Armstrong cracks three hours: 'hardest physical thing I've ever done'

Seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong achieved his goal of finishing the New York marathon in under three hours.

BBC news reports: "Armstrong, who was paced for most of the race by greats Alberto Salazar and Joan Benoit Samuelson, recorded two hours 59 minutes 37 seconds.

'It was amazing', the 35-year-old said. 'It would have been three and a half hours without them'."

'That was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I've ever done', he said.

'In 20 years of pro sports, endurance sports, from triathlons to cycling, all the Tours, even the worst days in the Tours, nothing was as hard as that, and nothing left me feeling the way I feel now in terms of just sheer fatigue and soreness.

'I wanted to break three hours, but if you told me, you know, with three miles to go, you're going to do 3:05, I didn't care. I wouldn't have cared.'

As far as predictions went I was close, but Armstrong's finishing burst got him home with more time to spare than I thought -- 21 seconds faster than the 2:59:58 I had him down for.