Run It Fast®

Runner’s World earlier today delved into the claim that Republican Vice President nominee Paul Ryan had run a sub-3 hour marathon.

Ryan made the claim to Hugh Hewitt in a radio interview that:

“Yeah, I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore. I just run ten miles or less.” When Hewitt asked Ryan what his personal best is, Ryan replied, “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.”

WOW! Sub 3-hour marathon is really fast. Could we have a true Run It Fast VP? Well Runner’s World dug into the records of the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota where Ryan ran his only marathon.

The only results they could find where for a Paul D. Ryan, 20-years of old, from 1990. The time that ‘Paul D. Ryan’ ran that day? 4:01:25!

That’s not even sub-4 hour. Maybe Ryan was claiming 4:01:25 was his Eastern time zone finish and that since the race was in Minnesota it should be converted to 3:01:25 which is close to a sub-3 hour.

So what did Rep. Paul Ryan say when asked about the huge discrepancy?

“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.”

If I had run just one marathon and if it had been twenty years ago I’m not sure I would get my time right either, but I do believe I’d at least be in the right zip code.

Although it might be easy to ridicule Ryan over the flub, he should be praised for continuing to lead a healthy lifestyle. Reports have it that Ryan leads several other House members in P90X workouts most mornings before clocking in for work.

So how does Ryan’s marathon time stack up with other politicians over the years?

1. John Edwards – 3:30:18 (Marine Corps Marathon 1983)
2. Michael Dukakis – 3:31:00 (Boston Marathon 1951)
3. George Bush – 3:44:22 (Houston Marathon 1993)
4. Sarah Palin – 3:59:36 (Humpy’s Marathon 2005)
5. Paul Ryan – 4:01:25 (Grandma’s Marathon 1990)
6. Mike Huckabee – 4:37:29 (Marine Corps Marathon 2005)
7. Bill Frist – 4:54:36 (Marine Corps Marathon 1997)
8. Al Gore – 4:58:25 (Marine Corps Marathon 1997)
9. Tom Vilsack – 5:28:39 (Little Rock Marathon 2005)

Maybe one day we’ll have a highly elected official that has truly run a sub-3 hour marathon.

[source: Runner’s World and Wikipedia]

Political hot-button Sarah Palin, the controversial star of Tea Party gatherings across the country, ‘secretly’ ran the Storm Lake (Iowa) Half Marathon (website) yesterday in a time of 1:46:10.

Palin has been traveling all across Iowa giving speeches to rouse up the Tea Party and interest in her own Presidential ambitions (she has yet to say she is running for the office).

She signed up for the half-marathon under her maiden name Sarah Heath.

Several runners eventually noticed Palin who started near the back of the pack before working her way past the walkers:

This afternoon, Palin tweeted “Thank you, Storm Lake, Iowa. You put on a great event & we loved meeting some great folks in your beautiful town today!”

The official results showed that Palin (Heath) came in 2nd place in her age division, just 1 minute and 5 seconds behind the age division winner.  The overall female winner, Lindsey Meyer, ran a 1:38:10.  Justin Helbing was the overall winner with a time of 1:18:52.

Palin is an avid runner and has completed marathons in the past.

[image: L.A. Times]