I almost made the podium at last weekend's NH 10 Miler. At least my number did.

Mainly due to lack of training, I skipped the race. Apparently, I had made it known enough among my running friends that someone knew my number would go unused. For a race that is sold out, a bib becomes a hot commodity.

I suppose that's why later in the day I received an email confession from a local runner who had used my number (with the blessing of race directors, don't worry). I couldn't resist checking out the results online to see how I — uh, he — did. I didn't take me long to find him in the list: right near the top.

To keep things on the up and up, he worked with race officials to change the registration information, both for safety purposes and also because he thought it might throw a wrench into the results. I joked with the substitute runner that next time he borrows my bib, I'd be happy to take his results. It might be only chance at an age-group win. Plus, It would be kind of nice to say that I finished in the top 10 overall in just under 1 hour and seven minutes with a 6:47 average pace.

Hey, if I were Paul Ryan, maybe I would claim the time as my own. At the risk of getting too political, I can't help but jump on the bandwagon ribbing vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's fib (or mistake, depending on how you look at it) about his marathon personal best. In case you missed it, Ryan said in an interview that he finished in “2:50-something”.

News of Ryan's lightning-fast marathon time spread quickly — but not as quickly as what Runner's World turned up when they did a little digging. I've read that the magazine was actually working on a piece about Ryan's athletic ability when they turned up what, to me at least, has been the most entertaining political slip-up of the season.

To his credit, Ryan did run a marathon. But, it turns out, he finished it in a little more than 4 hours. More specifically, his finishing time was 4:01.

We should have been suspicious when he described his finishing time as “2:50-something.” After all, marathoners know our finishing times down to the hundredth-second. Forever. And we certainly would never, ever mistakenly chop an off our finishing time. Trust me, anyone who has broken the three-hour mark knows it definitively.

Ryan issued a statement that he was indeed mistaken and, in fact, his Boston-qualifying brother had reminded him that he was not the fastest runner in the family. The slip-up still makes me chuckle because it's so absurd. Apparently I'm not the only one.

It didn't take long for my new favorite Twitter account to emerge: @PaulRyanHall (notice the clever nod to Olympic marathoner and running superstar Ryan Hall.) The account, which features Paul Ryan's head superimposed on a runner holding an American flag in its avatar, takes jab after jab at the candidate's claim, sometimes disguised as a fake campaign promise. The account's anonymous poster is surprisingly interactive and, well, just plain funny.

Some of my favorite tweets are the non-political ones, like, “Just finished my 10 mile run in 52 minutes! Or was that an hour and 52 minutes?” and “2:50 was my chip time” in response to a tweet posted by Runner's World featuring a story on Paul's marathon controversy. And, one of the best campaign pledges yet, “If Mittens and I win this election, I'll push for a law for ALL of you to knock an hour off of your marathon times!”

Soon after @PaulRyanHall, a couple of online calculators emerged, claiming to convert your marathon finish time into the Paul Ryan Time. Using, www.paulryantimecalculator.com and www.paulryanmarathoncalculator.com, I've found out my PR is about 3:15 using Ryan's math.

If that doesn't get the runner vote in November, I don't know what will.

Teresa Robinson's NH Runner column appears every other week in the New Hampshire Sunday News. She can be reached at NHRunner123@gmail.com. Twitter: @teresakrobinson