The marathon world-record holder has finally overcome a debilitating foot injury and will allow herself to drink in the memories – good and bad – with the elite club runners in her last meaningful tilt at the London circuit
• Sean Ingle: Radcliffe deserves rousing send-off in London Marathon
“It’s not quite revenge,” Paula Radcliffe says as she prepares herself for one last concentrated tilt at the London Marathon on Sunday. “But it’s almost as if, OK, this race is on my terms. I will run London once more. Even if it’s not at the speed I would like I’ll still be doing this marathon for me. It feels right because of all the good things that have happened to me in London and, also, because there were so many times when I couldn’t run the race while injured. The one that hurt, especially, was London 2012 when I had to pull out of the marathon.”
Radcliffe is such a vivid interviewee that it does not take long for her to describe a series of memories which are nostalgic and brutal, euphoric and painful. She has not run in London since 2005, when she won the marathon for a third time, but the race is a rich part of her life. Before she reaches the sporting glory and physical agony of 2003, when she set a world record of two hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds, in a seemingly “impossible” time which has not been threatened since, Radcliffe evokes the poignant meaning of the London marathon to her.
This is the last one where I’m preparing properly. I don’t know how far my foot is going to hold up
I feel Gatlin is laughing at people … if you break the rules you should not be able to come back
Continue reading...source Sport | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1yKjbm5
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