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Paul Ryan exaggerates his marathon-running prowess
Los Angeles Times ^ | 09/01/2012 | James Rainey

Posted on 09/02/2012 12:49:04 AM PDT by HarleyD

Voters will have to decide how much to ding Republican vice presidential nominee Paul D. Ryan for slamming President Obama on a debt reduction commission, when Ryan made the same judgment himself with a vote in Congress.

That kind of inconsistency is easy to prove, if a bit arcane for some Americans. But there is nothing mysterious to the athletically-inclined about marathon times, so it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to Ryan carving a huge hunk out of his best time for the 26.2-mile race.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2012electionbias; getryan; marathon; obamawasntvetted; pravdamedia; ryan
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To: xzins

“In normal circumstances, one doesn’t forget one’s best time by an hour. A sub 3 hour versus a 4 hour marathon is a huge difference.”

....

It’s 22 years ago and a frigging foot race, not your wedding anniversary.

My wife ran a 5K 5? 6? years ago. She told me she barely can vaguely remember the time.


41 posted on 09/02/2012 4:21:31 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: ScottinVA

Good news, this will all soon be forgotten.


42 posted on 09/02/2012 4:24:46 AM PDT by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: xzins

Details are only remembered by those who regularity participate in the sport. My wife is a frequent marathoner/triathlete and can recall most of her times.

However, even she thinks that to expect a one-timer to remember the details of a race that occurred over twenty years ago would be very unlikely. They focus on the “event”, not the “time”

However, it still baffles me that the press finds time to scrounge up this tidbit and the fact that Romney cut some kids hair in High School, yet still can’t find the college transcripts of our current president (after four years).


43 posted on 09/02/2012 4:26:40 AM PDT by MDspinboyredux
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To: MDspinboyredux
Details are only remembered by those who regularity participate in the sport.

That's correct. I'm presently a runner. I know my 5K PR time because it was run just a couple of months ago (and I'll hopefully beat it in tomorrow's race). Had it been a one-off marathon 20+ years ago, I'd be hard-pressed to remember my time unless I looked it up.

44 posted on 09/02/2012 4:31:34 AM PDT by meyer (It's 1860 all over again - the taxpayer is the new "N" word)
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To: HarleyD
If being quantitative is important to the extreme Left,
how about them explaining this?


45 posted on 09/02/2012 4:41:39 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Vi veri veniversum vivus vici)
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To: meyer

I’ve completed the distance 11 times in addition to a 40K, 50K, and a 50 mi. The 40K is technically not a marathon but if you add the warmups I exceeded the 42K (=26.2) threshhold. I also list it because it was perhaps my best racewalk performance in a national competition. My time was 4:03:15.


46 posted on 09/02/2012 4:42:35 AM PDT by jimfree (In Nov 2012 my 12 y/o granddaughter has more relevant&quality executive experience than Barack Obama)
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To: meyer

I have run three marathons. I can tell you that the pain of the last hour is something that you try to forget.


47 posted on 09/02/2012 4:44:29 AM PDT by Friend of the Friendless (R-Illinois)
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To: Lancey Howard
There is a big difference between recklessly, even if innocently, exaggerating an old marathon time with claiming to be a war veteran.

Pray tell, how do you do that?

A lie is a lie, not an "exaggeration."

48 posted on 09/02/2012 4:45:46 AM PDT by sauropod (Only two of God's creatures can employ the term "we": newspaper editors and men with tapeworms-Hayes)
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To: HarleyD

At least he's not boasting he was born in Kenya.

49 posted on 09/02/2012 4:53:09 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Friend of the Friendless
I have run three marathons. I can tell you that the pain of the last hour is something that you try to forget.

I have my inaugural half on November 10. Hoping to break 2 hours, but a more realistic time might be 2:10 based on my 15K performance back in April.

Even at 53 years of age, I'm still relatively new to this running thing (I have about 15 months experience). I'm still getting faster, but I also recognize that old age will eventually surpass 'beginners' gains' and my monthly PRs will stop.

50 posted on 09/02/2012 4:58:47 AM PDT by meyer (It's 1860 all over again - the taxpayer is the new "N" word)
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To: HarleyD

My thought is that it was an obvious misspeak. If you are in a fish bowl and were going to intentionally exaggerate something about this, you would do so in a more believable manner (3 and a half hours, for instance) rather than saying something that would attract disbelief and fact-checking.

If Ryan were still running marathons then it would be hard to justify such an error, since he would be more aware of what is merely a decent time and what is an incredible time. But apparently he only ran one marathon and that was over 20 years ago.

Also, this wasn’t a tidbit thrown into the middle of a prepared speech. When i first saw the headline, i thought that it was a part of his convention speech, a part which i had missed for whatever reason. So i was thinking how stupid, for if it had been an innocent error it should have been caught and corrected ahead of time.

Instead, it was him speaking off the cuff about something that occurred years ago. These things happen and happen innocently in most cases. Certainly his mind has been focused on much more important things in the intervening years. The only thing that would be worrisome to me is if there is a pattern of him claiming a sub 3 hour time.


51 posted on 09/02/2012 5:04:51 AM PDT by Humbug
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To: HarleyD
Is anyone going to comment/ report on Obozo mis-spelling OHIO?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/08/22/yes-obama-can-spell-ohio/

52 posted on 09/02/2012 5:12:24 AM PDT by verga (Forced to remove tag line by administrator)
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To: HarleyD

Let’s check out the blatant lies and false claims of someone that wrote the book...”Wet Dreams of My Father”. Seems the LA Times gave a mulligan to this politician. No wonder the LA Times circulation is falling faster than a jet in a dive.


53 posted on 09/02/2012 5:12:51 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: sauropod

An exaggeration is one thing. Misremembering is another. A lie is a third, different thing.

Ryan misremembered the facts about something unimportant that happened in the last millenium - and he has since corrected himself.

Kerry, Obama, Clinton, Sharpton (etc, etc) lie. And lie. And lie.


54 posted on 09/02/2012 5:20:42 AM PDT by agere_contra (Vote ABO. Don't choose the Greater Evil and then boast about how principled you are)
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To: funfan

I remember when gas was 27 cents, that there are 9 planets and 57 states.


55 posted on 09/02/2012 5:21:28 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: HarleyD

I DON’T GAF! obamao cannot tell the truth about anything... “THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM”!

LLS


56 posted on 09/02/2012 5:22:27 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
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To: funfan

Even before Ryan took the stage at the convention, the RATS had already gotten their Palinization plans settled.
He would be dubbed a liar.

Within moments after he was done speaking, they started with that.
There was quickly a twitter hashtag #lyinryan where they hammered away.

So...Palin was “dumb” - and they relentlessly pursued that meme.

Ryan is going to get fact-checked like no one ever before.
Why?

Because he reminds many people of Reagan


57 posted on 09/02/2012 5:27:33 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: agere_contra

Misremembering is one thing.

An exaggeration is a lie dressed up in its Sunday best.


58 posted on 09/02/2012 5:27:38 AM PDT by sauropod (Only two of God's creatures can employ the term "we": newspaper editors and men with tapeworms-Hayes)
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To: HarleyD

The MSM didn’t say a peep when John Kerry claimed to have run the Boston Marathon when he never did.


59 posted on 09/02/2012 5:28:53 AM PDT by AU72
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To: Humbug

well at least he hasn’t written 2 autobiographies filled with “composite” characters and stories.


60 posted on 09/02/2012 5:28:55 AM PDT by Scotswife
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