The Candidates and the Marathon

One of the more tired metaphors used in political writing is "the presidential race is a marathon, not a sprint." Well, with a little more than a month before election day, it's pretty much a sprint now. But back to the marathon, in this case the non-metaphorical type. Blues States for Bush's webmaster, John Ruberry, also known as "me," will run the Chicago Marathon on October 10th.

Naturally, during my morning marathon training runs, I've thought of items to post on this blog, so it's only logical (to me at least) that I write about marathon experiences of the two major party presidential candidates.

In 1993, George W. Bush, who was then Managing General Partner of the Texas Rangers, ran a pretty quick 3:44:52 in the Houston Marathon averaging about 8:35 minutes per mile. Bush is believed to be the first president to run a marathon, although had Al Gore prevailed in 2000, it would have been his honor of being the first marathoner-president, since then-Vice President Gore completed Marine Corps Marathon in 1997 in a slower time of 4:54:26 good enough for 8260th place, which translates to an average of about 11:25 minutes per mile.

Let's be easy on Al: Anyone who completes a marathon is deserves respect, no matter the time.

I know a lot of marathon runners, and if you ask any marathoner what their goal is, and they'll answer "to qualify and run the Boston Marathon." Boston is of course Senator John Kerry's hometown.

Around the time of the Democratic National Conventions, I came across this ESPN.com article where Senator Kerry said he "Did the Boston Marathon." He thought it was in 1980. That got me curious.

I couldn't find anything solid on the Internet--despite using different search engines--regarding Kerry's Boston run..

Kerry, who can talk knowledgeably on everything from monetary policy to missile throw-weights, chooses a little more pedestrian issues for McCoy. "I hear you just ran the San Diego marathon," Kerry says. "What was your time?"

"4:16," McCoy says.

"That's great, great," Kerry says. "I remember my first Boston Marathon ... it's a great run. You've got to come to Boston and do it."

"I gotta qualify," McCoy says with a laugh.

"If you want to come and do it, I can get you a number if you want to run this year," Kerry says.

"Fan-tas-tic!" McCoy says. "That is dynamite."

"I mean, seriously, tell me serious if you want to do it," Kerry says. "'Cause I'll get you one."

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/simon031303.asp

Here is the article:

"State Sen. Matt McCoy took time off from the Iowa Legislature this year to run in the Boston Marathon and attend business meetings in Denver that were extended by a March blizzard.

"(Presidential candidate) John Kerry invited me to run in the Boston Marathon and I did that," said McCoy, 37, a Des Moines Democrat. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

McCoy's 18 absences, however, caused him to miss 104 of the 344 votes taken by the Iowa Senate this year. He was the most absent lawmaker of the 2003 regular session, according to a Des Moines Register analysis of House and Senate journals.
"
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4780934/21363224.html

From the article:

I couldn't find anything solid on the Internet--despite using different search engines--regarding Kerry's Boston run, just a couple of offhand references by the senator. For instance, In 2002, Kerry mentioned his running the Boston Marathon twenty years ago as he fired the starters pistol for 106th running of the annual classic

And there was this: "I remember my first Boston Marathon ... it's a great run, he told Iowa State Senator Matt McCoy last year.

That's it.

Since Kerry's run took place in the pre-Internet era, I finally figured I wasn't going to find much online, so earlier this week I called the Boston Athletic Association--organizers of the Boston Marathon since it's inception in 1897--and spoke with their media contact, Jack Fleming. who said that after the ESPN.com article was posted, they got a lot of calls about Kerry and the Boston Marathon.

Jack was very friendly to this blogger when we spoke on the telephone, (Memo-gate has given our ilk a bit of respect) he told me according to Kerry's aides, the senator was an unofficial entrant who, again--according to those aide--Jack emphasized, ran in "the late 1970s, or perhaps, 1980." Oddly enough, 1980 was the year of the infamous " Rosie Ruiz Ruse."

But that's the story for another blog, by another blogger...

An "unofficial entrant"? Say what? Like they'll let anyone on the course who just shows up. This guy Kerry is a real piece of work...

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