Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

I recommend voting up the cheating comments so they get to the top for everyone to see instead of being lost in the see of principal form letter vs. snarky letter discussion.

I've done this race twice, both as a marathon and a relay.

As someone else said, it would be very easy to act like you finished a relay leg and drop out and drive off. You could then come back in and act like you were starting another leg.

The bibs differ in color and relay says the team name rather than your own name. However, with so many teams and runners going in and out, it would really be easy to sneak in and out. Only sharp volunteers might catch this.

Also, as a runner in a normal marathon of this size, usually you are aware of the others around you, but here with the relay, you don't know who is in what race. There's so much in and out that you'd never realize if someone suddenly jumped in and even if they did, you'd probably think they were just in the relay.

I don't doubt that right now he thinks we are just a few anonymous messageboard posters. He isn't aware of LRC helping take down Kip Litton and other cheaters. If he did, he would be rightfully scared right now.

We are legion. We will continue to gain momentum. Save these denials that he is posting for now.

Has his entire running life been one big injury parade, only to have the health gods miraculously smile upon him for this one race? Can the same gods help me get into the Olympic Trials marathon next year?

Pshhhh, take this and pass it around: http://i.imgur.com/dVwW55J.jpg

If he did, he would be rightfully scared right now.

I think he is, which is why he is pulling all his sites down and blocking access. Rather than just ignore it, he is actively trying to suppress it (but then just claim it's a few anonymous internet detectives).

itsinthedetails wrote:

And if it were me, and I had one outlier great race that didn\'t jibe with the others, I\'d be able to back it up with details of my training. \"I ran weeks of X mpw in the 14 weeks before the goal race, with a peak of Y mpw. I did workouts where I averaged Z pace for 4x2 miles, etc. etc.\"

If you have that one great race, how can you not remember how you got there?

Dude, don\'t be crazy. He said his friends and family know how hard he worked. That\'s gotta be worth at least a 22-mile progression run down to marathon pace of 7:45, er, 7:30, um, I mean, 7:10.

Invisible Man wrote:

He Must have forgot about the ODDyssey 1/2 marathon he ran in June 2014 in 1:47:03, almost a full minute slower than his BQ at Lehigh.

You don't need a good memory when you tell the truth....

[quote]IFartinYourGeneralDirection wrote:

From a Facebook group he is in:

Mike Rossi: But during the summer of 2014 I concentrated solely on training for Lehigh Valley (with the exception of a couple 5ks).

I believe this half marathon has a bunch of optional obstacles on course that he could have been playing around on so that time may not mean much.

Wow, look at this run!

https://twitter.com/mikerossi22/status/540570850727313409

In a way, he really is teaching his children a valuable lifetime lesson.

What a herculean douche.Wojo referenced an earlier post of mine (representing many others) of how I'd prove I ran 26.2. I think we can all do that. I had a Garmin for all of my marathons, and plenty of pictures. Not to mention details out the wazoo! I actually went from 3:45 & 3:10 between my 2nd and 3rd marathon, but it was 13 months apart and I had progressive runs in between, including recorded races.Lastly, as someone else mentioned, you'd have a training log to fall back on supporting the progress. This ain't rocket science, his denial reeks of obfuscation.

TypicalLRCPoster wrote:

Pshhhh, take this and pass it around:

http://i.imgur.com/dVwW55J.jpg

Vote Up wrote:

I recommend voting up the cheating comments so they get to the top for everyone to see instead of being lost in the see of principal form letter vs. snarky letter discussion.

Agreed.

TypicalLRCPoster wrote:

Pshhhh, take this and pass it around:

http://i.imgur.com/dVwW55J.jpg

I love this so much

Does anyone live close enough to his town to put fliers up all over the place calling him out for cheating.

It's not enough for this guy to steal a BQ slot but on top of that he had to "go viral" with this school note thing failing to omit the name of the principal who is now being harassed. This guy deserves what's coming to him.

not our first rodeo wrote:

I don't doubt that right now he thinks we are just a few anonymous messageboard posters. He isn't aware of LRC helping take down Kip Litton and other cheaters. If he did, he would be rightfully scared right now.

We are legion. We will continue to gain momentum. Save these denials that he is posting for now.

Done. I wrote a comment in Philly.com and asked Mike to google "Kip Litton".

I have an idea wrote:

Does anyone live close enough to his town to put fliers up all over the place calling him out for cheating.

It's not enough for this guy to steal a BQ slot but on top of that he had to "go viral" with this school note thing failing to omit the name of the principal who is now being harassed. This guy deserves what's coming to him.

Fliers? It's 2015 man. That's not how this will gain traction.

Email or tweet at the person who wrote that article in the Philly magazine.

take me I'm yours wrote:

TypicalLRCPoster wrote:

Pshhhh, take this and pass it around:

http://i.imgur.com/dVwW55J.jpg

I love this so much

Is that the demeanor of a guy who'd finish the fastest, best run of his life, the run which granted him access to his Mecca by trotting in head down, not basking in his own personal glory?

"Always earned, never given" https://twitter.com/mikerossi22/status/476119051614564353

WWRD wrote:

What a herculean douche.

Wojo referenced an earlier post of mine (representing many others) of how I'd prove I ran 26.2. I think we can all do that. I had a Garmin for all of my marathons, and plenty of pictures. Not to mention details out the wazoo! I actually went from 3:45 & 3:10 between my 2nd and 3rd marathon, but it was 13 months apart and I had progressive runs in between, including recorded races.

Lastly, as someone else mentioned, you'd have a training log to fall back on supporting the progress. This ain't rocket science, his denial reeks of obfuscation.

TypicalLRCPoster wrote:

Pshhhh, take this and pass it around:

http://i.imgur.com/dVwW55J.jpg

Agreed. I have had some good improvements here and there as have friends from time to time. It is generally always due to substantial focus on the goal race. If he had a half at GMP... Training runs that reflect the fitnes..... I'm not one to blog or tweet my day to day runs but every run is documented in great detail and I could easily share my running log. Everyone I know with a breakthrough marathon has shown increased 5 and 10k fitness in the training buildup if they raced during the block.

Rossi the cheater makes no sense.