The world marathon record holder, who has failed to win a medal in three Olympic appearances, gave birth to a son, Raphael, in September.

She told Hello! magazine in a published today that is already plotting her course to glory at London in 2012 and started light training only a few days after the birth.

"I probably had a week completely off [after the birth]," she told the magazine.

"I started doing a bit of cross training, walking and pelvic floor exercises, things like that.

"I'm hoping to do some running by Christmas and be back to doing normal training in January.

"The big goal for me is 2012 and running a marathon some time in 2011 to qualify."

Radcliffe has not raced since finishing fourth in the New York City Marathon in November 2009.

Radcliffe finished fourth in the 10,000 metres at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and failed to finish the marathon in Athens four years later when she was the overwhelming favourite but suffered through a combination of injury and illness.

In Beijing her build-up was again compromised by injury and she was far from her best as she finished 23rd.



The Bedford runner has claimed that her career will not be defined by what she achieves in the Olympics but she is confident of finally winning her first medal in London.

Radcliffe claimed has a "really, really good feeling" about 2012.

She will be 38 when the London Olympics takes place but claims that she is getting stronger.

"With long distances, the extra maturity almost helps in a way," she told Hello!.

"I've found that as I've got older, my endurance gets stronger."

Radcliffe also revealed during the interview about how traumatic the birth of Raphael was and that he needed to spend time in an incubator after being delivered.

"He had the cord wrapped twice round his neck," said Radcliffe.

But he is now in perfect health and has joined Radcliffe, her husband Gary Lough and three-year-old daughter Isla at home in Monte Carlo.

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