I didn't appreciate the fact that I was going to grow and develop

"It's funny, but when I look back at the first British record that I ever set, in the Under-15 age group for 1500 metres back in 1988, I didn't quite appreciate the worth of it.

It was at the English Schools Championships on a cold and windy day in Yeovil, and I ran 4min 27.9sec. At the time, all I could see was what times the senior athletes were running and how way off I was from that. It's crazy to reflect on that now because you'd imagine you would be thinking, 'Oh, I'm only 14'.

I was pleased, yes, but I didn't think it was special. I remember people saying to me, 'Oh, maybe you could have a future in the sport'. I think it was just the way I was as a person then. I never thought, 'Oh, yeah, that means I'm great now'. I didn't appreciate the fact that I was going to grow and develop. All I saw was the seniors running close to four minutes, and I remember thinking, 'How on earth can that be possible?'

Looking back, I can appreciate what I did. But with youngsters of that age you can never tell who are going to be good as seniors and who aren't. It's all to do with different phases of growth and development. Sometimes you can even grow out of your talent, and sometimes you can grow a talent that maybe wasn't all that apparent at 14 or 15.

In that race at Yeovil, Paula Radcliffe finished down the field [she was eighth in 4min 41.0sec] and she's gone on to achieve such amazing things. She actually became stronger as she got older. So you never know. She wasn't winning every track race when she was that age, but what she has achieved as a senior - world record- holder for the marathon - is really awesome. You can only admire her. Someone sent me a film of the race last summer and you can see Paula running in it. What she's gone on to achieve is really something for all young runners to aspire to.

Jo Pavey, the Commonwealth 5,000m silver medallist who runs for the Great Britain team at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham from 2-4 March, was speaking to Simon Turnbull.

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