Paula's rich seam of form continued throughout 2003, as she returned to London to run her third marathon. Running on home ground, Paula was keen to set another world record but after improving the mark by such a significant margin the previous year, she knew the task wouldn't be an easy one. But boy, did she make it look easy!
Her awesome display of front-running resulted in a staggering world record time of 2:15:25. Amazingly and amusingly, no British male bettered that mark in 2003! It is a time that no other woman has yet come within three minutes of.
Because of a leg injury during 2003, Paula was forced to miss the World Championships in Paris that year where she was being billed as the big favourite for the 10,000m title. By September she had recovered enough to return to racing and set another world-best in her first race back over 5km. Two weeks later she ran the world's fastest ever half marathon, followed by a win at the World Half Marathon Championships - her third World Half Marathon title in the space of four years.
Her next race was a bit of a set-back, at the Chiba Ekiden relays. Running the 10km leg for Britain, she was beaten by Berhane Adere due to a virus. Luckily, she regained enough form to clinch the European Cross Country title by nine seconds, to end the year on yet another high.
The following year, 2004, was a memorable one for many different reasons. Another injury prevented Paula from entering the World Cross Country Championships but a few months later she had recovered in order to compete at the European Cup in Bydgoszcz. Her win over 5000m was a much-needed one and was also a British record (14:29.11), but it wasn't enough to save the British women's team from relegation in the team competition.
A week later, Paula returned to Britain to run a 10,000m in Gateshead, as she wanted to get the Olympic qualifying time for the distance. Almost a minute-and-a-half inside the qualifying time (running 30:17.15), Paula was slightly disappointed at failing to break the 30-minute barrier but acknowledged that the cold, windy and blustery conditions prevented her somewhat. (Statistician Peter Matthews estimated the poor conditions cost Paula around 1 second per lap, indicating sub-30min potential that day). Everything looked on course heading towards Athens.
In a training session soon before Athens, a slight niggle in her leg developed into a debilitating pain, causing her leg to seize up completely. As the weeks progressed, the injury didn't improve. If anything, things were getting worse and time was running out. Paula's physical therapist, Gerard Hartman, prescribed a course of anti-inflammatories to help ease the swelling. But as the dosage increased, Paula's stomach started to feel the effects.
Race day soon arrived and although Paula felt drained and nowhere near well enough to race, this was the Olympics - a once-every-four-years opportunity and the biggest stage on which any athlete could compete. She wasn't going to give in without a fight. Choosing not to break away in usual fashion, she sensibly decided to stick with the leading pack. But sure enough, the stomach pains returned and the pain in her leg was very much present. After 20km, the Japanese athlete Mizuki Noguchi made a break and a few others tentatively pushed the pace in order to stay in contention. Visibly in pain, Paula kept giving everything she had in order to get through the race, desperately trying to take in every last drop of her carbohydrate drinks from the drinks-stations along the way. With just 6km to go however, she was running on empty and had nothing left, forced to pull out.
Distraught, exhausted and emotionally drained, Paula faced a difficult few days after the marathon. After much deliberation, she decided to enter the 10km race five days later. She reasoned "it came down to the fact that my next Olympic race was either in a few days or in four years." But after her body taking a beating from a brutal Marathon a few days prior, Paula dropped out of the 10km before she caused any serious damage to her leg.
Paula has openly admitted that Athens was the worst moment of her career. Some of that pain however, was remedied with a win at the New York Marathon almost three months after Athens. Many were apprehensive over Paula's decision to run, thinking it may end in further disappointment or another injury. Yet Paula maintained she was in decent shape and knew what she was doing. However, with the starting list shaping up to be one of the greatest female marathon fields ever assembled, even the most die-hard Paula fans would have had some doubt over how she would fare in the race.
With one of the most nail-biting and exciting finishes ever witnessed in marathon history, Paula won the New York race by four seconds over friend and rival, Susan Chepkemei. Paula's sprint finish in New York was reminiscent of her finish at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships and was a signal that her feet were firmly on the road to recovery. Her winning time at New York (2:23:10) was eight minutes slower than her world record, but three minutes quicker than the winning time in Athens. But Paula maintained the time wasn't important. "The time didn't matter today. What mattered was winning."
Here's hoping that the road to Beijing and beyond will bring many more wins and records along the way!
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