Although heavily pregnant the Olympian Paula Radcliffe finished a 10 km charity event in brilliant time. Her time was 15 minutes longer than her original world record time of 30 minutes and 21 seconds.
Paula stated she wasn’t “concerned” about her running time but focused on “enjoying” the run. “The run felt good and I had a lot of fun” she said later.
She confessed that she “jogged” the event due to her pregnancy, however that removes none of the admiration we have for her, completing the race in a shocking 45 minutes and 35 seconds.
The charity 10km run, based in Leeds, was run for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal, of which Radcliffe has recently become patron. It raises money for children’s and cancer charities across the globe.
This charity event has become an annual fixture, helping the appeal, which has now raised more than £3 million. Paula stated Jane was an “inspiration…a really good friend and a really great person” and that it was an honour to be asked to become patron. Paula completed the final 100 meters of the race with her three-year-old daughter Isla, whom she was six months pregnant with in 2006 when she ran another 10km run.
Amazingly Paula runs every day saying, “Its good for me… and its good for the baby too”. She also wants to keep up her fitness for the 2012 Olympics, but admits her training has depleted about a third. Paula’s second child is due in September, and by January her Olympic training schedule begins in the US and the Pyrenees to practise running at altitude.
