Ryan withdraws marathon time claim

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan clarified his time in a marathon he ran in the early 1990s, saying he was off by about an hour.

Earlier, Ryan had claimed a time of just under three hours, which would be remarkable.

Ryan, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's running mate, issued a written statement to The New Yorker saying he was pretty sure his time in the Grandma's marathon in Minnesota was probably closer to four hours rather than three as he had said in a radio interview this weekend.

"The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin -- who ran Boston (Marathon) last year -- reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three," Ryan told the magazine. "If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three."

The New Yorker said Sunday Ryan's actual time wasn't a big deal; however, the magazine contended Ryan was given a chance to reconsider his stated "two fifty-something" time by the interviewer but didn't take the bait.

"Yeah," Ryan said in the interview. "I was fast when I was younger."