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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONOctober 31, 2008Paula RadcliffeNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK MARY WITTENBERG: I am so pleased that we have two special guests here today, welcome Isla and Paula. Let's turn to the video for an initial welcome to Paula. (Video shown.) MARY WITTENBERG: It gives me chills. It's always exciting in New York when Paula is here. I've said all week, this is the best women's field we've ever had. We cannot say that today unless Paula Radcliffe is in the field. Paula has given us the best two women's finishes we've ever seen. Paula, we welcome you back to New York. PAULA RADCLIFFE: Thank you. MARY WITTENBERG: Coming off a super run on Sunday. How are you feeling as you get ready to race again here? PAULA RADCLIFFE: I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited, as always, to be back in New York, as Mary said, with such a strong field. Just really looking forward to getting out and racing hard and getting a good result out there. Q. Running in the Olympics just a few months ago, how fresh are your legs and has that taken anything out of you or has it given you any extra inspiration? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Actually for me the way things worked out for the Olympics, I wasn't able to run anywhere near as hard as I wanted to be able to in that race. So in terms of what it took out of my legs, it was kind of less than a hard training run. They recovered pretty quickly, and what I needed to do then was just get out and run and get myself in shape. It's totally different coming into this race because I'm properly prepared and feel well and ready to race, whereas there it was kind of just like the Olympics were on that day and I had to do all I could do get myself there in as good a shape as possible. Frustrating in the end that I wasn't able to even perform as well as I should have been able to that day. But that's behind now and in the past, and I'm looking forward to racing positively here. Q. As you're running, do you focus on your time, your competition, or are you focusing on other things during that long run, your children, your family, other things? Just some thoughts about what you're thinking about as you're running. PAULA RADCLIFFE: Whilst I'm training or whilst I'm racing? Q. Racing. PAULA RADCLIFFE: While I'm racing I'm pretty much focused on the competition and the things that I want to get out of the race, how people are sounding, feeling, looking around me, but generally how I feel in myself because that's the one thing in a race that I can really control and respond to. So I tend to pretty much be in tune with my instincts and ready to react and adapt my race plan according to how things feel and act during the race. Q. Over the winter there was a massive pressure on the legs and you were training with a special device. As you were recovering from injury, could you tell us a little bit about your feelings during that experiment? Are you still using that device or can you tell us about that? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Yeah, I think you're talking about the altitude treadmill? Yeah, I started using that in -- we actually got it just about the week before I got injured. So that in the end became pretty instrumental in my transition back to running before Beijing because we really sort of pushed the envelope on that and tried to move it as far forward as possible with the medical advice as we could, and I think that did help me get back to running sooner, and I continue to use it now in my training just to kind of help my legs recover a little bit from the training and the pounding. Q. I'd like to ask about in light of the last few years and the men's world records that have been set in the marathon, what your thoughts are on, firstly, what it would take to break the women's world record; you would know better than anybody since you hold it; and secondarily, what it would take to break 2:20 on this course. PAULA RADCLIFFE: Certainly 2:20 I think is possible on this course and that the women should be able to run 2:20. Certainly if I'm coming to race here, I feel I should be in shape to be able to run that to be able to put myself on the start line and challenge to win the race. And in terms of improving the world record, I do think it's possible. I think that you need a perfect preparation and good race conditions on the day, and it needs to be one of those days like Haile had in Berlin and a little bit like I had in London where things just click and you feel 100 percent ready to go. But I do think -- there have been times since then when I've felt that I have been in shape to run faster but I just didn't have a race on that particular day and it didn't work out like that. Q. Just to follow up on that question, as far as setting another world record, do you think that would require pacers and obviously a fast course, or do you think women-only races are able to come up with that conclusion? PAULA RADCLIFFE: I think, yeah, it's possible to do alone. But if you're running alone, then you need perfect, perfect conditions. That's the only thing I think with pacemakers in the race. If it is a little bit breezy and conditions change a little bit out there, then that can just help to offset that. But yeah, I think it should be able to run a race just as fast, one foot in front of the other. Q. How close to 100 percent fit are you? PAULA RADCLIFFE: I would say -- well, if 100 percent fit is as much as you can do in the time that I've had between now and Beijing, then I'm happy with how it's gone. I wouldn't look back and say I wish I could have done this there or done that there. I think I'm happy with everything that I've done in the time that I've had since Beijing. Q. I mean, compared to your most fit. I mean, I know you're as fit as you can be, but relatively speaking, how fit is that? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, that's the question I can't really answer until after the race because I would gauge it on how fast and how well I run in the race because the preparation is gone and now I just have to see how I perform in the race. Q. The preparation went well? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Yeah, it did. Q. I'd like to ask a question about race strategy, and I'm just curious, you've had great success on this course, and are there sections of the course that you think are sort of defining areas as far as difficulty or easiness? Or if you were going to make a move based on your past experience, where would you think that would be, without giving away too much information? PAULA RADCLIFFE: (Laughing) I definitely think that in New York it's a help to have run the course before and just to know how it feels and just to become familiar with that. In terms of making a move in a particular place, I think that really that would just depend on how I feel, because you can't really plan to make a move; you might not be feeling good at that point. But I do think that having the knowledge of it helps you to be a little bit more -- not so much wary, but just be prepared for the corners, the twists coming down off the bridges, maybe not letting 1st Avenue lift you too much and to put too much in at that point in the race. Q. Going into the race here last year, how unsure or even concerned were you about how you were going to do in your first marathon back, and where does that win rank as far as big moments in your career? PAULA RADCLIFFE: As far as moments in my career, I mean, it's definitely right up there. It was really important to me, almost a dream of mine, to come to New York and to win the marathon. To come back and win it for the second time was very special and to have Isla and my family here with me, that made it extra special. But in terms of sort of doubting coming back, that was something that never really crossed my mind. It was something that I'd always imagined was going to be possible, that I was going to have a break, have Isla and come back and just pick up racing. I think injuries was something that I didn't expect so much of a setback with. In fact, I probably anticipated being able to race a little bit sooner than ten months. But as it was, it was just kind of resuming normal day-to-day life for me. Q. As far as specifics go, how much time off after Beijing, then how long of a ramp-up to the full load that you had, and how much was that, and then how much taper? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Okay, I just took five days off, because like I said, the way things worked out, my calf went into spasm, I wasn't able to run anywhere as hard as I wanted to do at Beijing, so it didn't really take me long to recover from that. And then probably over the next two, three weeks I just took a gradual build back to what I would call normal marathon training weeks. Q. And how long of a taper? PAULA RADCLIFFE: It's a three-week taper for me. Q. Each of the major marathons has different setting, different ambiance. How did the New York Marathon different from the other races, London and Berlin? PAULA RADCLIFFE: The thing that I find really special in New York is the way that it changes as you go through the different boroughs, and it's almost like running into a different city in terms of the atmosphere changes and the road surface changes. I think that's really good because it gives you something new every time you go into the next borough and something to look forward to as you move along. Q. You came from a career in track and cross country to the marathon. It's becoming a long period between track and cross country up to marathons. Do you see yourself getting back to track and cross country to keep that strength and speed for future marathons, or are you primarily a marathoner now? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Both. I mean, I do see now that kind of my main focus is on the marathons at the moment. But I do fully plan to run track and cross country, shorter road races, in the next year. I mean, I did plan that for last year, but the way the injuries worked out, I wasn't able to go ahead and do that. Q. It seems like New York for you is kind of a test because you came the first time after losing in Athens, you came in 2007 last year after you were away for a couple of years, and this time after losing in Beijing. Because it doesn't happen to you, losing, very often, do you put some pressure on this race just because it seems like you want to come here and win obviously and see if you are still the same Paula, I guess? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Yeah, I think that's just the way it's worked out. I mean, desperately I didn't want it to be that this year. I wanted to be able to come back and defend having had things work out the way I wanted to in Beijing, but that didn't happen. Essentially it's just for me getting on and doing what I love doing, and if I'm prepared and ready to race and New York is at the right time, then I'm always going to want to be here. Like I said, it's a city that's very special to me, and I've always loved coming here and racing over all the distances, and especially once I've started running the marathons here, it's a time of year that is just -- November is just New York to me. Q. It's a tremendous women's field here on Sunday. As you come back to defend your 2007 title, who do you see as the competition? Who will come in second and third? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, I think it's a really, really strong field. That's why I say my main focus in this race is just to do everything I can to win the race. I always know coming here it's going to be strong, and I think Gete -- people say I'm coming back after a disappointment in Beijing. Well, Gete is, as well, so she's going to be equally fired up and ready to go, and I know how tough that can be having, raced her last year and having raced her ever since 1992 when we first met. And then obviously Catherine and her experience in the marathon and her ability to come back time and time again and put in the sort of performances means that you have to watch her. Jeptoo, Tune, and then also I think especially the debuts this year, Kara Goucher and Kim Smith and how they're going to run. Q. Is this the strongest field you've ever raced in do you think? What other races would you compare it to in terms of the depth of the field? PAULA RADCLIFFE: I think it's definitely one of the strongest. I mean, obviously the Olympics and world championships fields are strong, and the fields that I've raced in in London have been very strong, as well. I guess the raced in Chicago I raced Catherine then, too. They've always been strong fields. I kind of like that. I like to come in and be able to know that you're racing a really tough field and the best people out there. Q. Basically you lost only at the Olympics, so is there any particular thought about the Olympics being kind of a curse for you? And how important is winning the gold, missing the gold, compared to all the wins you've had? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Yeah, it's a difficult question, because obviously the Olympics is something that I've dreamed about since I was a little girl, and it's something that's very important to me to keep trying to go back. It's very, very heartbreaking and disappointing that I've missed out on -- you kind of go through the whole thinking, yeah, how unfair it is that I had to get injured just before the Olympics twice. And then I guess if I look at it philosophically, I've had to pull out of two other big city marathons because of injury. So it's just that the Olympics is the Olympics and you desperately don't want it to happen there, and I guess this time I wouldn't have gone in to any other race other than the Olympics off the training I was able to do and tried to perform. Having said that, I was as fit as I could be from my cross training but just not enough running. So yeah, I go through is it cursed, and I think you just have to be grateful and be thankful because I have had a lot of luck in other races and performed well in other races, and I do believe that I still have the chance to have another shot in 2012. I'll be 38 then. Constantina was 38 this year, so I know it's possible. I know the odds probably get less each time, but my whole philosophy is keep trying, keep persevering and keep going back there. Q. Just to follow up on that a little bit, could you talk about what having the 2012 Olympics in London means to the nation as a whole and maybe to you specifically about the Olympics being held there? PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, I think it's very special and very important to the nation of Great Britain as a whole. I think the chance to have an Olympics in your home country, to be able to safer the atmosphere, go and watch all the different events, be inspired for that, I think the impact of that Olympics on a whole generation can never be underestimated in terms of the fitness aspects, the social aspects, and just maybe inspiring future champions just to get out there and discover a sport which they love, and if they get as much enjoyment from it and happiness from it as I have done in my running career, then I think that's really worthwhile. For me personally, it's certainly a huge motivation to really keep going and to get out there and perform well, because I think that the atmosphere, like you say, and the support for the Olympics in your home country is an opportunity that I would never, never want to miss. Q. Which one was more difficult or more rewarding, 2004 or 2007 New York City? PAULA RADCLIFFE: I don't know. I think they were both -- they were different, I guess. I think 2004 I came in off a very good base, but then I had had the injury problems and then I just needed to build back from that. That was really pleasing and satisfying probably because it was my first and because it was kind of reestablishing myself back after what it happened in Athens. I think last year it was just really enjoyable just to get out there and just to be racing again. I felt like I had missed it a lot with the time that I had had through pregnancy and then with the injury afterwards. It was a longer break, and I think probably more of a lift in enjoyment and just exhilaration to be back racing again as I remember running over the Verrazano Bridge last year, and it meant a whole big deal to me just to be out there racing with everyone else, and then to defend is important, too. Q. Kind of a fun question. You've become the rock star of the sport, and here in New York you can't walk down the street or walk through a hotel lobby without masses of people all over you. For those of us who are runners, how do you get through the park in the morning? How do you get your workouts in? Do you have a peloton of people around you protecting you or do you sneak out at 4:00 in the morning? PAULA RADCLIFFE: No, I've just been going out at my regular times, going out to the reservoir and running around. I think that's one of the things I love about coming to New York in marathon week. You can go out and run around, and it seems like everyone in the park is either getting ready to run in the race or is going to be out there supporting or is going to be here supporting somebody else, and that's like one big family, all that running around. So I don't find it a problem at all. I think it's really key to my buildup to get out and run around the reservoir and kind of savor being back in New York but also soak up the excitement and the atmosphere building up towards the race. RICHARD FINN: Just one note here. Paula has run for a lot of lines in the history books and record books. Grete Waitz has won nine titles here; she's obviously our record holder. There are six ladies with two titles, including Paula, so if she wins on Sunday, she takes over second place all-time behind Grete. Mary? MARY WITTENBERG: Thank you, Richard. We have two big goals at New York Roadrunners, to build the sport and to get everyone moving to help them live fitter lives. When we recruit our field, we look for athletes that can help us do that, and none better than Paula Radcliffe. I know you inspired legions of moms last year to get out there and get moving and get to the marathon, and kids in the schools and the programs are all excited you're back and the public is excited, so we really thank you for coming back. We've come to expect big things of you, and I know we can expect a spectacular day on Sunday, so thank you. RICHARD FINN: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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