Robert Young fakes run across America

curiously interested wrote:He claims he was decent at swimming and fast at biking and had to build a big lead "because my running was awful. I was slow: Mr Plod, Dr Dawdle."

Pretty fast crowd if a sub 31 10k is slow.

He doth protests too much.

noobrunner wrote:

It looks like that is through town, so I am guessing the 1.2 is due to a stoplight/stopsign?

There is in fact at least 2 stop lights on that stretch, at the intersection of US50 and Industrial Road, and at US50 x Graphic Arts Road.

i thought it interesting for three reasons. First, in Rob's favor, it provides an account of him running at a fast pace for at least a few miles. Secondly, his strategy was interesting if not totally crazy. Third, he passed the aid stations and ran many consecutive marathons with no support (and no witnesses)

1 2 3 green wrote:

He’s been starting each marathon at about 5-5:30/mile pace, gradually slowing over the first half marathon, and then jog/walking the second half. He’s been so fast to our 6.5 and 13.1 mile aid stations that race staff haven’t been able to get there and set them up in time. So he frequently blows through the early stations without support, and still manages to finish with a smile on his face.

Or... he takes off like a bat out of hell to get out of sight and then rides to mile 20? I bet he looks fresh at the finish!

Any of these things by themselves and you might just ignore it. But it's sure seems like every single story about him involves something where they had no idea where he was because clearly he was *just* *too* *fast*. Too fast to even be seen!

noobrunner wrote:

noobrunner wrote:

It looks like that is through town, so I am guessing the 1.2 is due to a stoplight/stopsign?

There is in fact at least 2 stop lights on that stretch, at the intersection of US50 and Industrial Road, and at US50 x Graphic Arts Road.

Also 6th and Prairie. The video is 6th and sunnyslope

Serious question: If Rob is legitimately observed running a 70 mile day at a good pace, does that mean that his record attempt is legit?

I don't think so. There's a huge gulf between "can" and "did". Putting in a day like that helps his case, but it doesn't prove that he ran every foot of the course.

The undocumented and unlikely nature of his past running is a bigger concern to me than if he doesn't look lean enough by LR standards. It makes him harder to believe. The hard-to-explain RV moving slowly without a runner is also a big red flag.

But that doesn't mean he isn't running a lot or can't put in a legit leg if he's being observed. I doubt that he's riding in the RV the whole way.

I think challenging him to "prove" his record by documenting one leg is a mistake. It'd help him, but questions remain.

raceacrossusa? 12 or so joggers. what sort of 'race' is that? He looks to be the best of a bunch of hobby joggers.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cartoon+ultra+runner&biw=1320&bih=586&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNmu77ypvNAhXlAcAKHRwHDoYQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=wN82e12xwztpLM%3A

you are going to need it

So the video timestamp deviates from the tracker a bit - maybe by 8 minutes or so it seems. The 10:38 tracker point is shortly before getting to 6th and prairie.

So the part where he drives past the store is the tracker timestamp range from 10:38 - 10:50: 1.96mi

That's why the planned investigative team is aiming to do an approximate one-week continuous monitoring period. One 70-mile day isn't a problem for an experienced ultrarunner. 400+ miles in a week is world class (and less than Rob has claimed he's been doing ever since he left L.A.).

If he can do that under reliable observation that means something. If he tries it and ends up as a puddle of protoplasm on the pavement that means something else.

CoachKev wrote:

Hr watch is fine but batteries run out and chafing from a strap would drive you crazy.

Chafing shouldn't be a problem. Dude ran the frickin London Marathon in a wool kilt.

curiously interested wrote:

CoachKev wrote:

Hr watch is fine but batteries run out and chafing from a strap would drive you crazy.

Chafing shouldn't be a problem. Dude ran the frickin London Marathon in a wool kilt.

http://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=85E840&LastName=YOUNG

Actually, running in a kilt is fairly chafe free ... I've worn one for a 50-miler before.

After painful chafing, I always want to cut the netting out of my short shorts to create a mini kilt, but then I would become a sex offender.

Natty Dread wrote:

curiously interested wrote:

Chafing shouldn't be a problem. Dude ran the frickin London Marathon in a wool kilt.

http://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=85E840&LastName=YOUNG

Actually, running in a kilt is fairly chafe free ... I've worn one for a 50-miler before.

CoachKev wrote:

LRC to the Rescue. wrote:

Not normal to go on and on. Kev is worried. Really worried, one person doing it might be a sicko, a group of people doing it is a scam. Is doing a scam against charity legally fraud?

I can't win here, if I post nothing you all question why I'm not posting and then when I do post you say i'm going on.

Well, you could be his girlfriend. If he doesn't make any money, then you don't eat.

Yes, the times don't quite match up. It seems like the tracker was off from my phone too, so it might be their tracker. It is possible that the time on the security video is slightly off; I don't know how it is set.

We still know it is his RV because of the American Flag.

We still know it is weird for the RV to drive slowly down the road with no runner in sight.

We have heard that the tracker is in the RV, so the disparity in times would be inconsequential if that is the case.

In one of his Facebook pics he is sat in the RV wearing a blue garmin watch...

Sorry I can't provide the link right now but just search his name on fb and scroll down.

So much for chafing?? If he is using is watch then why not upload the data to strata? Also I guess the batteries are working fine

Funnily enough the tru results search somebody posted includes a guy called Robert Young who is the right age group and clocked a 30:47 second run leg in a duathlon. This matches Robs 19k PB.

Sadly that run leg was only 7km long.

Asher Delmott wrote:

Yes, the times don't quite match up. It seems like the tracker was off from my phone too, so it might be their tracker. It is possible that the time on the security video is slightly off; I don't know how it is set.

We still know it is his RV because of the American Flag.

We still know it is weird for the RV to drive slowly down the road with no runner in sight.

We have heard that the tracker is in the RV, so the disparity in times would be inconsequential if that is the case.

Yes, but if a GPS were in the RV, then driving slow would be essential to register a 3hr marathon pace.

This fellow appears to be a good runner, but there are a lot of strange, unexplained things about this venture that are not aiding it credibility.

Ultraboy wrote:

Funnily enough the tru results search somebody posted includes a guy called Robert Young who is the right age group and clocked a 30:47 second run leg in a duathlon. This matches Robs 19k PB.

Sadly that run leg was only 7km long.

Nice find - saw those results and thought it looked like it could be him but didn't make the connection on the times. Definitely seems to fit with a trend of him at least stretching the truth rather...