Paula Radcliffe sets sights on 2013 London Marathon

Paula Radcliffe has set her sights on the 2013 London Marathon as she recovers from a serious foot injury.

Radcliffe, who has suffered with osteoarthritis in her foot during her career, says she was recently told that she would not be able to run again.

But Radcliffe, forced to withdraw from the London Olympics, has had surgery and hopes to be running in December.

"I don't want to finish on a down after what happened in the Olympics," Radcliffe told BBC Sport.

"Some people told me before the Olympics that I wouldn't be able to run on it [her injured foot] ever again.

"I didn't really accept that so I met with different people, got different scans and met with the surgeon who had actually done the surgery on my other foot back in 2009.

"He said 'I really think we can do something' so I had surgery just over two weeks ago in California, and he was able to remove a lot of debris.

"It's going to be a long and tedious road back, but hopefully with a positive outcome."

Asked whether she was hoping to take part in the London Marathon on 21 April, Radcliffe replied: "That's on my mind."

Radcliffe had been dogged by doubts about her fitness in the build-up to London 2012, leading to a trip to Germany for specialist treatment earlier in July.

She won the marathon in the 2005 world championships in Helsinki and has won the London and New York marathons three times each.

The Bedford club runner broke the marathon world record in the 2003 London marathon in a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 25 seconds.

Radcliffe, who is on crutches for at least another two weeks, admitted that it was "very hard" to watch the Olympics after withdrawing from the Games.

"I was glad I had the courage to go to London and be there because it was hard, very hard, watching my race, especially, and not being able to take part," she added.

"But at the same time I was very, very proud to be British because we did an amazing job, we're still doing an amazing job with the Paralympics."