JAFO, and I, and many others, reside on a planet called Reality. It's a planet where people care about others, about their jobs, about the fact that their are other things to be done with one's life apart from breaking records. Those of us who reside there aren't afraid to change our minds, or move the goal posts, or do something different, if there seems to be a good reason for doing so...or even if we just want to. We know that there are more important things in life than winning, and medals, and records...that these things are just manmade and basically unimportant. We are flexible and adaptable; we have better things to do than bash our heads against a brick wall for ever, just because we once vowed to knock that wall down. And above all, those of us on this planet don't give a b****r what anyone else thinks. However, we do occasionally - and probably misguidedly - try to explain our point of view to others. We usually fail, because those others simply don't listen; they're incapable of thinking outside the box; they see changing one's mind as indecisiveness, and flexibility and resilience as weakness.
Fellow residents of Reality, I've tried my best to explain, and JAFO certainly has; anyone else want to have a go?
And let's leave Paula Radcliffe out of this, shall we? What does she have to do with anything, except putting one foot in front of the other for longer and faster than anyone else?