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

This has turned into a pitchfork mob mentality and I agree with BW for once in probably 10 years. This has become just as bad if not worse than the actual crime. Being part of this site I kind of get it but anyone looking from the outside it will see this as cyberbulling and nothing more. Oh but let's not forget the principal, that poor principal. You think she is onboard with this? I bet you anything she is not. You guys are so sanctimonious, so out for a pound of flesh and justifying it because he's a self absorbed, narcissistic douche nozzle (If I could borrow from GregTR). Guess what you little muckrakers, most on this board are self absorbed, narcissistic douche nozzles and are no different than Mike Rossi except for maybe the cheating. You guys are like the guys who cheat on their wives over and over then she says "hi" to another guy and they go ballistic. There's an element of "doth protest that much" here.

This is like the riots in Baltimore. There are some people who are going after Mike Rossi in a thoughtful and peaceful manner and then you have the others who are here just to burn down buildings. The RD has probably had hundreds of emails from the same three people on here that he's going to DQ Rossi just to shut you idiots up. Not unlike the cops in Baltimore being arrested only to calm down the rioters.

All I can say is more memes, that will make MR confess.

If he doesn't come forward before the DQ I'm not sure if can ever be considered sincere, only a springboard to more attention.

Sub3HourMarathoner wrote:

I ran with Mike during the Lehigh marathon. He slowed down a bit at the end. I was surprised he didn't finish with a better time.

Someone was recently asking about some of the posts likely from the perpetrator. I love this one.

Yeah, I can see how it would look that way. I'd use the analogy of speaking another language, I think it's more intuitive. Billions of people on this earth speak Russian or Japanese effortlessly, so it's not impossible and not even hard. I'm not one of them, so it'd take years of intense training and study to get there. You don't "just want it bad enough" to speak in flawless Japanese on a quick set of beginner lessons. The brain just doesn't work that way.

Jeff Albertson wrote:

As much as I agree with you, my wife has asked me several times after watching me race, "why didn't you just pass those people in front of you?"

For people that don't understand, you can just "want to" enough on a certain day and do something outstanding.

It's frustrating to no end, but it does not surprise me that people buy his claim that he wasn't giving it a full effort on any other race day, but on LVM day, he reached down deep for a great performance.

Been discussed plenty: port a poddy and drive port a poddy renter and finish.

The race has a relay. The last relay exchange is around 22.5, at a park, with parking and many people jumping in and out. Very easy to do there.

This is my favorite. Pure gold.

Anyone know what happened at the Rock n Roll Philly Half? He didn't cross the 10 mile timing mat, yet ended up with 2:20???

http://running.competitor.com/cgiresults?eId=4&eiId=215&seId=709&pId=147903

Well said Mike.

i love this thread wrote:

I read the entire first 44 pages of this thread before I keep up anymore. This guy ran 1,000 miles in 18 months? LoL. Our high school had a 500 mile club during summers and half the x-country team did it. We were training for 5ks, of course. The dedicated runners probably averaged 2,000 miles per year.

Exactly. 600 miles a year, 50 a month, & 15 miles per week is NOT "working your ass off" for a 30 minute marathon PR. Non runners wouldn't know the difference, but that is laughable.

geetar wrote:

I figure this guy is not a real runner. He started getting into it recently and thought he just HAD to run Boston, but when he realized how difficult it is, he found a way to cheat his way in, and figured it was a victimless "crime".

But being the narcissist that he is, he couldn't keep his yap shut and brought attention to himself, and was eventually outed as Douche of the Year.

Yep, he thought he could sneak Lehigh in there without most people noticing. Philly was his legit marathon and a race time he can actually be proud of. Non runners probably thought of that as his key to Boston based on how much he promoted it on social media.

GOOD TOPIC wrote:

Run with no name wrote:

One point I haven't seen is how did he do it. It seems planned based on no social media fanfare and the other red flags...but beside the one section that cuts off, any ideas on what went down? Perhaps since I never considered cheating I'm oblivious as to how one plans to leave a course and get back on without getting popped. Perhaps a crime of opportunity.

Apologies if this was discussed earlier.

Has not been discussed, has not been discovered. This twist should add at least another 400 pages to this wonderful thread and will give everyone here no reason to go outside today.

We just want justice.

This has been discussed. Lehigh has a marathon relay. The last relay point is at 22.5 miles at a parking lot with a lot of people coming and going. Would have been very easy for him to jump in here without sticking out.

Jog for 4 miles, work up a sweat, pump your fist, qualify for Boston. Piece of cake!

No Justice No Peace wrote:

This has turned into a pitchfork mob mentality and I agree with BW for once in probably 10 years. This has become just as bad if not worse than the actual crime.

No it hasn't and no it isn't. This kind of hysterical over-reaction was also seen on the Litton threads and people like you are the problem.

All anyone sane wants is a DQ and the true story to come out so that in future someone else thinks twice about cheating. That's it, end of story.

What does antagonise the ordinary runner though are the apologists, the "You can't prove it" people and the hysterical over-reactors.

Agreed. Someone with an inflated ego and sense of one's own abilities along with a lack of any real knowledge about running might look at 3:25 and think "that doesn't sound too difficult." He was probably shocked when it took him 4:26 to run his first marathon.

Viral Douche of the Year wrote:

geetar wrote:

I figure this guy is not a real runner. He started getting into it recently and thought he just HAD to run Boston, but when he realized how difficult it is, he found a way to cheat his way in, and figured it was a victimless "crime".

But being the narcissist that he is, he couldn't keep his yap shut and brought attention to himself, and was eventually outed as Douche of the Year.

Yep, he thought he could sneak Lehigh in there without most people noticing. Philly was his legit marathon and a race time he can actually be proud of. Non runners probably thought of that as his key to Boston based on how much he promoted it on social media.

No Justice No Peace wrote:

This has become just as bad if not worse than the actual crime. .

Um, no - not by a long shot.

For me the cheating is a small part of this story. This guy is a self absorbed wank that realized he was not able to qualify for Boston after blowing smoke on his blog so he cheated - ok. Then he goes on to play the role of the sanctimonious role model and inspirational hero while destroying a school principal and bringing misery on that school in the process.

My wife is a teacher and I don't doubt for a second that he would have thrown her under the bus if it got him 10 more Likes on his FB page or a shout out on Fox and Friends. F*ck this guy, he deserves every bit of misery that he brought on himself - if he is not willing to fess up (which he won't) I hope it destroys him.

And I'm not feeling a whole lot of sympathy for the LVM right now either until they DQ him. I've ran 23 marathons and I can't remember any of those that DIDN'T have intermediate mats on the course - wtf?

muahahahah

I'd be fine if the BAA allowed him to keep his Boston results on the condition that he provide a full confession that includes a detailed summary of how he pulled off the cheat. Including his plans leading up to the race about how he realized he'd be able to give it a shot.

This may actually serve some use to RDs. It would also add some level of sincerity to any pending confession.

Just a thought.

GOOD TOPIC wrote:

Run with no name wrote:

One point I haven't seen is how did he do it. It seems planned based on no social media fanfare and the other red flags...but beside the one section that cuts off, any ideas on what went down? Perhaps since I never considered cheating I'm oblivious as to how one plans to leave a course and get back on without getting popped. Perhaps a crime of opportunity.

Apologies if this was discussed earlier.

Has not been discussed, has not been discovered. This twist should add at least another 400 pages to this wonderful thread and will give everyone here no reason to go outside today.

We just want justice.

You might get justice. You might not. Nearly all agree what that would look like. My version beyond the DQs includes an apology to the school and some serious volunteering time there.

The facts speak for themselves. Maybe Rosie Rossi will tell the story, but I doubt it.

Experienced Kip Watcher wrote:

All anyone sane wants is a DQ and the true story to come out so that in future someone else thinks twice about cheating. That's it, end of story.

This, but also for RDs to make their races less laughably easy to cheat - both by adding mats and/or video and by looking through the results after the fact. It's Rossi's fault he cheated, but there's room to blame Lehigh too. If they had done their jobs and disqualified Rossi quietly they could have spared him the embarrassment, spared Internet posters from doing their work for them, and spared us all from having to hear about this whole "news" saga.