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November 05, 2006
7-time Tour de France Winner, First-time NYC Marathon Finisher
Lance Armstrong, in my mind the greatest athlete ever, finished the New York City Marathon today, just seconds under his target time of 3 hours. Unbelieveable! We were standing on Central Park South when he ran past. Not a great photo, but Lance is the guy in sunglasses just behind the raised arm. He looked super strong when he ran past, but we saw his finish on TV later this afternoon, and the shin splints he developed training for the race had clearly given him plenty of trouble.
Watching the marathon brought several tears to my eyes. There is something about 26.2 miles of determination that is incredibly life affirming.
Chis and I have run the New York City Marathon at least twice. (Apparently, turning 40 has impaired my memory, and all evidence is safely stored in plastic bins in Toronto).
While I feel better than I have ever felt before, an interview with Lance weighs heavy with me. He said that training for the marathon aged him more than anything in his life. At 35, that says a lot.
The shame about so much media coverage devoted to the top three runners, and Lance Armstrong, is that it distracts from the other 37,000 runners that finished the race. Each and every one of them is a winner! They all inspire me.
After our awesome efforts as athletic supporters (?!), I dropped Chis at the apartment and went to pick some things up for dinner. I went to my favourite wine store, and the manager, Steve, is a former marathoner and 3-time finisher of New York. When I walked in, he said, "hey, what was your time?". My heart sank. I really had no excuse not to run this year, save for having missed the May deadline, at which time I really wasn't up to it. Lance Armstrong's longest training run was 16 miles, a distance I've done twice in the last 6 weeks. But, of course, I'm not an uber-champion with steel determination. Well, I'm not an uber-champion.
It was truly inspiring to see the hoards of runners, and I decided that one more marathon is in order.
Posted by dave at November 5, 2006 05:25 PM
Comments
Yup! Pink cheeks.
Great pictures.
Love
Posted by: Mum at November 6, 2006 11:03 AM