Le Tour! Viva Lance! Cha-Ching!

Quick, find Lance!

38,000 people ran in this year's "NYC ING Marathon brought to you by NBC in HD". I watched the first half on TV, wondering where the only face I recognize in the sport was (that british woman who fell in the Olympics).

And then, looking at the clock, I headed out to Central Park to see the masses cheer on the only person that they let use a name as their shirt number. "Lance". It was actually pretty easy to time. Lance had been very forthcoming with his goal of running the marathon in under 3 hours. He also said he only ran 16 miles at his longest and gained a bit of weight. He didn't expect anything big.

Well, NBC did. The question of how to keep ratings up after the main finishers wrap up in only a couple of hours was answered. Lance. Running 3 hours. 1 more hour of commercials. 1 more hour of programming. Viva le Lance!

OK, so I'm a bit cynical. But when the best cyclist in the history of the world takes 3 hours to run 24 miles, I have good reason to be. Trust me, I set up at mile 24 and he wasn't laboring.

But it suckered me in. There I was. Snapping photos. 'cause while I may have been cynical of the purpose, I definately appreciated the spectacle.

Photos