Running times, like political 'facts', subject to interpretation

Palin's marathon time beats Paul Ryan's

By CAITLIN MCDEVITT Politico.com
9/2/12 4:42 PM EDT
AP

Sarah Palin has run a sub-four hour marathon. Paul Ryan? Not so much.

The Republican vice presidential candidate recently misstated his marathon time (claiming that he ran the 26.2 mile race in “two hour[s] and fifty-something”), and Runner’s World called his bluff on Friday.

He actually crossed the line at “4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds,” according to the magazine.

That’s just slightly slower than Palin ran in 2005, finishing a marathon in 3:59.

Ryan did, however, beat Oprah Winfrey’s time (a common benchmark for first time marathoners) of 4:29.

(Original here.)