David Roche GOES HOME DEVASTATED from Western States

Narcissists don’t have friends

I’ve felt much of the Roche criticism has been over the top but must confess the white knuckling life comment is off putting. There have been so many runners more accomplished than him who have harder lives. I guess he’s been privileged so he lacks perspective.

He must be just as awful in real life as he appears online. There are obviously many runners in Boulder who could join him on the trails, but who would want to?

I think he used to do some runs with Drew Holmen (great guy), but haven't seen them run together in a few years. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with training by yourself, but it's known in the Boulder community that the Roches tend to keep to themselves.

I had to ask AI to interpret this for me, because the heat at the end...

"It’s a phrase that mixes politeness with sarcasm. “With all due respect” is typically used to soften criticism or a harsh opinion, but the rest of the phrase—"go f yourself"—is an extremely rude and hostile statement. The heart emoji at the end ( <3 ) adds a layer of irony or sarcasm, making it seem even more playful or mocking.
So, it’s essentially a way to express frustration or anger while pretending to be polite or light-hearted about it. The combination of formal politeness and the aggressive language creates a tone that’s both dismissive and humorous in an exaggerated way.
Definitely not a phrase for a friendly chat unless you’re joking around with someone who knows you’re kidding!"

Wait? they have a full time nanny? that’s next level privilege. Why do they need one? They don’t have “real” jobs and can stagger training and all the other stuff of raising kids in a 2 parent household.

Yup, since Leo was born. They need one so David can spend all his time creating self-serving YouTube videos and Megan can pick up all the pieces of his fragile little ego.

As an avid fan of the Boulder Boys podcast (which couldn’t be further from the SWAP podcast as it captures the essence of friends hanging out and talking about running in a casual and inclusive manner) they take plenty of subtle and not so subtle digs at David. It’s clear that he is an outcast, which he has referenced stems from his childhood. I would almost feel bad for him if it wasn’t entirely self-imposed and preventable. He seems to thrive on the “underdog” and “victim” mindset, which I guess explains why he digs a deeper hole with every spectacular DNF.

I think a lot of it is the wife’s doing

Listening to the podcast it seems like every time he’s about to realize that he just quit and owning it, Megan pops in with some excuse about how he is too smart or other nonesense. I understand being supportive, but maybe he needs to get some real talk from someone outside of that household.

Dude ran too hard and when crap went south instead of readjusting the goal he started to panic and worry about what everybody was going to think. Then he created every excuse imaginable to justify why he was going to quit

That anxiety is from all the posturing and telling everybody they are mfers for doubting him.

In these longer races when you’re pushing your body to the limit, it’s very easy to talk yourself out of finishing; but for many of us, this is the essence of why we do them….to push ourselves beyond what we mentally think we can do and at the end we realize there that we are a lot more capable of what we think

great point -- on the Singletrack interview post-race winner Caleb Olson talks about how he was close to giving up and started walking at one point...but he didn't.

I would guess that anyone who's run a marathon or especially an ultra has hit a point where they're just over it and ready to be done. What we do in those moments says a lot.

Yeah I have wondered this too. And - not trying to be snarky - I have wondered if he is on the autism spectrum.

The obsession over running, his all or nothing approach to racing, the weird outfits and ridiculous heatsuit, the grand pronouncements over his legacy, the apparent inability to relate to others, seemingly spending so much time alone, the bizaare bathroom humor, being overly nice to the point of appearing fake and sometimes being a flustered jerk -- it all comes off to me as someone with autism spectrum disorder that has a hard time relating to others.

Not trying to shame him or anybody else, but I think people would give him more of a pass if he said he was autistic and sometimes comes across as too intense / off putting.

Or maybe he's not neurodivergent and just an obnoxious brat who exaggerates a lot and quits when the work gets really tough. /Shrug/

Roche is the biggest charlatan and the largest narcist in the whole sport... despite haven't accomplishing a whole lot. He doesn't fit well within the ethos of the sport and all of the top ultra runners I talk to aren't fans of him at all. Hope he hangs them up and takes on triathalon or road racing. The guy is super grating and doesn't have a place in the trail community.

Honestly, when I hear that someone is a fan of the guy or they are coached by him - their stock takes a major hit. Life is too short to fill your headspace with weirdos like Roche. Dude is just strange and not in a good way.

What is the bizarre bathroom humor? I haven’t been following him…. Any examples?

No space for another narcissist in triathlon. Too many already.

Describing his poops, the amount of chafing on his penis or oversharing intimate details of their sex life comes to mind. I try to forget the details though.. major cringe alert. But if you're into that.. listen to their podcast I guess.

What a difference between the SWAP podcast with David giving his recap and the Singletrack podcast with Caleb giving his recap of his winning Western States. They couldn’t be more different. David should give that a good listen to hear what a winner has to say not only about the race, not giving up, and his competitors on the course. David should be embarrassed by the after action podcast. But he won’t be.

Grating and strange? Thats just you being homophobic

and to add to this -- if you don't have it, for whatever reason, Foresthill has to be one of the easiest places to DNF in ultras. You're 100k in, hurting. Already got the cheers coming in (and in David's case, leaving as well). You can just get in the car and it's over; you're in your Airbnb in Auburn in 30 minutes.

Continuing on down Cal Street and dropping later, nowhere near as easy. I spent about 15 hours on that section of the course during the race this year and there's just nowhere to go. You could drop, sure, but you're gonna be sitting in a small aid station until it closes at 4am.

Credit to Tara Dower who did just that -- no fake victory lap, just grit and forward motion until it was over for real.

I think he would be a fitting addition to the triathlon community.