Lance Armstrong: "Going under three hours in the New York Marathon was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life"

Lance Armstrong retired from cycling in 2005 after winning seven consecutive Tour de France. Then he would make the mistake of returning in 2009, which would end up "forcing" the USADA to investigate him and the rest was history. Recently when taking up a marathon his experience ended in disaster.

If Michael Jordan was into baseball, Armstrong was into racing, and he did it. He prepared thoroughly and competed in the 2005 New York Marathon, which he considers the hardest race he has ever run: "Going under three hours in the New York Marathon was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

Thus, the controversial Texan achieved a great time under 3 hours in the Big Apple, something that, as he explains, was the hardest thing he had to face in his life as an athlete, even harder than any stage in the Tour de France:

"I try to remember my worst days in the Tour and I can't come up with any that were as bad as this one. Nothing I've done has let me down as much as this. My calves started to hurt around the half marathon and going through Harlem my legs were really heavy. With three miles to go I just couldn't take it anymore and stopped. My body was hurting so much that I didn't know if I could achieve my goal. But I made it.