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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Lance Armstrong to Run Boston Marathon

Posted January 17th, 2008 at 1:22 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Lance Armstrong plans to extend his marathon career by running the 2008 Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today. It will be his third marathon; he ran the ING New York City Marathon in both 2006 and 2007.

In a press release the B.A.A. took care to explain that Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, had actually qualified for the race like any other runner by running a 2:46:43 at New York last November (the qualifying standard for men 35 to 39 is 3:15:00). Most of the 22,473 runners who entered Boston last year had to qualify, although some were granted entry through charity groups or other special entry programs.

As in his two previous marathons, Armstrong will be running to raise money for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, which pursues an agenda focused on cancer prevention, access to screening and care, the improvement of the quality of life for cancer survivors, and an investment in research. Armstrong survived testicular cancer which was diagnosed in 1996.
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Athletes on Performance- Enhancing Drugs Risk Harming Their Children

Posted November 30th, 2007 at 4:10 PM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Nutrition, Supplements, Health & Fitness, Drugs In Sports

Some people think that we should let athletes take performance- enhancing drugs because they think that these athletes can only harm themselves and do not harm others. We already know that anabolic steroids can cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes, and that growth hormone causes heart attacks by causing the heart muscle to outgrow its blood supply. Now a two-year study of former East German athletes shows that athletes who take these drugs can harm their children.

In the 1970s and 80s, almost all government sponsored East German athletes were forced to take anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. A study of 69 children of 52 of these athletes showed that seven had birth defects and four
were mentally retarded, an unusually high incidence for a group of this size. More than 25 percent had allergies and 23 percent had
asthma. The women suffered 32 times the normal incidence of miscarriage and stillbirth, 25 percent suffered cancer and 61 percent had therapy for mental disorders. The study was conducted by Dr. Giselher Spitzer at Humbolt University in Germany.
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USATF Delegates Debate Headphones Ban

Posted November 29th, 2007 at 11:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Motivation, Music

Delegates to the USATF convention who attended the open session of the Long Distance Running Division chaired by Fred Finke were anxious to debate the ban on headphones in road races which was imposed by USATF at last year’s convention.

“We realize this issue has caused a great deal of angst,” said Finke, who has received hundreds of e-mails on the subject. “It seems to be a hot button issue.”

USATF enacted the ban in accordance with a rule put in place by the IAAF which banned the use of headphones in championship events. The IAAF ban was intended to prevent athletes from receiving information via radio about the whereabouts of their rivals, a practice which is permitted in the big bicycle tours, like the Tour de France.

But in practical application, it has meant that recreational runners are not allowed to wear MP3 players, like Apple’s iPod, and listen to music during road races. Only a handful of U.S. races have actively enforced the ban.
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Note on the News: Lance Armstrong in NY Times

Posted October 3rd, 2007 at 11:15 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

Lance Armstrong was in New York City yesterday to speak with the media on the 11th anniversary of his cancer diagnosis. As reporter Frank Litsky explains in today’s New York Times, Armstrong will once again be running the ING New York City Marathon to raise money for the anti-cancer Lance Armstrong Foundation.

“I’m shooting to break three hours again,” said the seven-time Tour de France champion. “I think I can do it, I hope.”

You can read the full story here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/03/sports/othersports/03lance.html

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Live @ the NYC Marathon: Lance Armstrong finishes in 2:59:37

Posted November 5th, 2006 at 1:12 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

Lance Armstrong has done it - completing his first ever marathon in 2:59:37; coming in 824th place among the male finishers and averaging a 6:51 min/mi pace. Armstrong looked strong throughout the marathon; often pushing his pace team and successfully achieved his goal of breaking 3 hours (although just barely). Only at the very end did Armstrong show the pain he was feeling.

Throughout the entire 26.2 mile course Armstrong received incredible crowd support. The more than 2 million spectators consistently screamed his name and yelled out encouraging words. His appreciation was obvious and he seemed to feed off the crowds enthusiasm for the seven-time Tour de France winner. Read the rest of this entry »

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Predict Lance Armstrong’s NYC Marathon Time & Win a Year of Shoes!

Posted October 5th, 2006 at 4:42 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Announcements, Marathons, Gear & Apparel, Running Shoes

Lance Armstrong has already won the Tour de France (A record setting seven times in a row), beat testicular cancer, raised millions of dollars for cancer research and started a fashion craze with his “LIVESTRONG” bracelets.

So after all that - what is good ol’ Lance doing to enjoy his well deserved retirement? Running the ING New York City marathon on November 5th (Isn’t that every retiree’s dream?!?!).

In honor of this incredible cyclist, athlete and humanitarian - Rodale, Inc. (Publisher of Runner’s World Magazine) has decided to give away a year of free running shoes to the person who comes the closest to predicting Lance’s finishing time. The winner, who will be notified on November 10th, will have their choice of up to seven pairs of running shoes from any national manufacturer (Worth about $900 in retail value).

Go ahead and test your ability to predict the future and try to come away with those free shoes (BTW - I am a size 12 if you win and maybe want to throw a pair my way!). To enter, please go to the official contest page.

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