Wow! It's hard to keep a secret in this country. So many people busy putting two and two together and getting families of four. If you're dipping in here looking for my bit of news, well I have bad news. You're the last person on earth to know. Are you living up a tree or something?

I've been to my physio Gerard Hartman a few times recently and every time I go he says that people have been asking him. The phone rings and it's somebody from a red-top paper, just checking. I rang my mother to tell her and she said she'd heard ages ago. I had to tell her that no she didn't hear it, somebody just floated it past her to see if she'd heard it.

Yes! In case you haven't heard - drum roll, trumpets - I'm pregnant. Yes. By Christmas, I hope, Ciara will have a partner in crime. Nick (Bideau) and I will have another beak to feed. There will be another grandchild to be coddled, more nappies to change, another stork expecting a tip.

So the tabloids can stop calling. "Close friends" can stop confirming. Child is coming . . . not soon . . . very happy . . . everything sorted . . . first scan only happened last week . . . didn't really want to tell anyone before that. How do these rumours get legs and run for as long as they do? I was in Dublin for the mini-marathon a while ago and people were asking and asking about my plans for the grand prix season. I hadn't been feeling the best and obviously I knew by then, so I said there would be no grand prix season.

I might as well have taken an ad out in the papers announcing conception! I knew then but hadn't known for that long. Just suspected. I hadn't been feeling fantastic for a while and there was a certain familiarity to the way I was, but for some reason I waited ages to go and find out. I sort of waited and confirmed it myself first. I had decided that I wasn't pushing or rushing to do any races, so it wasn't a major adjustment career wise.

Of course, it calls for a new plan of action but there are no thoughts of retirement. I know some people are dying to write that story, but it will have to wait a few years - until after Athens at least.

Sorry! Definitely not. In some ways it makes it easier to prolong my career. It's one year less of doing the same thing. Next season, going back on the circuit will be new again. When you haven't done something for a while, it's exciting and fresh. I often wonder how some athletes keep going on the circuit for so long, year in, year out. I've got to the point in life that whatever race I go in there's a good reason for it. That makes it easier to keep going.

I've had to think of different things to occupy myself in the short term, but there's plenty of things to fill my dance card in the next few months. With parks, zoos, children's farms to visit with Ciara, I will have to schedule my runs and trips to the gym to fit in with Ciara's busy schedule.

I have spoken to Nike, BUPA and Bord Glas, my main sponsors, about it and they have been great. They trust and expect that I'll be staying fit and will be back on track next year. For the meantime, they just wished me the best. I will continue to wear out my Nike trainers, take care of my health, and eat even more fruit and vegetables than before.

So the Ballycotton 10k this weekend will be my last race in Ireland for quite a while. Then there's the Great North women's run in Manchester in the middle of July. Nothing too serious. It runs down through Coronation Street, so there will be plenty of soap watchers taking part, along with Liz McColgan, who is returning to competition after the birth of her third child. The following week Nike have a run in Kew Gardens - Run London 10K. It is a massive event being used to promote health and fitness amongst people in London. There will be 10,000 people running, but probably not too many world class as they should all be at Crystal Palace later in the evening for the London Grand Prix meeting.

In the longer term, the only thing that has changed is that we'll have to get somebody to help us next year when the show gets back on the road. We have been able to take Ciara everywhere so far and you can ask anyone to look after one child, but with two I'm imagining that you have to be a little more organised. Next year we'll be on the look out for somebody to come and stay with us for the summer and, when the time comes, I'll just go to races on my own. That means being away two days at a time which is manageable.

This time around is easier than when I was having Ciara. I was thinking about it tonight. I'll have two-and-a-half years to get ready for the Olympics. Last time around with Ciara, there was just one year which gave me no second chances in terms of recovering from injuries etc. I felt going into the Sydney Olympics that I was short of competitive racing. I just missed that season of being up there and being sharp. I still say I'll run the 5,000 in Athens. I think it's what I'm best at. Training for 5,000 and 10,000 is fairly similar.

Rumours about a marathon career are off the mark for the moment anyway. The day after the London marathon I was out for a run and I was thinking maybe I'd do that next year. You always think that, though. I was in New York last year for their marathon and I had the same idea. All the build-up and the excitement. It's too much, though, too much for next year anyway. Maybe some year.

I'm doing some work right now. I've been running twice most days and doing track sessions every Tuesday and did some hillwork last week. Hills are one thing I hate, especially now as I tend to get out of breath quickly, just like when I have to run upstairs to get the phone. Alan (Storey, coach) asked me to do 12 hills and I said that's the thing I feel least able to do now. Well, he says, you'd better do them on your own then.

Still, after all the huffing and puffing, it felt good. As I say, for a while I've known that a few people have been looking to write the final sentence to my career, but I'm not dead and gone yet. It's hard to imagine a life without running, so I'll do it as long as I enjoy it. As long as I get that feeling for a challenge, that feeling you get after accomplishing something as simple as 12 times, one minute up hill.

I still like going to events. I have been to events just for fun recently. The group we have at the track on Tuesdays is great. I have my own group within the group, these fellas I run with. They find it hard to keep up with me as the night goes on, but it's fine craic. They go to road races at the weekend and I went with them last weekend to Epsom. The race was at 10 in the morning. We ran and got back at lunchtime. I'd won a bike in the meantime.

I'll have somebody to race on the bike soon. Well, maybe not. I've been trying Ciara out for size on two-wheelers. I put her on one and, suffice to say, that's not going to happen for a while. I'm in the market now for a tricycle with a big long handle so we can push it along. It'll be an addition to her busy days. She's getting the hang of racing already. She gets down on her marks, gets set and goes. But when she stands up, before she goes anywhere she has put one hand on the other to start her "watch" like she sees people down at the track doing. Then it's off for her laps around the coffee table.

She goes over to a creche at the gym in the nearby Lensbury club while I go training these days and when I go to get her, she throws herself on the floor and doesn't want to come home. Every time. Makes me look really good. They told me today she's the only child that does this. Bored with me already! Roll on number two!

In an interview with Tom Humphries