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

I'm convinced! I'm convinced this is a farce and a lynching.

While Mike Rossi was putting in countless miles (for himself AND others) you were posting here under an assumed name.

While Mike Rossi was denying himself sweets, alcohol, and fast food, you were posting here under an assumed name.

While Mike Rossi was driving his family to Boston knowing that his injury would make his effort a difficult one, you were posting under an assumed name.

While Mike Rossi was raising the profile of the sport he LOVES...our sport, you were posting baloney here. Yes, under an assumed name.

Fact is, Mike put in the miles. Mike put the effort out there on the course, with photos to prove it. Mike took on the school system and hit a nerve with millions of citizens.

Mike Ross may not be YOUR definition of a hero. And frankly I don't agree with all his actions and past. That 80's haircut on his site is not cool (LOL). But to many of us, he is our definition of the everyman who conquers something bigger than all of us!

lol @ "countless miles"

Do you know Mike? If so, please ask him if I can borrow his invisibility cloak. I don't need to elude any photographers, but I would like to pull some pranks at work.

such poetic garbage. I just threw up a little in the back of my mouth!

Mike, you at Starbucks where you could use a different IP address?

Archie Valdemeer wrote:

While Mike Rossi was putting in countless miles (for himself AND others)

Wait, for others?

Did Mike "run" another BQ marathon with someone else's bib and get them into Boston too?

That would be quite a guy.

Archie Valdemeer wrote:

I'm convinced! I'm convinced this is a farce and a lynching.

While Mike Rossi was putting in countless miles (for himself AND others) you were posting here under an assumed name.

Archie, you are either Mike or a deluded fool, your choice.

BTW as has been said many, many times now Mike's claim of 1000 miles in 18 months is 15 miles per week which is "casual jogger" volume.

So..........The pictures you speak of. You mean the two at the finish line that he is hiding his face and the one selfie at the start where he doesn't even show his bib? LOL Mike, that's a good one. I'm glad you are giving new life to this thread as it slowed down a bit over the weekend. Brag about a 3:45 marathon as a good day and not a peep about a killer 3:11. I'll admit that I cried a little at my first BQ marathon. You know what? I cried a little more when that qualifier was not good enough and I got cut by a mere 28 seconds. Maybe a time that was good enough without people like you.

Many outside of the sport don't understand the Daniels VDOT and McMillan calculators and equivalent performances. The public tends to think a 15:00 5K, for example, is an equivalent to a 3 or 4 hour marathon.

It's great that Lehigh VIA (Allentown PA) marathon is investigating. I wish race directors would do the same for many of Litton's finishes from 2008-2010.

This should guarantee another 500+ posts in this thread.

Well done, Mike...

SOKLR wrote:

Many outside of the sport don't understand the Daniels VDOT and McMillan calculators and equivalent performances. The public tends to think a 15:00 5K, for example, is an equivalent to a 3 or 4 hour marathon.

It's great that Lehigh VIA (Allentown PA) marathon is investigating. I wish race directors would do the same for many of Litton's finishes from 2008-2010.

Great to hear from you SOKLR, do you think SOMRR has legs ?

Ginberwyn wrote:

I head his show promoted today when I was in the car. It wasn't 92.xx though it was 93.7.

Remember, there are TWO Mike Rossi's who are radio DJ's in the area. Believe the innocent one is in Delaware.

93.7 might be the "innocent" Mike Rossi.

Its the "putting the miles" that screams "trolling newbies with his training regime."

Similar to the guy 50 pages back who said it was probably just ignorance, not intentional lying when he said he was "close to a BQ" while running Philly until his pota potty stop.

He doesn't understand pacing and he doesn't understand 55 MILES A MONTH is barely even hobby jogger territory.

Not a week. A Month. 55 Miles a Month. Who has seen 55 miles a month on their training log since their first semester of freshman cross country.

I'm a hobby jogger without a BQ, and I can't remember the last time I saw 55 MILES A MONTH on my training log. I'm sure if I looked back years I could find a month here or there babying an injury, But as a training average? Especially when you're in marathon build up?

In his mind 1000 miles sounds like a big number, just like his pace at Philly was fast.

I'd give him a pass as a well intentioned newbie if he was just another goofball with a blog. Unfortunately, one too many friends have gotten a BQ and they've missed getting in, so I want to see this guy DQ'd.

The memes are pure artistry, I have to check them out every day for the new ones.http://memegenerator.net/Mikerossicheat"I overcame many obstacles. Mainly road detours and potholes."Gold.

Just asking wrote:

Do you know Mike? If so, please ask him if I can borrow his invisibility cloak. I don't need to elude any photographers, but I would like to pull some pranks at work.

In a big marathon field, I couldn't tell you with much confidence who was around me unless we talked or were running together for most of the race. I can remember distinctive runners once I see race photos - for instance, some of my Boston photos showed me near a tall guy I remember trailing for a good 4-5 miles around Newton. If you'd told me someone with Rossi's description was near me - white, middle-aged guy with black clothing - I wouldn't be able to confirm or deny. So I don't think that will be conclusive unless someone remembers him jumping on or off the course in suspicious ways. On the other hand, the photo sequences at midrace checkpoints showing all other racers who finished around him but not him seem like evidence enough.

xenonscreams wrote:

czdfhhc wrote:

This. And as none of the "126 around him" as per NBC link above will vouch for Mr Rossie his DQ is only a matter of time.

Just out of curiosity, do you guys actually remember people around you when you race? I only remember people I know already, or maybe other women my age and speed since I directly scope them out as competition. But some random dude running around me? I definitely wouldn't remember his face. It'd be the last thing I'd be thinking about during a race.

Again I think he's guilty (especially since he lied about his splits in the marathon he ran shortly after his BQ, which shows that he's clearly a compulsive liar) but I'm not sure anyone else would have noticed him even if he wasn't guilty.

I'm convinced! I'm convinced you're either Mike or a troll.

I'm convinced that as a someone who is not even a sub 4:30 marathon runner that I've done more miles this year that Rossi has. Mine are not countless though, unlike Mike I can show evidence of and count all my miles, race or not. They're all on Strava.

I'm convinced that if Rossi had ran a bit more then he could have the odd takeaway. In fact I'm pretty sure one of his blogs mentioned guilt free eating because of all the running which wasn't actually a lot of running.

I'm also convinced that if Rossi can afford to buy EVERY Boston jacket and t-shirt going then he can afford flights to Boston. If he hadn't got into Boston then he wouldn't have to drive them so how id that a hardship that we should feel sorry for. I feel sorry for the next guy on the list who didn't get to drive his kids to Boston.

I'm also convinced that if Rossi could get a 3:11 marathon with so little time and training put into it that he should be able to duplicate it and run it again to get another BQ. He should actually be even faster. If that is the case I believe Rossi is a complete numpty for running a marathon (and then a 10 miler) on an injury that's so bad that he is offering to show the MRI to anyone who can breath (But not share his LV marathon splits).

I'm convinced that you must be Mike, because you keep bringing everything back to the stupid letter that no one here cares about (other than it shows the arrogance of the author). Funny how Mike was doing exactly the same thing on facebook.

Why not go and ask the volunteers who are having to go through 19,000 photos because Mike can't even be bothered to say what time he thinks he went through 10k/half/30k what they think Mike has down for the profile of running.

Oh and I don't have an assumed name.

Honestly I can't tell if this ^ is pure troll or if someone actually thinks that way.

I guess that means I'll have to go with a 9/10 for trolling.

0/10 if you were serious.

Put up or shut up, Mike wrote:

If any of your family, friends and running partners have read this thread, they know in their hearts that you cheated. By not admitting it, you are forcing them to feign belief in you. The longer this drags out, the more damage you will cause to yourself

Usually with these cheating threads a relative, friend, running partner, etc will post in defence of the cheater (even when the evidence is overwhelming like this one) and also identify themselves to eliminate any troll accusations.

Fairly damning that no one's identified themselves and come to Mike's defence with evidence or a character reference.

feyd rautha wrote:

Honestly, this thread just makes me want to see if I could cheat and get away with it. I've never cheated in a race before but I'm tempted to go to one of d2xccoach's races and try to pull it off just to see if I can. It's like going to prison to try to see if you can escape, except I'm too much of a pu$sy for all that.

Sure come on up for any of our races! We produce a 5k on New Years Day, a half marathon in mid April, a marathon in late May, and a 10k in late September. I would never say that our races are cheat-proof, but we do try to put reasonable cross checks in place to do what we can to prevent cheating when it matters most. The marathon is the only one with prize money, in fact the other races we produce don't even have awards beyond 1st place, so of course we're going to put a lot more effort into trying to cheat-proof the marathon. The 5k, for example, we only have a finish line mat, so somebody could easily start somewhere out on the course, say be walking down the sidewalk as the runner start coming by, and ease themselves into the flow of the race. The half marathon is point-to-point, somebody could easily exit the course, drive somewhere close to the finish, get out somewhere between runners and jog to the finish.

Outside our marathon, for those other 3 races, it would be like cheating at a color run...what's the point? Somebody wants to pay us $25 to enter a 5k with no awards and cut the course, have at it.

Even in our marathon, there are definitely ways to cheat and get away with it. We have 3 of the 4 "furthest out" points covered with chip mats, the 4th is at the 1.7 mile mark so if somebody wanted to cut part of our course they could cut off some of the early miles. We do train all the Course Monitors to look for anybody coming onto the course from the areas it would be most easy to cut, but the CM's have other job duties so somebody looking to cheat could probably time it right to get by. One of the things we have going for us is that the way our city streets are laid out it's tough to drive from one part of the course to another during the denser parts of the race. In fact one year our RD drove to the 13.1 mile mark early on to check on something and tried to get out of there at the height of the race and it took her almost an hour to go 2 miles - and that's with a course pass on her car.

Depending on one's objectives, I could see a whole bunch of ways to cheat at our races, and if I had some motivation to do so at another race I'm sure I could figure out a way to do so with a pretty high likelihood of not getting caught. And the #1 thing I'd do to not get caught would be to try to not draw attention to myself like Rossi did by calling out his kid's principal.

I notice at no time do you say while Mike Rossi was running the entire 26.2 miles of the Lehigh Marathon, I was posting under an assumed name!