...and Whiners

Excerpts from “In Under Three Hours, Armstrong Learns Anew About Pain and Racing,” by JULIET MACUR in the New York Times (Nov. 6, 2006):

The marathon was Armstrong’s first major athletic endeavor since retiring from cycling in 2005, and he said he had not prepared for the race as he should have.

Armstrong said he was able to run only about 45 minutes a day, squeezing workouts among appearances for his cancer foundation and jaunts to Los Angeles, hanging out with celebrities. * * *

For the first 10 miles, Armstrong was paced by the former marathon champions Alberto Salazar and Germán Silva. They gave him his split times and cups of water. * * * [Joan Benoit] Samuelson [the 1984 Olympic women's marathon champion] took over as his pacesetter at 10 miles. Two miles later, she said, Armstrong began complaining about his shins. As each mile grew more daunting, she said she gave him focus points to go after — like a man in a red singlet ahead of him, or a brick building one block ahead. She told him just to make it to Mile 20, then it would become easier. * * * Hicham el-Guerrouj, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters, joined Armstrong and Samuelson with about six miles to go. At that point, as the clocked ticked closer to three hours, Armstrong said he wasn’t thinking about the time. He just wanted it to end.

“I was so tired, I just didn’t care,” he said.

At the finish, he doubled over. After his news conference at the New York Athletic Club, he limped out of the room. “I’m a cripple,” he said, needing a boost into a waiting van. * * * “I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’ve never felt this bad, ever,” he said. “My legs are killing me. My back doesn’t feel that great, either. I’m really suffering.”

When he arrived at his hotel, Armstrong hobbled out of the van, looking stunned as he walked through the lobby and into an elevator. He got off on the floor that has the spa.

“Which way to the hot tub?” he said as the spa’s door closed behind him.

Armstrong is to be congratulated for his strong finishing time (just under three hours), and for sticking it out to the end of the race. But he lacked the grace and style of the tens of thousands of less-athletic marathoners who prepared for this race much more rigorously than he did. And I wouldn't say he made any particular effort to "keep it real."