Christie Dawes will be chasing Commonwealth Games medals in Birmingham after being among the first Australian track and field athletes named on Monday.
But mostly the Merewether wheelchair athlete just wants to race after an event-starved couple of years.
The seven-time Paralympian was part of the first 32 members named in the Australian team bound for this year's Games, which are being staged from July 28 to August 8.
Dawes will compete in the women's T54 marathon and 1500-metre events at what will be her third Commonwealth Games appearance.
She finished fourth in the women's 1500m wheelchair race at the 2014 Glasgow Games and was fifth in the 800m final in Melbourne in 2006.
A lack of racing due to the global coronavirus pandemic in the past two years has made Dawes hungrier than ever to compete.
Her last event was the Tokyo Paralympics in September, when she was eighth in the women's T54 marathon. It was her first race at the distance in over 12 months.
Dawes was set to compete at the Boston Marathon last month but had to pull out at the last minute after contracting COVID.
"To medal in the marathon is realistic and I'll be aiming for that," Dawes told the Newcastle Herald on Monday.
"Training has been going well. I've got a lead-up into Commonwealth Games which is the Gold Coast Marathon on the third of July, so that will be my first marathon since Toyko. I usually do seven or eight per year and I've done two in two years."
The marathon is traditionally at the end of the program but in Birmingham it will be one of the first events, staged on July 30. Dawes will then compete in the 1500m heats on August 2.
"I'm just going to really enjoy the 1500," Dawes said. "I don't know if I'm in contention for a medal and it's really hard to know because I haven't raced anybody in so long, especially on the track, so it will just be good fun.
"I have missed my racing so much because of COVID and I'm not really focusing on the medals. It would be great if they come but I'm just looking at getting back with the girls and enjoying myself and doing what I love so much."
Dawes is one of the most experienced athletes in Paralympic history. She turned 42 two weeks ago and the mother of two has no intentions of stopping racing any time soon.
"The body is holding up remarkably well and the mind still wants it," Dawes said. "As long as I can still be competitive and not waste people's time or money I'm wanting to keep going, at least through to Paris in 2024."
The 32 athletes named so far received automatic selection or invitations to compete in Birmingham.
Leading the charge for Australia will be Madison de Rozario, who is the Commonwealth Games defending champion in both of Dawes' events.
De Rozario is also the Paralympic champion in the endurance race after she narrowly held off Sweden's Manuela Schaer down the home straight in Tokyo to win in a Games record time.
"From our point of view of wheelchair racing, we're missing a lot of our competitors from the US, from Switzerland, Japan, some of those really top girls," Dawes said.
"But we'll still have some stiff competition and Australia has our very own Madison de Rozario, who is the world No.1 in marathon at the moment. She's phenomenal so we still are racing the best."
The 2019 world javelin champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Kelsey-Lee Barber will be chasing a Commonwealth gold after clinching bronze in Glasgow and silver on the Gold Coast.
Olympic high jump silver medallist Nicola McDermott will be out to better her bronze from four years ago.
World-ranked No.1 Jemima Montag will be looking to defend her Commonwealth Games crown in the 10,000m race walk.
