Paul Ryan's marathon

If he ran a decent sized marathon in the 1990s, those results are out there somewhere even though they are not on the internet.

Even though the average LRC poster ran a sub 3 marathon after their first junior high XC season, for the rest of the world, a sub 3 marathon is an exceptional time. I have watched of lots and lots of guys like Paul Ryan (good a sports, ran some track or XC in high school, works out a lot) try to run a sub 3 marathon and fail. I have only seen a very tiny number of "outlier" types be able to go sub 3 without some very serious training and a couple of sub 3 attempts.

Paul Ryan may very well be that type of guy. But the odds are very strong that he is not. Thus, the claim is very suspect and must be verified. Not for the politics (the guy has already lied enough--it is not like a fib about his marathon time is going to change anything), but for the sport. For many runners, a sub 3 marathon is a huge acheivement that takes years to attain. And for the vast majority of marathon participants, a sub 3 marathon is something completely unimaginable. Paul Ryan should not get a free pass on his claim to be in the sub 3 club. As President Reagan said, "Trust, but Verify".

A runner lying about his times? Shocking!

Bill Walker wrote:

In an Aug. 22 interview by Hugh Hewitt, Representative Ryan said he had run a marathon in "two hour and fifty something." Does anyone know the marathon and the year?

Better question, where's his birth certificate?

This just in! Word is out now at NYTIME and TheNewYorker (an analyst inside both organization) that Ryan camp claims he ran in 1991 at Grandma's. Someone should be able to verify this?

I was at the race he is talking about-it was a small(about 400 runners), now defunct race held near Baltimore in the mid 90s. I ran most of the race with him, or right behind him. I clicked through the first twenty right under 2:15-he was 30 seconds or so ahead of me at that point. Though my legs felt heavy, I did my best to keep in visual contact with him. Somewhere between mile 23 and 24, I pulled to within 20 yards of him. After a few minutes closely shadowing him- I noticed him drop his head, and his upper body tighten. That was all I needed to know-I DROPPED THE HAMMER on his sorry ass right then, and never looked back. I finished at 2:58 and change-I suspect his broken spirit crossed the line about a minute later-though I was more concerned with finding the beer garden at that point.

I'm game to do anything. Frankly, I'm all too aware of the lies that permeated that whole convention. It becomes personal when he makes a running PR claim - not that I would vote for his platform or him in a million years, but I want to pin him down on this. Where? When? Record?

I grew up in Janesville at the same time as Ryan. I'm a year or two younger. I knew him only peripherally. I'm about 99% sure he ran the Syttende Mai race one year, because I vaguely remember him being there, but that's only a 20 miler. Possibly this is what he's remembering.

Maybe Ryan ran the West Wyoming Marathon?

In Ryan's defense he does look like he's in pretty good shape so Ryan being able to run a 2:50 marathon isn't totally out of the question in his younger days. However, the fact he can't remember his marathon pr or name the marathon he ran his pr at is a bit sketchy.

RO wrote:

There are 4 Paul Ryan's on Athlinks. None are from Wisconsin or DC.

And none are the right age besides - but one of them is actually pretty fast. . . ! (14:15/30:50/2:27)

Looks like those 1991 Grandma's results are out there if it is the one...

Someone email

Jeff Rosenthal, Grandma's Director of Race Mgmt.

Won't be voting for him no matter what we find out about his actual marathon performance.

But do I have a recommendation for him: if his marathon is as he says, he's doing his training a disservice by seeking political office. He should ditch this gig before it's too late and hire himself someone who can help him get his time down to, say, 2:30. Oh and if he has a sore back, politics is a poor career choice. He needs attention for that problem and he'll be too busy if (God forbid) he's elected. I'm only thinking of his welfare. ;)

Well, there were 4,136 participants that year, 3,221 male and 915 female.

Driss Dacha won in 2:13:59

First female was Janice Ettle in 2:35:27

http://www.arrs.net/HP_GMMar.htm

We're getting closer to the truth.

Here is the info. Does someone want to check with Grandma's! Got to love the GOTCHA journalism:

Runs with the pack

posted: 5/29/2012 at 3:31 PM

I emailed the race directors for Grandma's Marathon yesterday looking for the 1991 and 1992 records. Today in my email I had a PDF of the 1991 booklet that was sent out post-race. Yay! It feels great to have some documentation of my PR for that distance.

Thanks to Jeff Rosenthal, Grandma's Director of Race Mgmt.

Paul Krugman chimes in:

"And, on a less important front (via Talking Points Memo):

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt last week, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said he’s run a sub-3:00 marathon.

…

Runner’s World has been unable to find any marathon results by Ryan. Requests for more information from Ryan’s Washington and Wisconsin offices, and from the Romney-Paul campaign, have so far gone unanswered.

I know, the second thing sounds trivial. But I remember the 2000 campaign, when Al Gore was constantly hounded by claims of fibbing on trivial issues — claims that, by the way, were all, as far as I could tell, fabricated. These alleged fibs supposedly showed some deep defect in his character. So if Ryan is making false claims about his physical prowess, this is absolutely fair game."

This all started with this thread, right? Runners World picked it up from here, right?

asdgfh wrote:

Randy Oldman wrote:

Sarah Palin could see Russia from her house.

Huh?

Here you are:

!-Sarah-Palin

Tina Fey in fact said this, but Palin said something similar but less amusing. Of course, Palin said lots of things that didn't reassure me as to her qualifications to be VP.

Fixed:

asdgfh wrote:

Randy Oldman wrote:

Sarah Palin ran 3:59:36 at the 2005 Humpy's Marathon.

Huh?

dpmrunner wrote:

Here you are:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0603/Political-misquotes-The-10-most-famous-things-never-actually-said/I-can-see-Russia-from-my-house

!-Sarah-Palin

Tina Fey in fact said this, but Palin said something similar but less amusing. Of course, Palin said lots of things that didn't reassure me as to her qualifications to be VP.

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