Radcliffe gave birth to daughter Isla 10 months ago

Radcliffe won the New York Marathon on Sunday just 10 months after giving birth to her first child.

And Radcliffe told BBC Radio 5 Live that she now saw the prospect of prolonging her career until 2012 as a "realistic ambition".

"I'm a long way from wanting to step back and I really do want to continue through 2012 if I can."

After the birth of daughter Isla, Radcliffe had to overcome a back injury.

But the marathon world record holder showed no signs of a problem as she held off great rival Gete Wami to win by 23 seconds in New York.

I'm definitely happier with Isla in our lives so that helps. Paula Radcliffe on her daughter

And she said that the enforced break actually did her good.

"I think the time away from the sport because of the breaks for the pregnancy and then the injury has really refreshed me," she said.

"I came here to win the race and I won the race and I got myself back into racing, which is what I love doing at the end of the day.

"I hadn't had a long time preparing for the race but I'd trained enough to come in with the knowledge I was in good enough shape to challenge to win the race."

Radcliffe had not run a marathon for more than two years but she believes she that being a mother has made her a better athlete.

"I think it's made me stronger," she said.

"If I'm happier, I run better and I race better as well. I'm definitely happier with Isla in our lives so that helps.

She's just a very, very, very gutsy lady Liz McColgan on Radcliffe

"I do think it gives you an extra inner strength as well and extra balance as a person.

"When I went for my first run afterwards everything felt wobbly and it's moved to different places - I had to do a lot of core stability and a lot of strengthening work.

"In some ways because of all that work that I've done I'm stronger than I was before."

Former world champion Liz McColgan said Radcliffe's injury problems were more of a hurdle to overcome than the recovery from pregnancy.

McColgan, herself a former New York and London Marathon champion, won the 10,000m at the 1991 world championships in Tokyo just nine months after giving birth to her first child.

"Paula had an awful lot of injury problems," McColgan told BBC Radio 5 Live. "It was one thing after another, so it's more her guts and her determination to come back from all of that, with all the negativity that was around her.

"People were suggesting 'she'll never do it again, she's had her best race', and she's come out and blown an absolutely fantastic field away.