NEW YORK (AP) — Paula Radcliffe is still challenged by the New York City Marathon, wanting to improve her time and chase the overall title record set by Grete Waitz.

The defending champion will attempt to win her fourth NYC Marathon title at the 40th running of the event on Nov. 1, the New York Road Runners announced Thursday.

“I would love to get that fourth title,” said Radcliffe in a conference call during a training break in Font Romeu, France. “But I think to get as close as I could get to Grete’s record, that would mean a lot to me.”

The 35-year-old Radcliffe has a way to go to match Waitz’s record nine NYC Marathons, the last in 1988.

On her 56th birthday Thursday, the NYRR selected Waitz as Marathoner of the Decade for the 1980s. Waitz, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, will be at the Norwegian run on Saturday in Central Park.

New York hasn’t had a four-time winner since Waitz won her fourth in 1982.

“Paula has attained larger-than-life stature here,” said Mary Wittenberg, NYRR president and race director. “Our modern day Grete is ready to go.”

The British runner won the New York City Half-Marathon in August, finishing 2 seconds off the course record. But Radcliffe missed the world championships in Berlin because she needed more time to recover from foot surgery in March.

“The foot’s feeling good, it’s really settled down a lot,” she said. “I can actually almost forget about it.”

Now Radcliffe is only bothered by a nagging hamstring injury, but she feels she’s put in the mileage to repeat in the five-borough race.

Radcliffe’s best time in New York is 2:23:09 in 2007. The marathon world-record holder wants to bring down her time. Margaret Okayo holds the course record of 2:22:31 set in 2003

“I still feel the New York course is a bit of a challenge for me,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve gotten the better of it yet time-wise.

“I just think that really on a good day, with good conditions, that I should be capable of pushing the course record down around 2:20,” she said.

She won’t have two-time champion Elena Prokopcuka in the field to push her. Prokopcuka recently withdrew because she is pregnant. Other contenders in the field include 2000 champion Ludmila Petrova of Russia and Yuri Kano of Japan.

As a tuneup for the NYC Marathon, Radcliffe will compete in the world half marathon championships on Oct. 11 in Birmingham, England. She has other plans as well.

“Lots of things are still goals in my career,” she said. “I want to go back and win more (in) London, win more in Chicago, and obviously, 2012 (London Olympics).”

After her appearance in New York, Radcliffe will work her training schedule around a goal set with her husband, Gary. They plan to give their 2-year-old daughter, Isla, a sibling before the 2012 London Olympics.

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