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

It's not that I didn't like the letter, I'm sure other parents have sent in even worse letters to school, I didn't like that he posted it on FB.

I didn't like that he thought he was oh so special that rules didn't apply to him. If he wanted to take his kids cool that's on you but don't expect the absences to be approved.

I also was friends with him on FB up until this morning (I shared one of the posts about him on there and he unfriended me) and I had to hide his feed bc of all the selfie's and basic "I'm so great" talk. He once posted a status saying something along the lines that women can't talk about sports. So I made a few comments letting him know that I am pretty knowledge in football and a little baseball...what did he do? Deleted my comments. If you post or say anything other than "Mike you are right and great and oh so handsome" he deletes your comment.

And he shared and tweeted and retweeted and blogged about that letter to the principal for days, weeks after it happened. Did an interview with his medal and jacket but now he makes everything private and won't talk to reports on camera or at all? Yup he is a cheater.

I'm indifferent to the letter. I remember seeing something about it on dailymail.com but not thinking much of it.

Did he walk/run this? Because his pace is absurdly up and down. I have 500 runs on Nike+ and none of them have a pace chart that looks like that. And if he did walk/run, there is no way, with the top speed that shows, that he would have averaged 7:54.

kc1223 wrote:

Did he walk/run this? Because his pace is absurdly up and down. I have 500 runs on Nike+ and none of them have a pace chart that looks like that. And if he did walk/run, there is no way, with the top speed that shows, that he would have averaged 7:54.

It looks like it should be 16 miles which would be 8:54/mile avg pace which seems about right. It appears that he even cheats posting his training runs.

I think I was able to recreate Mikes route on mapmyrun

let me get it posted up in a minute

My only explanation would be that he had his phone running Nike+, and had a watch that he stopped during the "walk" portions. Then he edited the time post workout in Nike+, but kept total distance the same.

No idea why on earth you would actually do this, but it is a theory.

Here is a link to the route on mapmyrun. This was as close as I could get with the limited knowledge of the area. I had him looping around that top part on his way out multiple times to match the distance.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2hwcqki.png

I think a lot of it has to do with the proverbial silent majority. The ones who passed the letter around were in support. While those who didn't agree brushed passed it and didn't think about it again until the potential cheating issue arose. I would also imagine many here didn't even know about the letter until then.

The news outlets latched on because that's what they do, doesn't matter if most people care just that it seems like most people care.

Neutral Observertard wrote:

Resident Zoologist wrote:

You've mixed metaphors.

If they smell blood in the water, it would be a gam, herd, frenzy, school or shiver mentality.

http://www.sharks-world.com/what_is_a_group_of_sharks_called/

Have you never watched Shark Week?

Fair point. I actually wasted my time wondering if sharks see, smell, or taste blood in the water. I neglected to consider that they don't hunt in packs.

He drew his own blood in the ocean. Everybody who smells blood is coming for him. Don't blame the sharks. If he had just kept his mouth shut there would be no blood to smell.

He will cry himself to sleep and embarrass his family for years to come because he wanted to be special without being special.

There are more than a few fishy things about this training run. I'm having a hard time matching up mileage marks. I've got miles 1-3 pretty darn close but after that it gets difficult (as they aren't labelled). But if Mike keeps looping around that top area like it's illustrated in the nike picture, then I have no idea how his mile 10 is where it is at.

routemaker wrote:

There are more than a few fishy things about this training run. I'm having a hard time matching up mileage marks. I've got miles 1-3 pretty darn close but after that it gets difficult (as they aren't labelled). But if Mike keeps looping around that top area like it's illustrated in the nike picture, then I have no idea how his mile 10 is where it is at.

He does that bottom loop twice. You can seen hidden mile marker boxes behind 10, 12, and 13.

The only reason I've been here since last Thursday is because of how much the letter annoyed me.

I don't have an issue pulling kids out of school for travel, I've done it myself, even when unexcused, and my kids weren't in school the day I saw the letter because they'd both qualified for the national final in their (non school sanctioned) sport.

A grown-up looks at the rules, makes a decision, takes the consequences and ignores the form letter.

It appeared he hadn't bothered to check the rules (though he later admitted he knew before the trip it would be unexcused), and then he blamed others for his choices. Also the "overcoming the tragic loss of a loved one" rubbed me the wrong way - I buried my 11-year-old son, don't think that you are so special that everyone must handle you with kid gloves for just hinting at a death. I also note that he NEVER elaborates on that claim, (like he does on his injury claim) I suspect it was as false as his BQ time. (Also, probably a third of the people who loved the letter had such poor reading comprehension that they think he pulled the kids from school for a funeral, and just happened to run the Boston Marathon while they were away)

"My kids learned more in 5 days in Boston than they do in a year of school" also rubbed me the wrong way - the little special snowflakes would be much better off unschooled than they are in that school you later professed to respect so much, wouldn't they?

Finally, half or more of the letter was all about HIM, not even about the kids. Taken all together, that letter made me think the guy is a giant tool. Finding out later that he knew in advance about the policy, so the form letter wasn't a surprise, and that he never sent the letter to school, only spread it across social media, make me certain that he's an attentionwhore as well as a tool.

Finding out he's a cheating liar also was just the icing on the cake. Seeing his flip flops on the various parts of the story is delightful. ("I didn't post the letter with the intent of going viral!")

It's rare that we get to see the jerks of the world self-destruct from their own actions. That's why we enjoy it so much when we get to see it happen.

If it helps it appears that he is turning up Anne street rather than going to the intersection.

If it helps it appears that he is turning up Anne street rather than going to the intersection.

If it helps it appears that he is turning up Anne street rather than going to the intersection.

updated version:

http://i62.tinypic.com/120t5hs.png

does anybody see any issues with it?

This is great and my condolences. I can't imagine.

I AM 3001!

ROSSI FOR PRESIDENT!

I did it on Strava too but without the looping. Neither of them match the elevation that Mike has though. Nowhere even near http://imgur.com/Oph1AHv

routemaker wrote:

Here is a link to the route on mapmyrun. This was as close as I could get with the limited knowledge of the area. I had him looping around that top part on his way out multiple times to match the distance.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2hwcqki.png