Sports & Politics

Paul Ryan: Not Quite the Forrest Gump-esque Athlete He’d Have You Believe

by Joe Levine | 11:51 am, September 1st, 2012

You’d have to be to run a marathon in just under three hours. Between his years as a borderline Olympian and as Mitt Romney’s running mate, like a young Bruce Springsteen, this guy was born to run.

Or was he?

Ryan has backtracked on his original claim, now admitting that his marathon time was actually closer to four hours. Or four hours, one minute, and twenty-five seconds, to be exact.

To be fair, who of us hasn’t lied about something that happened when we were in college? For Ryan, it was something as innocent as a marathon time. At least it wasn’t about something serious, like impersonating a police officer. Now that would be creepy.

[Runners World, via The Big Lead]

Paulin Gretzky

For a “hard truth” teller, he is revealing himself to be a pathological liar. Stupid also.
runnerbob

Sorry …. No pass. You don’t lie about your marathon time. It’s a huge accomplishment to run under 3 hours. It just shows he has serious character issues. NO… he wasn’t just hangin out with some guys in a bar making a casual statement that could pass. He WANTED YOU TO BELIEVE he’s good and he’s running for VP. That’s scary.
Leah Hollister-Barber

he has been caught in numerous lies this week
http://www.facebook.com/people/Harlan-Roberts/100002445727977 Harlan Roberts

It was his composite time.
jackofspades

This guy just can’t tell the truth. Amazing that in Congress, he is reputed to be a real truth teller. I just can’t trust the guy.
Professor Emeritus

As a veteran of more than 20 marathons, Paul’s lie reveals everything we need to know about this lying hypocrite. The difference between a 4 hour and sub-3 hour marathon is akin to the difference between a 4-minute miler and an average high school kid that struggles to break 6 minutes. Another analogy would be the difference between a golfer who shoots 100 and one who breaks 80.
And I bet the boast that he now runs 10 miles regularly is a lie too. Not a street for a politician of any stripe, but Maybe reporters should start checking all his boasts because his lies about his marathon prowess suggests a pathological liar.
Anonymous

That’s complete and utter bs. The media completely got the GM story wrong. Ryan got it right. CNN was forced to admit they were wrong.
Anonymous

My my my look at all the liberal tools pretending this is a story. For god’s sake he got the time wrong on a race he ran 20 years ago. Obama has repeatedly said he’s been to 57 states. Liar! Well, actually, that makes Obama stupid and a liar.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002102242084 Opie Taylor Sr.

Great, now we have Sports Grid “fact checking” this political shit. Seriously, know your company leans left but keep the politics off Sports Grid please.
http://twitter.com/JosephLoudon Joseph Loudon

Anyone who was a distance runner will KNOW the best time he has ever run — usually down to the second. I mean, you don’t run a marathon every day. And there’s a HUGE difference between a 4-hour marathon and a sub-3 hour marathon, so — in the end — that makes Ryan a BIG liar.

Also, Obama made the mistake of saying he’d visited 57 states once, so you’re saying he said that “repeatedly” is, I guess, a “misstatement” on your part.