Paul Ryan marathon: Which politician had the fastest marathon time? A Slate interactive.

Which Politician Had the Fastest Marathon Time? A Slate Interactive.

Which Politician Had the Fastest Marathon Time? A Slate Interactive.

Who's winning, who's losing, and why.
Sept. 4 2012 6:42 PM

Bush v. Gore v. Ryan v. Palin

Which politician had the fastest marathon time? Watch them race in a Slate interactive.

Listen to Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss Paul Ryan and marathon fraud on this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan isn’t the only big-name politician to complete a marathon. Who would win if they all ran side by side? In the interactive below, we pit various political icons against each other using their reported marathon times and—in the case of Ryan—their real and imaginary times. Who’s the fastest politico in the land? Who’s the slowest of the slow? Press “Start” below to watch the race unfold. Don’t worry, it won’t take that long—we’ve made each racer move 1,000 times faster than he or she did in real life.

Politician Marathon Times

Start!
Again!
Paul Ryan, actual time (Grandma's Marathon), 1990

#

7

4:01:25

Paul Ryan, made-up time (Unknown), 1990

DQ

2:59:59

Al Gore (Marine Corps Marathon), 1997

#

10

4:58:25

Sarah Palin (Humpy's Marathon), 2005

#

6

3:59:36

Mike Huckabee (Marine Corps Marathon), 2005

#

8

4:37:29

Bill Frist (Marine Corps Marathon), 1997

#

9

4:54:36

George W. Bush (Houston Marathon), 1993

#

4

3:44:52

John Edwards (Marine Corps Marathon), 1983

#

3

3:30:18

Eliot Spitzer (New York City Marathon), 1983

#

5

3:58:44

Harry Reid (Boston Marathon), 1972

#

2

3:16:00

Max Baucus (Governor's Cup), 1982

#

1

3:01:18

9/7/2012: Updated to include Harry Reid and Max Baucus.

Chris Kirk is a web developer at New York magazine and Slate’s former interactives editor. Follow him on Twitter.