Armstrong's 'hardest' race

"I can tell you, 20 years of pro sports, endurance sports, from triathlons to cycling, all of the Tours, even the worst days on the Tours, nothing was as hard as that and nothing left me feeling the way I feel now, in terms of just sheer fatigue and soreness," Armstrong told a post-race press conference.

"For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done."

"I never felt a point where I hit the wall, it was really a gradual progression of fatigue and soreness."

Armstrong's time was 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds, just under the three hour goal he had set for himself before the race.

Lance was paced by such marathon greats Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit Samuelson, German Silva and defending Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj.

By the end of the race the record-holding Tour conqueror needed to thickly tape his right shin before giving the press conference.

"I think I bit off more than I could chew, I thought the marathon would be easier," Armstrong said.

"(My shins) started to hurt in the second half, especially the right one. I could barely walk up here, because the calves are completely knotted up."

"Before the race that was my goal, I wanted to break 3 hours. But if you told me with 3 miles to go, 'You're going to do 3:05,' I wouldn't have cared," he said. "Honestly, at the end I was so tired, I couldn't care. Now I'm glad I did."