Yesterday afternoon I sat and watched one of the greatest distance runners this country has ever produced, win the New York marathon just eleven weeks after she was written off by just about every running “expert” on the planet.
Paula Radcliffe’s failure to finish both the Olympic marathon and 10k has been done to death, but ultimately if you’re not running right on the day there’s nothing you can do about it. Every single one of us has the occassional ‘bad day at the office’, just most of us don’t have to suffer it in front of the world’s media.
Yesterday’s race wasn’t fast, but the final five miles were compelling viewing as both Radcliffe and Chepkemei made repeated attempts to kick the pace and kill off their opponent; Chepkemei managed to eke out a four metre lead on a couple of occasions but Paula hung in there and didn’t let the Kenyan get away. And then at 400 metres Paula put in her own kick, and strode off to win.
Considering all the crap she had to read and listen to in the media after Athens, and all the so called “experts” calling time on her running career… well I sat and watched yesterday’s finish and found it absolutely inspirational. 🙂
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November 8, 2004 at 11:11 am