lance armstrong

Word on the grapevine is that Lance Armstrong is to run the Mile.

No, he hasn't signed up with the Sub-5 Program -- but we're working on it!

We hear that Lance is going to target the Main Street Mile in Boise, Idaho, a race which raises funds for prostate cancer. We wonder if the decision has anything to do with "King of the Mile" Hicham El Guerrouj, who was one of Lance's pacers in his recent marathon?

The Main Street Mile, held at the end of June, is part of the Downtown Mile Race Series; the individual winner of the Men’s and Women’s open wave, as well as the individual winner of the Men’s and Women’s masters wave, win expenses-paid trips to Boulder, CO, to run the Pearl Street Mile.

Being a once newspaper copy editor, I was interested in seeing how headline writers treated Lance's NY Marathon performance. Here are a few headlines. Enjoy...

• Lance Armstrong calls race "more than I could chew ..."
• Armstrong hammered by marathon
• Achy Armstrong meets goal in marathon debut
• Lance: I thought it would be easier
• Lance meets his match
• Lance takes Manhattan
• Armstrong pushed to the limit in NYC Marathon
• For Armstrong, only test is one of endurance
• Lance Armstrong struggles in NYC Marathon
• Armstrong's hardest day
• If marathon is hard for Lance, what's it like for us?
  
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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.

Have you placed your bets in the Runner's World contest?

I have him down for 2:59:58.

Yes, he's 30 pounds heavier than a Paul Tergat and yes, his joints aren't used to the pounding, but this guy has got a very strong mind and a killer competitive instinct.

If Armstrong is way outside 3 hours then he may decide to just have fun and run to finish without doing too much damage to himself. But if he gets within reach of a sub-3-hour run, I'm betting he will go for it.