NYC Marathon

Lance Armstrong ran the NY Maraton today and finished less than 30 seconds under his goal of 3 hours.

I have a few thoughts about his accomplishment. First, this is a very good time and nothing to be sneezed at. That said, he finished 30 seconds under his goal. This means he was working very, very hard to meet that goal. Who would expect less than a 6 (7?) time champ of the tour de France. Dave and I have both had very specific goals for our marathon times and to make it, you have to focus in a way that denies every feeling in your body. And considering how competitive an athlete he is, one has to imagine how hard he focused to get in under his goal.

AND he said it was the hardest physical thing he's ever done.

HELL YEAH!!!

I'm telling you than a marathon is an evil animal that will bite you in the butt if you don't pay it enough respect. And his longest run was only 16 miles. That's craziness right there. He should have at least done a 20 miler. Everything changes once you get pastt 18 miles. Your body needs to know what that feels like.

I'm also here to tell you that Dave ran a 3:22 marathon. That's only 20 minutes slower than Lance Armstrong. Right now, there are millions of marathoners comparing themselves to Lance Armstrong and feeling a wee bit better about their own best marathon time.

ETA: I love it when I'm right! Here's the most recent NYT story about Lance basically saying at mile 18, the marathon became hell.