So, let's talk about this "marathon" thing... (Page 2)

Umm, he didn't have a choice.  He fessed up AFTER the real finish time was discovered by RW.  More of a "sorry I got caught" scenario.  Not impressed.

Andi

I did 3 adventure races around 20 years ago. I could legitimately say that I have run adventure races. I could not tell you accurately my times, because they are just not that important to me at this point. I know they were under 10 hours, because that was the race cut-off, and my first team's name was "sub-10" (which is how I remember the cut-off time). So if I was running for office, and said "I ran adventure races, with a time of 6 hours", and it turned out to be closer to 7, I really don't think it would be a mark of deceptive personality, but of time and memory.

Granted marathons are more popular than adventure races and triathlons, but I think he is more of a P90 guy, and so his recall of whether he ran 3 or 4 hours, and which is more impressive, is really not an issue for me. Remember, we all participate in a sport that considers a 2 hour race to be a "sprint"...

I think this is just part of being a politician. Doctors do it all the time, as well. He made a lot of truthy sounding statements at the convention that did not hold up to fact checking the next day. But I think the idea that his marathon claims are in any way a marker of things is pretty well nonsense.

To me it was a douche like response and I find it hard to believe that someone that has spent as much time as he has in the limelight being asked odd questions from all corners and directions by the media would make a definitive answer to his time. A simple "oh, I am not really sure... 3 hours maybe?" would have been totally acceptable. 

The excuse for saying a sub-three hour time... EGO. Politicians have huge ones and are extremely competitive. To me it was an example of typical d-bag bragging rights we have all had to deal with from that guy that just couldn't accept that someone was better than him.

His answer will not change my vote, just reinforces my opinion of politicians... they are all about the winning, the power, and the bragging rights at all times.

I don't know what you mean by "a solid constitution", but....

I honestly have no interest in whether or not my president has run a marathon or triathlon. I might even argue that a person who focuses on endurance events has the wrong personality to be commander in chief, which requires a broader focus on many more things than your average endurance athlete, who focuses obsessively on their training goals, sometimes at the expense of other life issues. It's like the old joke "how can you tell if someone is training for an IM?" "Simple - they will tell you..."

I thought about your post when I saw this article today. (disclaimer, it's from a conservative site so take it with a grain of salt)

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/03/Democrats-Air-Frustrations-with-Obama-Cockiness-Narcissism

Do I care?

No.

I'm curious as to the political affiliations on those who thing it's a d-bag move vs. those who think it was a mistake/who cares?

Captain Obvious has a hunch, but could be wrong.

D-Bag move. I mean, it really doesn't matter in real life - but why make that crap up? You'd remember if it were 4 hours or a BQ.

Libertarian - former Republican.

I didn't mean someone who trains religiously at the expense of everything else- quite the opposite.  Someone who takes a huge challenge and attacks it while carrying on with all the other responsibilities of life.  I takes a certain mental toughness to do endurance sports.  As a manager, I can tell you with absolute certainty that if two people were applying for the same job, had the same qualifications on paper, and same education, yet one was either an Ironman or a marathoner, I'd hire that person first.  I don't think it's bias, I think we're mentally tougher.  Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so.

I admire anyone who has completed a marathon or triathlon 70.3 or greater.... it's a big accomplishment whether you finished in 16 hours or if you qualified for Kona.

I'm registered Independent.  I usually vote Republican/Libertarian.  I have voted for Democrats (Clinton in 1996 and I love Tammy Duckworth for Congress in IL).  Generally pretty conservative fiscally but I have some left-leaning social views.

I am sure you are right at least to some extend. 

John Kerry and his Boston claim bothered me but Ryan bothers me more.  Part of it I am sure is my own bias and another part of it though is level of detail.  The more detailed the false hood the more it bothers me.

Akrakowski - 2012-09-05 9:11 AM

lisac957 - 2012-09-04 4:40 PM

I'm curious as to the political affiliations on those who thing it's a d-bag move vs. those who think it was a mistake/who cares?

Captain Obvious has a hunch, but could be wrong.

I lean left typically, but have voted both sides. That said, I'd accuse my mom of douchebaggery for shaving an hour off a marathon time if I thought she was just doing it to sound cool: c'mon, ma, everyone who has run a marathon knows the diffrerence between 3 hours and 4!! (sidenote: my mom's a Dem)

It is not the focus of everyone's life who has run one. I have done 2 half marathons. I could probably do the math and recall how fast the last one was; the only thing I could tell you about the first one (done sometime between 10 and 13 years ago - I would have to look at my finisher's pint glass to tell you exactly when) is that I was DFL. VERY DFL. I have no idea how fast I was, or what kind of time I got. Or what a "good time" for that race would be.

As I said earlier, I don't think it says much about Ryan. I have read left-leaning pundits use this as another example of how Ryan plays with facts and numbers. I don't buy it. I just don't think for most people, who have either never run a marathon, or only run one, that knowing a "good time" is going to be on the top of their brain. 

I just don't buy the "I messed up my time" excuse.  He states his time with confidence, and follows it up with a "I was fast when I was younger, yeah."  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARH9GjFq9Fw) Someone may not remember their exact time, but I've never heard of anyone getting their time wrong by almost 75 minutes.  Plus, this is a guy how does P90X every day - he knows about fitness and health issues.

Thus, I'm going with lying DB on this one.

The only way I could see this mattering is that Ryan is supposed to be the wonky one.  He's supposed to have this reputation for diving into the numbers and mastering the details and this flies in the face of that reputation.  

Overall though I don't see this swaying anyone one way or the other since the VP's really don't matter much in the grand scheme and most people already have their minds made up anyway.  It seems like all either side is interested in is catching the other guy saying something dumb and then spinning and twisting it for days on end.  The only people who really care about that stuff are the ones who are already super-partisan and just want some excuse to bash the other guy.  Most everyone else just wishes they would actually talk about something  interesting, you know, like some actual plans they have for the country and such.  Then again, that could be just me...

I'm disappointed in Ryan, but if I had to choose between Biden's history of plagiarism and Ryan's fudging his marathon finishing time, I'll take Ryan.

My suspicion, completely unsupported by any facts, is that Ryan has been impressing non-runners and/or people wanting to suck up to him for years about his marathon time.  No one either knew enough or had the political stones to call him on it.   If you can tell lies without consequences, then it just emboldens the liar over time.  Ryan may have even convinced himself of it over the years.

Mark 

I find it VERY suspect.  I can remember the time of my very first 10k over 15 years ago within a minute and this is a MARATHON.

What else is he going to lie about to the American people?

I can't tell you the time of my 2 miles, 5k's, 10k's, 13.1 or my super sprints or my only 70.3 triathlon.  I guess that makes me a liar also.  I can tell you that I was never DFL, but darn close, but I beat people a lot younger and probably a lot healthier at the time that were DNF.

I am not saying that he doesn't know or didn't know, but there are some of us that don't care that our time was x hours, xx minutes and xx seconds for a certain event.

Honest question - if someone asked your times would you say "I don't remember, it was a long time ago" or would you make up something that sounded really good and then reply with "I was pretty fast, yeah"  If the former, you would not be lying.  If the latter, well, yeah, you'd be lying.