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Paul Ryan the runner

Much has been made of Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan's fitness. He is reputed to be into P90X.

P90X is a popular fitness program. It claims to transform your body in 90 days. I've tried a few of the workouts and they are intense.

Anyone who can finish the full 90 days is going to be in great shape, especially if they also follow the P90X diet. Kudos to Paul Ryan if he finished the program.

Why doubt that he has finished it? Because he lied about his one marathon time.

Candidate Ryan claimed to have run a time of "two-fifty-something". In order to break three hours, a runner needs to average a pace of about 6:40 per mile.

With this in mind, Runner's World did some digging. Paul Ryan did finish a marathon--in four hours and one minute.

Ryan claims that this was over 20 years ago and he was just trying to quote an average time. Ryan did mention that he had back problems at the time.

Okay, he doesn't remember his time but he remembers having back issues? The back issues don't apply to anything unless he's trying to justify running an average pace.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he doesn't remember anything except running an average time and having back trouble. That should have been his answer.

Here, I'll answer the question for Paul Ryan:

"Yes I did a marathon but, you know, I was having back trouble and ended up running an average time. The time wasn't important to me. Finishing the race while battling an injury told me much more about myself than any arbitrary time could."

That would have turned my head.

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Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024

Much has been made of Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan's fitness. He is reputed to be into P90X.

P90X is a popular fitness program. It claims to transform your body in 90 days. I've tried a few of the workouts and they are intense.

Anyone who can finish the full 90 days is going to be in great shape, especially if they also follow the P90X diet. Kudos to Paul Ryan if he finished the program.

Why doubt that he has finished it? Because he lied about his one marathon time.

Candidate Ryan claimed to have run a time of "two-fifty-something". In order to break three hours, a runner needs to average a pace of about 6:40 per mile.

With this in mind, Runner's World did some digging. Paul Ryan did finish a marathon--in four hours and one minute.

Ryan claims that this was over 20 years ago and he was just trying to quote an average time. Ryan did mention that he had back problems at the time.

Okay, he doesn't remember his time but he remembers having back issues? The back issues don't apply to anything unless he's trying to justify running an average pace.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he doesn't remember anything except running an average time and having back trouble. That should have been his answer.

Here, I'll answer the question for Paul Ryan:

"Yes I did a marathon but, you know, I was having back trouble and ended up running an average time. The time wasn't important to me. Finishing the race while battling an injury told me much more about myself than any arbitrary time could."

That would have turned my head.

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