After the marathon I've had a bit of time off.  Partly due to a few niggles that I wanted to settle and partly just felt drained.  During this time I did several bike rides each week which made a nice change.  I've now gradually been building up my running again and starting to think about racing soon!  

So far my plans are to do some shorter races of 5k and 10k distances during the summer then target some half marathons in the autumn.  I think I'll see if I fancy a marathon either next spring or the following autumn.  

I was also helping out at a local race recently when I was chatting with a fellow club member.  They said they've been with their daughter and seen me out running a few times.  His daughter has recently started running and has been really inspired by me winning the Manchester Marathon.  Its so nice to hear something like that.  

To me races like Manchester Marathon who have a British only prize fund are doing the right thing.  Its not just about winning a nice amount of money (although it does help)! but about British runners finishing 1st and/or top 3.  This is what inspires the young runners to firstly get involved in the sport and then stay in the sport.  When you have agencies that bring in foreign runners it doesn't mean anything down at the local athletics club and they have no local runners to look up to.  

Other races have a halfway house of a separate British only prize fund which is often slightly more than the total.  This is good as at least prize money is helping British runners but still doesn't help with inspiring the up and coming.  We do also need the really big races with big international names as that is great in itself but I think the next tier down races have a responsibility for the future of our sport.