Simple Runner wrote:
Well, the quest is now over and settled. May she make peace with the givens of her life. I Imagine it's hard for a woman w/ a stratospheric 2:15 world record to walk away without not just the gold but any Olympic medal.
I think she's up to it (making peace) while the public may not be able to. I don't know Paula (but would love an intro, haha). Here's my Paula story (which many current GBTC runners could verify to some extent)
I got on the Paula bandwagon in 2001 when she finished 4th in the WC 10k and her then-fiance and coach Gary Lough came out and yelled at her for doing all the work (or not running to plan I guess). I guess she forgave him :-) I admired her front-running - having no kick, i've tended to do the same (sorry, seems weird to compare me vs Paula, but there it is). I happened to be in London at
http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/51/so I watched the race live on Brit TV, thank god.
next year she started to hit her stride with a Euro 10k record (no pun intended), and the rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUvBLtykg0MThis may not be 100% correct - some of this has been hard to fact-check. it's all from memory.
oh yeah, and I adopted a cat in May 2002 and called her Paula. no shiznit. i'm serious about T&F.
oh, and i have a broken left shoulder, as reported elsewhere, so sorry for the lack of CAPS.
Bruce Davie
Former GBTC President