Cathy
11-04-2007, 01:26 PM
Lance Armstrong once again took to the streets – this time along a 26.2-mile route through all five boroughs of New York, for the city's 38th annual Marathon on Sunday.
"In all honesty, it's a huge challenge," the seven-time Tour de France champ, 36, told local station WNBC at the starting point of the race, near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island.
Armstrong, who said he trained more this year than he did in 2006 (his first time in the NYC challenge), also exhibited some, uh, interesting pre-marathon behavior over the past week – nuzzling with Ashley Olsen, and hitting a series of fashionable watering and dining spots around town.
Joining the approximately 39,000 other runners on Sunday, Armstrong said he was "pain free" this year. "It was so hard last year," he said. "I had no idea what I was doing."
Still, last November he finished in just under three hours, and this year he said his aim was to come in at 2:50.
Barely an hour into the race, a TV reporter sidled up to Armstrong and asked if he'd brought along an entourage.
Not breaking his step, the retired cyclist acknowledged those keeping pace with him on the street and pointed out "a dude with green hair. I got like 20 languages around me ... the great people of New York."
"In all honesty, it's a huge challenge," the seven-time Tour de France champ, 36, told local station WNBC at the starting point of the race, near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island.
Armstrong, who said he trained more this year than he did in 2006 (his first time in the NYC challenge), also exhibited some, uh, interesting pre-marathon behavior over the past week – nuzzling with Ashley Olsen, and hitting a series of fashionable watering and dining spots around town.
Joining the approximately 39,000 other runners on Sunday, Armstrong said he was "pain free" this year. "It was so hard last year," he said. "I had no idea what I was doing."
Still, last November he finished in just under three hours, and this year he said his aim was to come in at 2:50.
Barely an hour into the race, a TV reporter sidled up to Armstrong and asked if he'd brought along an entourage.
Not breaking his step, the retired cyclist acknowledged those keeping pace with him on the street and pointed out "a dude with green hair. I got like 20 languages around me ... the great people of New York."