Lance At Boston?

So, did you hear the news yesterday? Lance is going to run Boston. No, I'm not kidding.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong plans to run the 112th Boston Marathon in April to raise money for his foundation. This race will be the American's third marathon. The 36-year-old cycling champion qualified for the Boston Marathon with a 2:46:43 finish at the 2007 ING New York City Marathon. Boston's qualifying time for Armstrong's 35-39 year-old age group is 3:15:00.

"For him to qualify in New York and then to take that time and apply it to Boston says a lot about what Boston means to the sport of marathoning," said Jack Fleming, a spokesman for the Boston Athletic Association. "It's tough to call your marathon career complete without running Boston."

Armstrong won the 1993 World Cycling Championship as well as multiple stages of the Tour de France before being diagnosed with an aggressive form of testicular cancer in 1996. Though the cancer spread to his lungs and brain, Armstrong recovered to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999-2005.

Following his retirement from professional cycling, Armstrong competed in the 2006 ING New York City Marathon, completing the race in 2:59:36. He returned to New York City a year later, improving his time to 2:46:43. Armstrong and others running for the foundation raised about $500,000 at the 2007 ING New York City Marathon.

The 112th Boston Marathon will be held on Monday, April 21, 2008, Patriots' Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The race begins at 10:00 a.m.

Okay, any predictions out there? I'll venture out on a limb and say 2:42:16 ... though he did look a little winded at NYC'07 ...