World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe has ruled out an immediate return to competitive racing after a spate of injuries and surgery all helped to scuttle her latest ambition to race in this year's London Marathon
Paula Radcliffe
Iten, Kenya: World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe has ruled out an immediate return to competitive racing after a spate of injuries and surgery all helped to scuttle her latest ambition to race in this year's London Marathon.
Paula Radcliffe
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"At this point I don't know when I will make a comeback because I had major surgery when I was unable to take part in the London Olympics in 2012, " Radcliffe said.
Radcliffe is in Kenya for training and to also mentor the young British runners preparing here for the London Marathon and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Her last competitive outing was in early 2012.
"End of August 2012 I had the big surgery and I wasn't able to run at all until April of 2013, and then it was very sore and pretty painful. I took a slow build-up so I am now able to run once a day an hour or two hours and it seems to be coming back," she said.
"But I don't want to push it either. I want to have the gift of being able to go out for a run everyday when I want to run. So I don't want to jeopardise that but if I can come back and run one more marathon or even a half marathon I will be very happy because I can finish on my terms," added the two-time London Marathon champion.
Radcliffe said she was disappointed not to come back and lower her record of 2:15.25 she set in London in 2003, which has been a subject of discussion by her Kenyan opponents, who have aspired to join forces to break the mark.
"I thought at the time that I could come back and run quicker but then injuries came and illness meant I couldn't have been in good enough shape at the time of the race and now it is a little bit too late in my career to be able to run in 2-sub 15 again," said the 37-year-old mother of two.
"Realistically the sport is evolving very fast and obviously records are there to be aimed at and to be beaten. I am philosophical about that but at the same time I would like the world record to stand a little bit longer."
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