Kisa. Distance running has again proved to be the African's trump card in these Commonwealths with Kenya's women taking four of their country's five gold medals to date. They also locked out the podium for 10,000m.
"There's two really strong girls from Kenya in my race. It's a straight final - no heats - so anything can happen and I have to be ready for that. You never know what will happen in distance running and I need to be up in the mix.
I'd like to think I can beat my PB - but to be honest, that doesn't really matter in these competitions - it's all about where you finish. I certainly won't be running around looking at the clock. Obviously, it would be nice to beat my PB, but I'm more focussed on getting the performance to be competitive and I'm also determined to enjoy the moment."
"I can't wait to start competing now. You start to realise how close it is watching everyone in the holding camp and seeing the excitement."
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