Gary Johnson is Fast

Gary Johnson, age 63

Yesterday, I piled on Libertarian nominee for president, Gary Johnson, for his "what is a leppo" gaff. I do not like Johnson very much, at least as a political candidate. Among other things, he has taken a number of positions in his current campaign that are more leftist than libertarian. It is still not clear to me whether this is because he is an "idiot" -  not really understanding what libertarianism is - a fraudster - using libertarianism as a cloak to mask what is really more of an anti-christian agenda - or an opportunist - believing that by making certain concessions to the non-libertarian left, he can pick up some of their votes and therefore break through the traditional libertarian ceiling of 1% of the vote.

But in this post I want to discuss another aspect of Gary Johnson.

Whatever else Gary Johnson might be, he is the fastest marathoner of any nominee for president or vice-president in history. He is also probably the fastest marathoner of any candidate in history - counting the major Republican and Democratic primary candidates in the relevant elections.

Johnson may be even faster in the triathlon. I don't know triathlon times that well, but he could also be the fastest triathlete.

Here's a list of famous election candidate marathoners and their times. Johnson is at the top. Not only is he faster, he's way faster:

Gary Johnson: 2:47:27, Fiesta Bowl, 1984
John Edwards: 3:30:18, Marine Corps Marathon, 1983
Michael Dukakis: 3:31:00, Boston Marathon, 1951
George W. Bush: 3:44:52, Houston Marathon, 1993
Sarah Palin: 3:59:36, Humpy's Classic Marathon, 2005
Paul Ryan: 4:01:25, Grandma's Marathon, 1990
Mike Huckabee: 4:37:29, Marine Corps Marathon, 2005
Al Gore: 4:58:25, Marine Corps Marathon, 1997

Source (this list also contains the marathon times of other famous people and celebrities).

Notes:

1. Nice job by Dukakis in 1951.
2. Palin's Humpy's Classic Marathon, now called the Big Wild Life Runs Marathon, is in Anchorage. It had the smallest field of any of the above, with only 203 finishers in 2005. At the age of 41, Palin finished 15th among 62 women.
3. While running for vice-president in 2012, Paul Ryan claimed he had run a sub-three hour marathon. This was subsequently determined to be a fib. The truth is he never even broke four hours.
4. As the article below states, Gary Johnson also got his time wrong - he actually ran a minute faster than he claimed.

And here's a neat recent article from Runner's World:

Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson’s Impressive Running Past 

Watch the Libertarian candidate appear on “Colbert” in his running shoes. His speedy marathon PR justifies the footwear choice. 

You likely know that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was fleet of foot as a youngster. He has claimed a personal best of 4:37 in the mile. 

But another candidate, whose campaign is gaining steam, is no slouch himself. 

“Any day that I am not campaigning, I train an average of two to three hours a day,” Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and the Libertarian candidate for president, told Runner’s World Newswire by email. “Campaigning 6 a.m. to midnight—[training is] not happening, although I walk as often as is possible.” 

Johnson appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week, sporting a pair of Nike Zoom Air Pegasus 32 running shoes—footwear highly unusual for a man seeking the highest office in the land, but completely appropriate for a lifelong athlete. 

It hs been widely reported that Johnson is into extreme and endurance sports—he has climbed Everest and competed in the Ironman World Championship at Kona, Hawaii. But he was a speedy runner. In an email, he listed some of his best efforts at various distances: 

“For starters—best marathon time, 2:48, Fiesta Bowl, 1984. Best 10K, 33:45. Best Olympic triathlon, 1991, 2 hours. Best Ironman Hawaii, 10:38, 2001. 16 marathons (Boston 2002 3:13ish). Leadville 100 mile run.” 

A search for results from the 1984 Fiesta Bowl didn’t yield Mr. Johnson, but we did find a 29-year-old Gary Johnson from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who ran even faster—2:47:27 at that race in 1982. 

And Boston’s official results have the then-49 year governor running a chip-timed 3:11:11 in 2002. 

We also found results to support his Leadville performance. In 1989, he completed the rugged 100-miler in 29 hours, 45 minutes, 9 seconds.