So he did the first section at paces faster than marathon pace, going through the desert and over the mountains, running about half of it at night. THEN (perhaps coincidental to the public dust-up) he is now proceeding at a slower pace, closer to what mortals would do. Also, many days into the run, Laz/Gary encounter them on a stretch of road they probably should not be on employing a traffic-running strategy that is not safe. Which means they had not learned a good way to do this previously... including waaaay back in California, running the section on which there IS no easy/good/safe way to do.
While it seems pretty obvious what has been going on here, it also sets up the tale that matches his previous performances: he can say that he went out "too hard" and is now coasting. Just like he said he did intentionally at every marathon last year that he "won". He can say the first section was too brutal and now he's paying. Which is reasonable at an abstract level (the numbers still don't make sense), except that it doesn't really sound like the same dude in the blog from the first section at all.
Sad to say, folks, nothing will ever be proven here at this point. It isn't going to happen.
Really should focus on the numbers from the first section. Particularly how the heck they made it out of the start safely, that adventure in the desert, and trying to get over the mountains at road marathon pace. Those numbers are not credible.
Best outcome with Laz/Gary is that he'll be able to say "this doesn't seem right" and the guy is slowed up and misses the record. But the record doesn't matter. He will end up a bigger hero with his fans because he overcame incredible odds just to finish.
To those of you who are thinking that the OP himself is trolling, you guys really have programmed yourselves for too many conspiracy theories thanks to Kip and the winnebago man and godknowswhat.