Paul Ryan's Marathon
September 2, 2012 by Tom Barrett
Comments (4)
I ran my first (and so far only) marathon just over a year ago at the age of 51. I am proud of not only finishing and raising money for charity, but achieving the respectable time of 3:54. I "beat" four hours.
Last week, Paul Ryan on a talk show radio show said that, in his first (and only) marathon about twenty years ago, that he "beat" three hours, running a "2:50 somehting" when he was in his twenties. This is an impressive time for anyone.
It turns out it wasn't true. Some fact-checking by Runner's World discovered that Ryan's finishing time was just over four hours. He admitted his mistake later.
A question for all of you marathon runners out there: Do you still remember the time of your first marathon? the second? third? even if it was a long ago?
Do you think Ryan forgot or not? If not, do you think he thought the records could not, or would not be verified?
Would you vote for someone who embellished his marathon time?
Tom Barrett
Yes, you just don't forget your first marathon time, or your best marathon time for that matter. And certainly not if if was sub-4 or sub-3...
Lars Nordhild Rønning 4610 days ago
I agree with Ben and Lars, you don't forget something as important as that! And he was very clear in his response to the question, so there is little doubt in my mind that he thought we would be able to get away with it (similar to most politician's view).
Ron Andruff 4608 days ago
Agree... no way Ryan "forgot"... His background is not impressive, he is not "brainy" despite what The Economist says !!
Thomas Flohr 4608 days ago
Ben Barrett
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This is interesting. Let's first give Ryan the benefit of the doubt and assume he misremembered his marathon time. In 20 years time, I'm pretty sure my own memories will be misremembered, with some details lost and other details outright fabricated, even if it feels like I'm telling the truth. To that end, if, after his first marathon, Ryan went on to run several marathons, and he consistently was sub three hours, then it's possible his mind was playing tricks with him. But, as stated above, this was his "first and only" marathon. Running your first (and only) marathon is a big deal, and doing so in under 3 hours is not easily forgotten. Also, knowing that Ryan is a fitness buff, it's not a stretch to think that he's all too familiar with the highly regarded "sub three", and therefore that his fabrication was intended to impress. He simply figured he'd get away with it, banking on (naively, I would add) digital race result archives not going back that far in time. This may be a trivial embellishement to his mind, but what other little lies would he rationalize away? The would-be Vice President ought to be more virtuous that that.
Ben Barrett 4610 days ago