If you follow national news, you've probably heard about the factual inaccuracies peppered throughout Paul Ryan's recent speech at the Republican National Convention. But did you hear about this little tidbit? It's well-known that Ryan is a fitness enthusiast, with P90X as his favorite form exercise, but apparently he's done a little running as well.
In the article linked above, he claims to have run a marathon in a little under three hours. The article goes on to produce results that point to his finishing time as a little over four hours. Ryan's spokespeople have claimed it's an honest mistake about something that happened 20+ years ago, which seems completely reasonable on its face. However, as a runner and a fellow fitness enthusiast, it seems incredibly unlikely to me that someone so committed to exercise would be that far off in remembering their time in what is probably the longest race they've ever run.
I feel quite confident in saying that racers do not forget their personal best times. Those times stick with you, in the same way that you'll never forget the first person you kissed or your wife's birthday. Even if you don't remember those things perfectly, you're going to be pretty close. You definitely remember kissing Emily and Jane at the same party in high school, but maybe you don't remember which one was first. Or you screw up one year and think your wife was born on the 16th when it was really the 15th. But you do NOT confuse Emily or Jane with your best friend Gary who was at the same party, and you do NOT think your wife's birthday is August 16th when it is actually January 15th.
Maybe Ryan started his marathon a little ways back in the pack, and his actual running time was three hours and fifty-something minutes. That could easily explain the minutes portion of his claim, but what about the hours? The difference between a three-hour marathon and a four-hour marathon is so monstrous that I can't believe chopping an hour off his time was an accident. So why did I care enough to write this? I don't know, but here's my best guess: I more or less expect politicians to lie about policy issues and matters that, well matter, but lying about something inconsequential like a marathon time? That is truly unusual.
