Out-racing Ryan: Tim Reid’s New York Marathon mission

In 2005, actor Ryan Reynolds starting popping up on the covers of men’s health and fashion magazines. Three years later, he graced both the front and back of Men’s Health, flaunting washboard abs and leaning against a sex-tacular motorcycle. And then, in 2008, he ran the New York Marathon in an impressive 3 hours and 50 minutes.

Somewhere in Jersey City, Tim Reid was aghast. Seeing his wife fawn over Ryan’s magazine covers had been bad enough, but now the chiseled star of Van Wilder and X-Men Origins had trumped Reid’s best marathon time by nearly twenty minutes. Reid made a vow: the 38-year-old, who hadn’t done a 26.2 in four years, would race the New York Marathon – and do it faster than Ryan. No matter that Ryan had trained with an elite ultra-marathoner or that he had hardly broken a sweat on race day. Or, you know, that Reid’s time at the 2004 NY Marathon was half-an-hour slower than it would need to be this time around.

Reid launched a website, beatingryanreynolds.com, and started training and blogging. Most importantly, he vowed to raise money for The Michael J. Fox Foundation at the same time. Donations were trickling in, but when Jimmy Fallon mentioned the endeavor to Reynolds during a TV interview on October 2nd, Reid’s website took off: from 900 readers to a current tally of 4,100. And although he set out to raise $20,000, Reid’s already topped $23,000 – and many have vowed to double their donation if he clocks in under 3:50.

With the marathon quickly approaching, Reid’s been enduring a few weeks of tapering and a whole lot of pressure. I met up with him for an early-morning coffee last week, and asked the Macy’s exec – who may want to consider a future in stand-up if he doesn’t make it as an elite runner – about kicking Ryan Reynold’s (sexy) ass.

Your website explains why you’re targeting Ryan. But I’m wondering about the feelings of two very important people in this situation: your wife and Ryan himself. Obviously, Ryan should feel threatened. But has he reached out to you?

Honestly, my wife loves it, she’s a great sport. Sometimes, she asks me to put the computer down and stop updating the site. And unfortunately, when the Fox Foundation newsletter wrote an item on the fundraiser, the article mentioned that I told them she’d start drooling when magazines with Ryan showed up in the mail. It’s true – but, you know, a little embarrassing for her.

Ryan did email me. There’s a bit on the website where I comment on the fact that he ran the marathon in black track pants. I mean, who runs a marathon in pants? I think he probably doesn’t sweat. Some sort of plastic surgery to block his sweat glands. I’d have to be crazy to run in pants. Crazy. So anyway, he emailed me, and the first thing he wrote was “They were navy pants. Get it right.” But he knows I’m doing it for a good cause, and he was really enthusiastic about that.

You’ve never broken a four-hour marathon time, so getting to 3:50 is a major challenge. What have been your new training strategies as you prep for November 1st?

The most important strategy was to not be fat. I’m Ukrainian, and generally we’re just bigger people. My first marathon, I weighed 240 pounds and ran a 4:29 – now I’m around 190 or 200 pounds. I’ve read that every pound lost is about a minute off your time. My fastest marathon ever, the Marine Corps Marathon, was a 4:09. I was on-pace to break four hours, but I totally blew it at the end. Every quarter mile I was stopping to rub Icy Hot on my legs. But not this time. Fuck Icy Hot.

I’m also doing speed work, and did my long runs with the New York Flyers. They’ve got pacers, water stations, and it’s better to socialize than do three-and-a-half loops around Central Park, alone, seeing the same people over and over. It’s obvious that you’re all there for the same reason, but nobody’s saying anything as they just run loops around each other all morning.

And, you know, there’s the embarrassment factor: my training strategy is that I simply have to do it. I just have to.

And speaking of training, what have been the biggest challenges as you try to cut down your time to meet Ryan’s?

Not overtraining has been hard, because running slowly is boring. Ryan apparently trained with his agent, who ran Badwater [a 135-mile ultra-marathon through Death Valley]. That’s totally cheating, and I don’t have that kind of advantage. I tried doing yoga, but I’m totally the wrong case-study. I’ll do it only when I’m really screwed up and stiff, last two weeks, and then not go back for months. There’s no “yoga practice” in my life – more like “yoga bootcamp”.

You’ve said that you decided to raise money for the Fox Foundation after reading Michael’s memoir. Is there a personal connection to Parkinson’s as well?

No, you  know what, I haven’t had anyone taken before their time who I feel I’m doing this for. I’m 38, I’ve been in New York for eight years, and I think it’s easy to get into this rut of not really doing anything. So I wanted to do something. My grandfather and great-grandfather were stricken with hammertoe, but there’s no foundation for that.

Beating Ryan Reynolds is a good way to get attention, but I want to continue to run and fund-raise next year and onward. I’m planning more parties to raise money, and I’d like to try to get people at work involved in a marathon, maybe lead a running group. I don’t have a personal connection to Parkinson’s, but through this website I have met many people affected by the illness.  Both directly and indirectly. For me, it would be a horrible disease to have…the thing is that people with Parkinson’s are still mentally sharp. They haven’t lost that at all. What they have lost is the ability to have the freedom that their bodies once gave them: to walk, to run, and even to perform the most simple tasks. That would be very difficult for me to handle since I have been very active my entire life. So, that will certainly propel me as I hit those last 5 miles of the marathon.

It sounds like you’ve got solid training under your belt, but, dare I ask, what if you don’t do it?

I will do it. I’ve got to do it. If I don’t run a 3:50, I will cry and weep like a baby, naked. You know, my mom called me last week and she was just freaking out, like “there’s so much pressure, so much pressure.” Thanks mom. But seriously, I’m just going to do it.

And, finally, what three training tools do you swear by?

I always wear my Saucony shoes. I can’t tell you the model, because I just wear them to the running store to have them replaced.

Before a race, I always eat two Kashi waffles with peanut butter, banana and honey.

And my iPod Nano, with rock, hip-hip and a lot of really embarrassing music. There’s Lady Gaga on there. Don’t print that.