For once, the marathon will not see her in the guise of Superwoman. She'll be here in a new role as Auntie Paula.
For a week last Friday, Martin was offered a delightful distraction from his race preparations when his wife Nicole gave birth to their baby girl, Maya. Paula and husband Gary Lough have visited the new arrival at Martin's Bedfordshire home.
It is said that Paula's exploits must have inspired thousands to take up running. In Martin's case, watching her set a new world record of 2hrs 15min 25sec last year was partly the prompt for him to renew acquaintance with the sport he'd lost touch with since his teenage days when he used to train seriously alongside his sister for Bedford AC.
The other was seeing former boxer Michael Watson's courageous battle to complete the course last year and raise funds for the Brain and Spine Foundation, a charity which aims to maximise the quality of life for people-with neurological disorders. Running was always in the Radcliffe blood. Nine years ago, Martin and Paula used the tube to follow their dad Peter's progress in the race and he apparently wasn't too chuffed when the kids ate his Mars bar prize.
In those days, Martin wasn't a bad middle-distance runner, reaching county standard and once earning a top 50 finish in the Inter-Counties junior championship.
Whisper it quietly but he very occasionally bettered Paula, who was two years his senior. "I beat her times in a couple of cross-country events. It didn't make her too happy."
That blind will to win was always going to make her different. Martin drifted away from the sport at 18 or 19, got into travelling and then into a career which these days sees him as a regional commercial manager for an international office letting company.
He remembers going to Boston in 1991 with the family to watch Paula slog through the snow to win the World Cross Country Championships race. It was probably the moment he realised just how special a runner she was going to be.
Even during those subsequent years when she'd front run relentlessly and get picked off on the final lap, near misses which Martin admits were hard to watch, he never doubted her.
"It was because we could always see that she came out of it even more determined to succeed next time," said Martin.
Since last year's marathon triumph, of course, injuries and illness setbacks have interrupted her progress but Martin is convinced that, on top of her game again, there will be only one winner on the roads of Athens and he'll be there to see it.
"I know I'm biased," he said. "But I don't think I've ever come across anyone so determined, dedicated and driven to achieve yet who has also remained such a great person through it all."
To sponsor Martin Radcliffe, contact the Brain and Spine Foundation on 0207 793 5906 or www.justgiving.com/runradclifferun
