USA: ATHLETICS - Seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong speaks of his prospects for this Sunday's New York City Marathon

Seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong has his running shoes ready for Sunday's marathon in New York City. The 35 year-old who retired from cycling after winning the 2005 Tour De France, said at a news conference on Friday (November 3) that this is not going to be a competetive event for him. Armstrong said he trained for the marathon to stay in shape. "I've tried to stay busy, tried to stay fit. I understood I would lose some condition and put on 10 or 15 pounds but I didn't want to get to 50. And so this was a logical objective that would keep me inspired to get out there and keep moving," said the cyclist. The champion cyclist has never run a marathon before and is looking forward to this one. He hopes to complete the 26.2 mile (42 kilometres) course in 3 hours. "Seven minute miles is roughly a three hour marathon. I think that's a realistic objective and goal. Again I could be completely wrong. It could be even a little bit faster than that. A lot depends on, I suppose, the way I start." Armstrong began his sporting career as a triathlete, something he said he is still willing to try for fun. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer 10 years ago but overcame the disease to win the Tour a record seven times in a row between 1999 - 2005. Despite looking forward to the running on Sunday, Armstrong says he will always be a cyclist. "As much as I am excited to run on Sunday, I must confess that my favorite thing to do is still go for a bike ride. It's still what I love. I have my bike here in the city with me, for example. I wasn't sure that it would be appropriate to do a lap in the park on the bike. It's almost always with me." Armstrong will be running on Sunday to raise money for cancer research and for his foundation that helps people live with cancer. The New York City Marathon takes place on Sunday, November 5th. Almost 3,000 people will be running to raise money for charities this year.

ITN Source | November 5, 2006

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