No mountain climb on a bicycle was ever as tough as Sunday's New York City Marathon, Lance Armstrong said after barely meeting his lofty goal of breaking 3 hours in his first marathon.
"For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done," said the seven-time Tour de France champion, who covered 26.2 miles in 2 hours 59 minutes 36 seconds. He had never run farther than 16 miles. "It was really a gradual progression of fatigue and soreness.

"I didn't train enough. In 20 years of endurance sports, even the worst days on the Tour, nothing felt like that or left me the way I feel now."
His body seemed to tighten and showed signs of pain and fatigue in the final few miles. He started to fall off the pace required to break 3 hours, but a final push allowed him to do it.
"At the end I was so tired, I couldn't care," he said. "Now I'm glad I did."
So will he be back?
"Now's not the time to ask that question," he said. "The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind. I don't know how these guys do it."

Lance Armstrong meets goal in painful marathon debut