Paula Radcliffe's Quotes

I have not had the chance to go out there and do myself justice in an Olympic marathon yet. I have not been able to get to an Olympic marathon injury-free yet.

I just want to be in the best shape I can be. Not to stand on that start line and say: 'Oh my God, I have this injury and that injury.' I just want to be able to go out and race.

I set myself some specific goals, but the key one is just getting myself into as good a shape as possible for one day this year: the Olympic marathon.

I took a lot of bad things after Athens. I just learnt to deal with it. The problem was beforehand I had this feeling where I was trying to please everybody - I wanted everybody to like me.

I've had a lot of success over the years racing in New York, but the main point is that I feel the marathon is a different event, a lot more my event.

If you look back at my marathons and ask whether I would swap one of them for my one balls-up, of course I would. But you can't choose. You have to make the best of it on the day.

In my Olympic history I don't think I have achieved my potential as an athlete. That's what I want when I look back at my career. I want to be able to say I gave it my best shot.

In the week before a race, I try to stay away from germ areas. I keep disinfectant wipes in my bag for when I have to use a supermarket trolley or something like that.

It's totally different from last year because I came in with good shape with no health worries so it was about going out there and running well and enjoying it.

To represent your country at a home Olympics is something special and I'm over the moon to be selected for Team GB. I was pleased to get the qualifying time in Berlin earlier this year and my sole focus is getting in the right shape for London.

You can be strong and true to yourself without being rude or loud.

It's important that athletes can compete on a level playing field. And youngsters coming into the sport can know that if they are working hard and training hard, they'll see a true reflection of where they stand and what they can achieve worldwide and not be swayed by people who are cheating.

I am not driven by any bitterness by what happened in Athens. I learnt a lot of lessons from it and probably came through it a stronger person in the end. There have been a lot of near misses, and that's taught me to keep persevering and that there is a chance it can come right.

There's always going to be somebody who takes a dislike to you and you can't waste time worrying about it.

You can wish as hard as you like but all that really matters is the shape you're in on the day of the race. I've always felt these really big races aren't necessarily won by whoever is the fastest. They're won by the athlete who is the smartest and in the best shape on the day.

Never set limits, go after your dreams, don't be afraid to push the boundaries. And laugh a lot - it's good for you!

Yeah, ideally, I'd probably wish to be more anonymous. But scrutiny and success go together. And I want to be successful.

If I start planning then that's dangerous because then I have a target that I'm blinkered towards and I won't listen to the warning signs quite so much. I'd rather be in shape and then look around and say there's a race next week and jump into that than have it planned.

Actually I don't choose to expose myself in public. I choose to compete; the other side just comes with the package.

As an athlete, there are advantages being with a team and getting regular physio.

At big championships it's not the fastest person, it's the person who gets it right on the day.

Every time I go out and race it's a goal to go out and run faster than I've done before.

For an athlete, the biggest pressure comes from within. You know what you want to do and what you're capable of.

From my training I can get a good idea of what I'm capable of.

I actually got a nice surprise about being a mother because I expected it to be harder and to have to make more adaptations.

I am not going to let Athens affect the rest of my life.

I apologise to people when I need to.

I can swim I'm not bad, but not great.

I can't imagine living and not running.

I cry all the time.

I don't feel guilty in having pleasure!

I don't like going away from my children.

I have always run as hard as I can. You are not going to run any harder with or without men. You are running on your own two feet.

I have been doing 120 miles a week, when normally I would do about 140.

I prefer just a women's race. It's a totally different game mentally.

Celibacy is not just a matter of not having sex. It is a way of admiring a person for their humanity, maybe even for their beauty.

I believe that his death and resurrection transformed humanity's relationship with God.

To be a preacher requires two apparently contradictory qualities: confidence and humility.

Claiming that you have got the truth wrapped up does breed violence and intolerance.

Clearly a big challenge for Christianity is how to remain in contact with the millions of people who look for God but do not come to Church.

Seeking the good is not primarily about rules and commandments.

This evening I wish to suggest that we Christians should accompany people on their pilgrimages. Specifically we should travel with people as they search for the good, the true and the beautiful.

The unutterable violence of the Holocaust shook our confidence in the possibility of telling any story of faith at all.

We need a place in which we may flourish and be ourselves.

All the Abrahamic faiths are marked by violence.

At the centre of Christianity is community; we are gathered by the Lord around the altar.

I believe that my own Christian faith does indeed make universal claims.

Indeed if we Christians so tell our story that Judaism is silenced, then we have not spoken rightly of Christ.

Most religions live from a narrative that shapes their relationship with the divine other, God or the gods, and with the human other, the stranger.

One of our deepest needs is to be at home.

Our society has lost confidence in the power of reason, except perhaps scientific reason.

The medieval Church believed that the resurrection of Christ marked a new time for all of humanity.

The next challenge for Christianity is to remind Europeans that we are called to seek the truth.

Thinking that morality is all about commandments is a relatively new way of thinking, since the Reformation.

To be frank, I suspect that today there is little respect for Christianity as source of moral teaching about goodness.

We can identify with Frodo and Sam, setting off not knowing quite where they are going and what they are to do.

What can the Church do? If she stands by her moral teaching, then she will be seen as standing in judgement over a vast percentage of Europeans.

Christians can bring peace to multi-religious Europe because we are able to understand the role of faith in the lives of other believers better than atheists.

Despite all the lunacy of the last century, all the absurdity of war and genocide, we believe that humans being are rational and are made to seek the truth.

The trouble is that after nine years as a Jack of all trades and Master of the Dominican Order, I have no expertise on anything except airports and exotic foods.

I can't pretend to be objective when it comes to service or sacrifice.

I don't want anything bad to happen to me.

I try so hard not to think that I am a stranger in a strange land. But I know that I stand out.

I will stay in the car until the last minute that I'm going to jump out and do a standup or jump out and do some interviews.

I have two children. They're grown children. I don't think they particularly enjoy it when I'm in a dangerous situation, but they also understand that this is something I feel strongly about. It's what I've done my whole life.