Harry Reid mocks Paul Ryan’s marathon gaffe
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reopened the Senate today after a five-week recess, wasting no time before launching a broadside against Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential nominee.
Harry Reid caricature by donkeyhotey [email protected]
Reid, four sentences into his speech, poked fun at Ryan’s earlier misstatement of the finishing time he ran in a marathon two decades ago.
“You know, I’m not here to boast about my marathon time, but I bet I could outrun him,” said Reid, of Nevada. “I’ve run a few marathons okay? I’m not a great marathon runner. I know how hard it is to run a three-hour marathon. As soon as I saw him say that, I knew he was being dishonest. We runners don’t lie about our time.”
Reid was an athlete earlier in his career.
Paul Ryan had claimed that when he was younger he had once ran a “2 hour and 50-something” marathon, a remarkably fast time, prompting some to dig up that Ryan had actually finished the marathon in 4 hours, 1 minute and 25 seconds.
Ryan has since explained the statement, chalking it up to it being a long time ago and hard to remember.
“I literally thought that was my time. It was 22 years ago. You forget sorta these things,” Ryan has said.
A Reid spokesman later tweeted: “For the record @SenatorReid ran two marathons in 7 days and always tried to break 8 minutes a mile.”
