I think some of you all are missing my point.
My point is a bit more nuanced than "she physically works harder than anyone else". People say that "well she can work harder because she was doping."
A lot of it had to do with her focus. When she was doing her 2:18 pace runs, they didn't look easy. Same thing when she crossed trained. I remember seeing her on the nordic track for the first time and it looked like she was running the Edmonton 10,000m final. I remember thinking "how can she do this (MENTALLY) day in and day out".
Between runs she was seeing Gerard who I think is an incredible physio. The treatment he did was so damn painful and it didn't phase her. But if there was a way to make your body recover quicker clean, seeing him regularly would be one of them. She was doing all the little things that would enable you to recover quicker. It was sleep, run, do drills and everything else, sleep, run, get some physio, eat some dinner, go to bed. Sure a lot of athletes do this on some scale but the point I was trying to make I've seen a lot of athletes and no one did it on her scale.
It's like Alberto's argument with his athletes, we train and then we do everything else possible that is legal to help them recover better. I myself did "hi-lo" training just driving in my car 2 hours or 4 hours round trip 2-3 times a week to workout. I don't know any other athlete in the World who did this and I got a ton better. So if I had Nike's resources behind me and was seeing the best physios, seeing the best doctors, having my blood work done, even had a van I just sat in the back of so I didn't have to drive I could see myself getting even better.
Everything I learned about her anecdotally said there was something different. Even before she ran her first marathon, some scientists in Britain said she was made for the marathon.
And as for being outspoken against drugs Paula took it to another level. The younger guys on here may not realize she went to Edmonton World Champs and held up a sign "EPO Cheats Out". If a year later she was doping it would shatter my view of the sport and i'm already pretty skeptical.
As for some drug no one knew about that may not have been banned like the GW-501516 sure it's a possibility for any athlete. They also could just be taking EPO or have been doing blood transfusions. A "clean" athlete with a conscious perhaps might more likely take something that specifically isn't banned but I can't disprove a negative.
That's why journalists should perhaps at least ask athletes what they are taking that is legal. Sure they can lie or not answer the question but at least they are then on the record.
Taking it down one level is people on here complaining about Rupp and Goucher being diagnosed with hypothyroidism and getting drugs for that. That is out in the open. If the drugs give an athlete an unfair advantage the authorities should ban them. These drugs are known about and have not been banned. Thus the authorities seem to support the stated view that a lot of runners overtain, throw their thyroids out of whack, and need these drugs and they are legal. Maybe all people who train a lot should test their thyroids. I think a legitimate question to all athletes is, "What supplements are you on?" We want to believe that athletes just go out and train and work hard and do well. That is universal. So if our stars are taking something even legal I can see the public wanting to know what this is. Because ultimately we want sport to be who is the best athlete not who has the best doctor who knows about the latest supplement or drug (even if this drug is legal). So journalists should as Mo Farah if off the track there are any medications or supplements he started since getting with Alberto. Journalists in the US should ask their athletes that as well. If they don't want to answer, then a question to ask them is, "So sport is about who has the best doctors?" or, "Perhaps you're on something that will be banned in the future, is that why you don't want to answer?" Some athletes no doubt will want to keep any competitive advantage secret like their training.
Another thing with Paula is: didn't she pay to have her samples frozen? Were they frozen? If so, that supports the clean argument. I just googled, Paula freeze samples and found this excerpt from her book which indicates her samples may be frozen somewhere:
http://www.paularadcliffe.com/book/20.php
It's a good take on her mindset.