Marathon Man

A few years ago I chased Lance Armstrong around France and ultimately to Paris where he won (of course) the Tour de France. And today I got to chase him a bit more by attending the New York City Marathon where he finished just shy of three hours. He said afterwards, "For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done. I didn't train enough for a marathon. In 20 years of pro sports and endurance sports, even the worst days on the Tour, nothing felt like that or left me the way I feel now."

Unfortunately, we saw Lance but you can't pick him out in any of our pictures. That said, here are a few images from the day, taken just off Central Park on the Upper East Side. Click on any of them to enlarge them.














Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos, the first South American to win the New York City Marathon.














Kenyans Stephen Kiogora and defending champion Paul Tergat.














Defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka, from Latvia, sped away from the other top contenders early in the race and ran by herself to the end, becoming the first woman in more than a decade to win two straight titles in New York. Unfortunately, I missed snatching a picture of her though I did get some of the ladies hot on her heels.














After the elite crowd, came the great unwashed masses--more than 37,000 of them. They came in great, undulating torrents, moving down the artery-like streets to the encouragement of those huddled on the streets to cheer them on.