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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 1, 2009

Paula Radcliffe

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: We have Paula Radcliffe. I think we've seen so many great things and so many fantastic performances from Paula here on the streets of New York, maybe never one as gritty as today. There was no doubt that Paula was maybe a little dinged up or whatever, but never stopped fighting out there. Paula, your comments about today.
PAULA RADCLIFFE: You know, just pretty annoyed. Basically the problem that I alluded to in the press conferences but couldn't really talk about too much came back at 11 miles. I had got it jabbed on Friday, and I really thought it was going to be fine. The first ten miles felt great, but I hadn't been able to run too much on it in the last two weeks.
Really, we thought the race was going to be the first mile, because it's been bothering me uphill. So that's why I didn't want to say too much, because if other people's legs could have gone in the first mile. But I thought it was going to be fine. It really kicked in. The 11 miles felt really painful across the Queensboro Bridge.
So I hung in there, and it seemed to go in waves a bit up First Avenue. But the crowd really helped. Then again got sore in the Bronx. Then it kind of eased off a bit. But apparently it's my femoral nerve in my back started to shut my leg down. So the last four miles I couldn't go up the hill. I still couldn't believe I was running that slow and still in touch. And I think part of me kept still thinking, "You're in New York, it could still work out," even though I was in pain.
But, I kind of was closing when I could down the hills and then losing again up the hills. Then I thought I was going to get back to Christelle and get third along Central Park South. But when I took the corner at Columbus Circle, it just totally went. And I think I would have been quicker walking up that last hill.
THE MODERATOR: In those final miles, mile 24, Paula was 7 seconds behind around mile 25, Paula was 7 seconds still behind Daunay, and then mile 26, I think you pulled within 4 seconds, at least. And did you say -- which leg?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: Left leg.
THE MODERATOR: Left leg. Questions for Paula?

Q. How did the injury happen? I know you said it was a little needle a few weeks ago?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: I was doing my last workouts, so not this Monday but the Monday before that on the track. It was kind of my last hard workout. Should have been 10 by a K, and 8 by a K I started to feel it. So I did that one, and I said I'm not going to do the last one, don't need to.
And in the time that I had to change my shoes, the leg couldn't cool down. So I thought still, don't panic too much. Sometimes things happen like this in the weeks before the race.
So took 24 hours off. Tried to ice the legs, try to run on it. Still there. Went and got it scanned. There's no tear or anything in there. It's like synovitis, it's like where the fluid gets built up, so had that treated with my doctor in Munich, and was really hopeful that it would settle down to give it another 24 hours on Sunday. I was able to train on the elliptical, but when I went around for 20 minutes, it's called crepitus, it's like creaky stuff, came back afterwards. So I had to go back Monday. Got it treated again. This is all with homeopathic stuff, and that just didn't seem to be working. But it seemed to take it away a little bit. Then every time I ran it came back.
So coming out here I ran on Thursday, and it just came back again. So that's when we got the appointment to go and see the doctor here. He just had to put a tiny little bit of something stronger in there. Took it totally away, so I really thought it was going to be fine. I did some strides last night, felt good. Kind of thinking, okay, it's been a really, really rough two weeks, but it will be okay in the race.
Warming up, it felt great. There was nothing there. But the first ten miles I was kind of just floating along thinking let's just get to 15, 16 miles even to the Bronx, and then just really sort of push it from there. But when it went, it just was pretty bad.

Q. Derartu was actually encouraging you during the race. She said, come on, come on. Was that surprising to you to hear that or was it gratifying?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: I think she knew I was -- she could probably see I was in pain, and especially across the Queensboro Bridge there she kind of ran alongside me and was like, come on, come on. We can do it, we can do it. Even when the girls took off she kind of waited with me a bit.
I think because it was a slower pace, I think she was pretty comfortable and knew that if she could close it back up that she was going to take that in the closing mile.
But that's Derartu, she's always been like that.

Q. Is it going to be a long-term injury or something that might disappear?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: No, it will go with rest. There just wasn't quite enough time. Actually, I don't know, it's a bit swollen, but I don't think the crepitus has come back. It was more the fact that the whole leg shut down.
It was something that I'm glad I had before, otherwise I wouldn't have gone to the start line. But they told me there was no way it was going to tear. It would just get to the point where there was no way I could bend the leg, which is kind of what happened. And now it just needs time.

Q. Do you think that your body is trying to tell you something?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: I don't know. I think it's -- well, I know it's related to the hamstring problem there, so I think, again, it's like I said in the press conference on Friday. It's kind of my body adapting to getting back to running on my toe. Maybe I should have like come through a bit steadier this year and just written the year off. But as I said, maybe I didn't have plans for next year. So I wanted to get this out this year. So when this happened so close I had done all the work for the race.
I had a lot of things gone well this year, I might have let this race go. But it was something that was really important to me just to get out and race after all the work. Like I said, I really thought that it was going to work out. Once I was in the race there was no way I was going to drop out of the race unless it got really so, so sore.

Q. You always say that you never go to the start line unless you believe that you can win. Did you genuinely believe you could win or was this a bit of a risk you were talking?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: I knew it was a risk, because if the injury came back then, obviously, I was going to run like I did. But I totally believed that if it hadn't come that I had a chance, and I think I could have won the race. It wasn't won in a really fast time. I think had things carried on to go how they did the first ten miles I would have been fine. So, yeah, it was a risk. Like I said, it was probably a risk that I wouldn't have taken had I had a good year's racing.
But coming into it I had done all the hard work, I just wanted to get out and race. It was here in New York, and I really just had it -- when I cleared on Friday, I had a good feeling it was going to work.

Q. When you came off the Queensboro Bridge it seemed like that was the first sign you had really dropped behind first or second, and then Daunay had kind of surged ahead. It seemed like then you had surged as well and tried to get right back up on her in the second. What was going through your mind when you slipped back into fourth?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, it was really sore when we came up the hill on the Queensboro Bridge. Then I kind of got a drink and things, it came back a little bit when we were having the drinks. It seemed to just ease off a bit. Then it was the downhill run, the sharp turns that it kind of got really sore.
Then on the flat it seemed to be bearable, so I was thinking just keep it moving. I knew that if I stopped that would be it. I wouldn't be able to get started again, so I wanted to just keep it going. And that pain there did kind of get bearable. Then it was just the whole leg started to shut down.

Q. Are you encouraged that two of the women who finished ahead of you are actually older than you?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, I mean, yeah. I certainly don't feel that; okay, I had a bad race today and I was injured that that's the end of my career. I still think there's a long time to go. But, yeah, I've had some bad luck this year, but I don't think it's because I'm older. I think it's because maybe, I don't know -- just once I had that hamstring thing, I had to compensate to things.

Q. You seemed to be very upset when you crossed the finish line. What were your emotions at that moment?
PAULA RADCLIFFE: Well, it was really sore. It was really sore. I couldn't hardly pick up my leg. I was just, obviously annoyed and disappointed because I kind of started the race to win it, and run the race to try to win it.
Even still at 23 miles I was still telling myself stay calm, if you just stay in touch you're still in with a chance. I kind of really thought I could get back to third at least, and then I was just kiss point disappointed.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Paula.

End of FastScripts

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