Sonia O'Sullivan has spent the last week at her "alma mater" of Villanova University completing preparations for Sunday's New York City Marathon.
Having decided she would compete seriously over the distance for the first time earlier in the year, the Cork athlete is convinced travelling early to the United States has been a positive move.
O'Sullivan won the Dublin Marathon two years ago in a time of two hours 35 minutes and 40 seconds, but her decision to race there was taken at the last minute and she never really extended herself.
This weekend, however, is different and as she comes up against some of the world's leading marathon runners, O'Sullivan is under no illusions about the size of the task she is facing.
She has prepared thoroughly for the race and on a course where the winner is expected to clock 2hr 20min, the Irish national record of 2:22.23 is clearly in sight.
O'Sullivan holds every Irish record from 800m to the half marathon and Catherina McKiernan's mark, set in Amsterdam in 1998, could be next on the hit list.
The 32-year-old said: "I arrived in New York last Wednesday night and stayed one night in the city before heading to Villanova. It's 120 miles south of New York, just past Philadelphia.
"We're staying near Valley Forge which is huge a huge park where a lot of runners train."
The list of stars who train there include Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, who recently lost her world record to Paula Radcliffe in the Chicago Marathon and former New York champion John Kagwe.
O'Sullivan clearly feels at home at Villanova, as many top Irish athletes have over the years, and she feels the support of the Irish influence there - including former middle distance runner Marcus O'Sullivan - will give her a massive psychological lift for her date in the Big Apple.
She said: "Marcus is the head coach there now and and another friend Gina Procaccio is the women's coach so I have good support with them here.
"I know the area well - I used to own an apartment here. I know where to get the groceries I like, who to get good physio treatment from and people to run with.
"Marcus has two kids who I used to babysit. Now they babysit our kids - so there are lots of reasons for being here."
According to organisers on Sunday, almost the entire Irish population of New York will turn out to watch O'Sullivan, who admits the vocal support is something she will appreciate.
She said: "Some of the girls on the Villanova team and Gina plan to come up to watch the race plus plenty of people from the running community here will be up to New York for the race.
"My parents are coming, Alan Storey (her coach) and there is no shortage of Irish people in New York so I'm anticipating there will be a lot of support which of course I'll enjoy.
"I'm doing a light track session today and we're driving up to New York on Wednesday. My parents and Alan arrive on Thursday.
"Once in New York I have a couple of things I'm doing with Nike which should help pass the time and a press conference on Thursday which should all help build the energy around the race.
"All the training is done, so I'm just going to enjoy the build-up knowing I've done everything I need to except the race."