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

113 wrote:

In short, Kennedy was doing way more than Rossi in terms of training. He also happens to be Bob freaking Kennedy.

Pretty sure MR will enter his next race using the alias "Bob Kennedy"....

Haji wrote:

Over 2700 posts and 139 pages. Have we solved this one yet?

Not by a long shot. I'm waiting for the 'I entered a parallel universe where I actually ran the 3:11" excuse . Until then, I will be monitoring this thread.

My first marathon was @3:54. It was a train wreck after missing a lot of training due to injury. The next year, I ran 3:08 at the same race. Training was very average. 40-50 mpw. Probably a few more 20+ milers than the average guy. But I was in my early 30s. And I was 5'8" and 135 lbs. Now that I am in my mid 40s, I can tell you that general fitness won't get a big guy like MR a 3:11 on a warm day.

Hey guys, wanna know my PRs? They're totally relevant because they inform my skepticism of Mike Rossi.

Just kidding, I'll spare you. (But really - wanna know them? I'm so proud of them.)

Sorry, I feel like that came across as mean...I actually don't mind the PR posts and I hope they continue. I see them as an expression of solidarity between people who have actually put in the work to run these times. At the same time, they definitely come across a bit like humble-bragging.

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

dsb wrote:

The question of whether or not he cheated is mostly irrelevant to me; what I enjoy most about this whole situation is how karma came back to him in a major way for him publicly calling out a school official for simply doing her job.

A disqualification would be symbolic at best. He's unlikely to qualify for Boston ever again (assuming he ever did in the first place) and we can not turn back time and take the experience of running Boston away from him. Twenty years from now he'll still be able to show off his finisher's medal and; quite possibly, a framed picture of himself from Runner's World magazine with the caption blacked out via a Sharpie marker.

You forgot that he will still be rocking one of his 37 pieces of Boston flair.

Actually I believe Adidas will send ninjas to his home in the middle of the night to retrieve them. The line must be drawn somewhere.

mileage_man wrote:

Hey guys, wanna know my PRs? They're totally relevant because they inform my skepticism of Mike Rossi.

Just kidding, I'll spare you. (But really - wanna know them? I'm so proud of them.)

Sure, what are your PRs?

To be fair, I will go first.

800 - 2:47

1500 - 4:51

5000 - 12:32 (during a training run)

HM - 2:01

Marathon - 2:21

Now let me tell you about my skepticism. It all started way back in a land before time called New Jersey...

mileage_man wrote:

Hey guys, wanna know my PRs? They're totally relevant because they inform my skepticism of Mike Rossi.

Just kidding, I'll spare you. (But really - wanna know them? I'm so proud of them.)

Hey man, give him a break. He was responding to a post of mine and including the PRs made sense.

Yeah, sorry. I see that now and I feel like a bit like a jerk. Sorry Roy, your post made total sense and I was just being an ass. In fact the more I think about it the more I don't have a problem with any of the PR posts. My first reaction was that although I enjoyed reading these success stories, they were sort of gratuitous/self-centered and didn't really advance the thread. But now I think they're a touching show of solidarity, and at least as on-topic as most of the other stuff getting posted.

This thread seems pretty harsh given the fact that there is no real evidence.

The photographer misses getting a photo of Mike once or twice and he gets crucified for no good reason. I mean come on, 3:11 is not exactly flying. No need to crush a guys dreams for no reason. I know Mike is a great role model to his kids and would not risk that by stooping to the level you guys are accusing him of. He deserves the benefit of the doubt.

0/10

The Mickster wrote:

This thread seems pretty harsh given the fact that there is no real evidence.

The photographer misses getting a photo of Mike once or twice and he gets crucified for no good reason. I mean come on, 3:11 is not exactly flying. No need to crush a guys dreams for no reason. I know Mike is a great role model to his kids and would not risk that by stooping to the level you guys are accusing him of. He deserves the benefit of the doubt.

He is the ONLY runner with no on-course photos. There is a stretch where photos were taken practically every second with a full view of the road--Mike didn't go through there. There in NO doubt. Zero, Zilch. He could be the best dad in the world--but sorry he cheated.

The Mickster wrote:

The photographer misses getting a photo of Mike once or twice and he gets crucified for no good reason.

I need to catch up on this thread, I've missed a lot apparently. Now they're crucifying the poor photographer. And all because of a dangling modifier!!!

The Mickster wrote:

This thread seems pretty harsh given the fact that there is no real evidence.

The photographer misses getting a photo of Mike once or twice and he gets crucified for no good reason. I mean come on, 3:11 is not exactly flying. No need to crush a guys dreams for no reason. I know Mike is a great role model to his kids and would not risk that by stooping to the level you guys are accusing him of. He deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Nice attempt, 2/10. Neither this site nor this thread will rest until there is a DQ. If not, Emmaus/Lehigh Valley PA will make Baltimore 2015 look like an evening barbeque.

dsb wrote:

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

You forgot that he will still be rocking one of his 37 pieces of Boston flair.

Actually I believe Adidas will send ninjas to his home in the middle of the night to retrieve them. The line must be drawn somewhere.

If they are Adidas ninjas, they would probably be ninjas with incredibly long arms.

bored troller wrote:

The Mickster wrote:

The photographer misses getting a photo of Mike once or twice and he gets crucified for no good reason.

I need to catch up on this thread, I've missed a lot apparently. Now they're crucifying the poor photographer. And all because of a dangling modifier!!!

Nice catch

PredictorGal wrote:

- Chances are LVM does not have a policy in place for how to handle accusations of cheating

They do:

Ducks in a row wrote:

Part of the waiver Mike Rossi would have had to sign off on to enter the Lehigh Valley Marathon:

"I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification. I have read and understand the rules set forth by the USTAF pertaining to long distance running and agree to abide by them."

At this point, I'm sure they are just making sure all their ducks are in a row before they DQ him!

Doubler wrote:

He is the ONLY runner with no on-course photos. There is a stretch where photos were taken practically every second with a full view of the road--Mike didn't go through there. There in NO doubt. Zero, Zilch. He could be the best dad in the world--but sorry he cheated.

I agree...I am certain that he cheated. Unfortunately a lack of evidence that he didn't cheat doesn't necessarily constitute evidence that he did. Without concrete evidence I don't see any governing body taking any actions against him.

Herehttp://lmgtfy.com/?q=lehigh+marathon+waiver#