Radcliffe in NYC

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.

*From the New York Times

Congrats also to David and Janet .. NYC is not a place to set a PB for most people. It's the experience and if you love to run, then one day put this race on your calendar. The field is about 35,000 and plans are to increase it slowly to 50,000 with several starts.