Lance Armstrong
From WikiRun
| Lance Armstrong | |
| Event | marathon |
|---|---|
| Height | 5-9 |
| Weight | 1993: 174 1999: 163 lbs |
| Born | Sept. 18, 1971 at Plano, TX |
Lance Armstrong (b. September 18 1971, Plano, Texas) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France seven consecutive times, from 1999 to 2005. In doing so, he beat the previous records of five wins by Miguel Indurain (consecutive) and Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil. Previous to this achievement, he also survived testicular cancer, a germ cell tumor that metastasized to his brain and lungs in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy.
Running career
After his retirement from professional cycling, Armstrong continued to stay fit and decided to run the New York City Marathon accompanied by friend Robert Mc Elligott.Together with Nike, he assembled a pace team consisting of well known runners Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Hicham El Guerrouj to help him reach his goal time of 3 hours. He struggled with shin splints and was on pace for a little above 3 hours but pushed through the last 5K to come through at 2:59:36, finishing 856th. He commented that the race was extremely difficult, even when compared to competing in the Tour de France. "For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done. I never felt a point where I hit the wall. It was really a gradual progression of fatigue and soreness." [1] The NYC Marathon had a dedicated camera on Armstrong throughout the event.[2] This camera, according to Armstrong, pushed him to continue without stop through points in which he would have normally "stopped and stretched". He also helped raise $600,000 for his LiveStrong campaign during the run.
Armstrong stated that despite the difficulty he had in the 2006 race, he wanted to do the race again in 2007.[3] On February 12 2007, Armstrong officially announced his decision to enter the November 4 2007, ING New York City Marathon.[4] Armstrong completed the 2007 NYC Marathon in 2:46:43 finishing 232nd. [5]
On April 21 2008, Armstrong completed the 2008 Boston Marathon in 2:50.58, finishing in the top 500. [6]
In late 2008, Armstrong decided to return to competitive cycling. On March 23, 2009, Armstrong and a number of other cyclists crashed during the first stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon race in Spain. He suffered a broken right clavicle, placing his return to the 2009 Tour de France in doubt.[7] Nonetheless, he competed in the 2009 Tour and finished in third place.
References
- ↑ "Lance Armstrong: A Classic Case of Too Much, Too Soon?", TheFinalSprint.com, 7 January 2007.
- ↑ "Watch the NYC Marathon ONLINE - Live or OnDemand!", TheFinalSprint.com, 2 November 2006.
- ↑ "Armstrong to race 2007 NYC Marathon", Reuters, 21 November 2006.
- ↑ "AP report says that Armstrong will run NYC Marathon AGAIN on November 4, 2007", TheFinalSprint.com, 13 February 2007.
- ↑ Results - The ING New York City Marathon
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Giles, Ciarin. "Armstrong Suffers Break in Spanish Warmup Race", Washington Post, March 24, 2009, p. E1.