Radcliffe in NYC

This is what the New York Times wrote of Paula Radcliffe's victory at the NYC marathon.

On a windy, cold morning, Radcliffe ran a pitiless race, leading from beginning to end over 26.2 miles, hammering the pace, shedding the rest of the field with four miles still remaining and winning New York for the third time in 2 hours 23 minutes 56 seconds, completing the second half of the race nearly three minutes faster than the first half.

She did not come close to her world record of 2:15:25, but that was not the point on the hilly course. Victory in New York is always more important than time.

Sunday’s win will give Radcliffe leverage when her Nike contract comes up for renewal in January and will let the rest of the world’s top marathoners know that she is serious in her ambition of challenging for a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. By then she will be 38, the same age as the 2008 Olympic champion, Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania.

And congrats to Janet, David and Anders for persevering on a cold day! NYC is all about the experience.