In an August 22 interview, talk radio host Hugh Hewitt asked GOP Vice Presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan about his best marathon time. Here’s a transcript:
HH: Are you still running?
PR: Yeah, I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore. I just run ten miles or yes.
HH: But you did run marathons at some point?
PR: Yeah, but I can’t do it anymore, because my back is just not that great.
HH: I’ve just gotta ask, what’s your personal best?
PR: Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.
HH: Holy smokes. All right, now you go down to Miami University.
PR: I was fast when I was younger, yeah.
From the outset, runners knew something didn’t add up. Running a sub-3 hour marathon is difficult. Most people who do it are serious about running, and remember their best time to the exact second.
Runner’s World investigated. Sure enough, Ryan had not run under three hours. His time at the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in 1990 was 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
Dude.
The New Yorker got this statement from Rep. Ryan via a Ryan spokesman:
The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight.”
Runners, a data-obsessed lot, were merciless:
“So, 4:01. Hmmm, not only did he not run “2-fifty-something,” but he didn’t have the determination towards the end to at least break four hours.”
“I don’t know my best bowling score, but I know it sure as hell isn’t 250 something.”
“notice in the interview he says ‘I was fast when I was younger, yeah.’ Now I think most average folks think a sub three hour marathon is fast, and an over four hour marathon is slow.”
“Tuesday night will be You Didn’t Run That! night at the DNC.”
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The usual hyper-partisans are all over it:
http://twitter.com/owillis/status/241921151301996546
Ryan marathon fib less impt than the 10 lies in speech but because accessible it will brand him as "Lyin' Ryan" for generation of Dems.
— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) September 1, 2012
Ryan finally admits he's a marathon liar: http://t.co/BvN8l3mZ
— Jennifer Granholm (@JenGranholm) September 1, 2012
They’ve even got a hashtag going: #PaulRyanFeatsOfStrength. Ouch.
Ryan has his defenders:
https://twitter.com/jesseberney/status/241863088691896322
https://twitter.com/skonesam/status/241865914914578432
David Frum (who has been a bitter critic of Ryan) and Hugh Hewitt (see his tweet above) both seem to think this is much ado about nothing:
If Dems challenge Ryan's marathon times, Reps should demand White House release the president's golf scores
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 1, 2012
then in our "tu quoque" political culture, we can proceed to discuss Clinton's mulligans
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 1, 2012
wondering about the real weight of those trout Cheney claims to have caught …
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 1, 2012
Headline: politicians exaggerate their personal stories. See Barack Obama's uncle, military experiences of. http://t.co/hq5ru39O
— David Frum (@davidfrum) September 1, 2012
Others agree:
Who cares how fast Paul Ryan runs a marathon?
— Geoffrey Skelley (@geoffreyvs) September 1, 2012
@TPM_dk why is Ryan's marathon claim at all relevant to voters? #cmonman
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) September 1, 2012
Ryan, of course, isn’t the only prominent politician to tell a fib:
#uppers Outrage over Ryan's marathon running time but not over Obama's claim his parents mtg at Selma 1965 march, when he was born 1961.
— Lillwith3Ls (@lbraccio) September 1, 2012
If Al Gore invented the internet then for sure Paul Ryan ran a marathon in less than 3 hours.
— B. Justice (@zefirotorna) September 1, 2012
Marathon times: John Edwards 3:30; G W. Bush 3:44; Sarah Palin 3:59; Ryan 4.01. John Kerry fibbed about running Boston! http://t.co/DtygstX6
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) September 1, 2012
And then there’s this perspective:
Watch…MSM will pay more attn to Ryan running 4-hour, not 3-hour, marathon than O being wrong re cutting deficit in half
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) September 1, 2012
Another predicted this will quickly be forgotten:
That thing about Paul Ryan lying about his marathon time? Other than runners, no one is going to give a crap.
— Lila Shapiro-Cyr (@lilasc) September 1, 2012
A name that came to the mind of many observers: Kip Litton.
Paul Ryan: Shades of Kip Litton http://t.co/XEV1GMUW
— J. Acosta Scott (@acostascott) September 1, 2012
@JustinWolfers Interestingly, both Ryan and Kip Litton were sleuthed out by users on http://t.co/DNuCThja. Then Runner's World-> New Yorker.
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) September 1, 2012
don't mess with long distance runners, Paul Ryan. Read Mark Singer's New Yorker piece on marathon fabulist Kip Litton > http://t.co/GZtuo27F
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) September 1, 2012
Lessons learned.
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