Robert Young fakes run across America

Indy Boots on the Ground wrote:

We were told that Indy would have boots on the ground. Where are the boots? Do you see boots? I dont see boots. Where are the boots?

LRC boots are all in their mom's basement.

Heavydutyskeptic wrote:

I am sure the ultra guys are good people. But. Their sole task is to keep an eye on RY. According to this latest account, when they went back to find Rob they were informed that he had stopped for a massage. A massage takes a good chunk of time. How long is he actually out of their view to do God only knows what?

In a previous Facebook post it was mentioned that a professional masseuse gave someone on the crew a few pointers about "how to keep Rob going." I assume they are referring to something like this-- a quick massage from a guy in the RV-- not stopping for a full-blown massage with an appointment and everything.

Heavyd84 wrote:

But the college kid running 6-7min pace would be so far ahead by the time his "warm up" was over that he could walk the rest and still beat the ultra guy

Unless the college guy was so exhausted after endless 50 mile days that he started crying and asked for his mama.

Breer, I'm from Iowa wrote:

Regarding current countdown, I imagine someone is keeping a more accurate tally but my back of envelope calculation shows that where he was at 11:30am EST (near Indy Airport) it looks like:

771 miles to Times Square (using Google maps with "avoiding highways" option to eliminate interstates and choosing shortest option)

About 12 Days 20 Hours to beat record

This comes out to 60.06 miles per 24-hour period for the next 308 hours.

So if he averages a very optimistic 50 miles a day, then he still comes up 2 1/2 days short of the record.

Heavydutyskeptic wrote:

I am sure the ultra guys are good people. But. Their sole task is to keep an eye on RY. According to this latest account, when they went back to find Rob they were informed that he had stopped for a massage. A massage takes a good chunk of time. How long is he actually out of their view to do God only knows what?

Lighten up. They aren't going to do more RV rides because they know lots of eyes are on them. It is not necessary for someone to be by their side 24/7. I trust the geezers plan.

I was physically and emotionally abused , so this part of the story is kind of a tear jerker for me whether its true about RY or not. It is possible that Robert Young was , but even more the likely he exaggerates what happened. It's an easy trend to fall into because you are feeling like nobody in the world can relate. YOU have been cheated and nobody helped you. Sympathy , and the tidings people might bring with it, can make up for what you suffered , so maybe you are entitled to go low standards and do bad things. I have a gap in my teeth and I used to tell people my dad caused it by being so impatient with me that he threw a baseball at me at full speed and hit me in the mouth. There was a lot of cruelty around the baseball thing and a bloody lip. There was a lot of abuse and neglect, year after year. Thing about my teeth , my son has the exact same gap, so I was reminded of how I used to exaggerate that story.

Still it's not o.k. to cheat and steal. it's hard not to want to feel validated and I can still embarrass the hell out of myself on that front sometimes ,even though I got pretty extensive help for myself as soon as I was independent from family. My guess is that instead of trying to grow beyond the abuse damage, heal some of it.,Robert crossed over to fooling himself entirely and manipulating people with what happened instead. When he says he is doing it for the children he means his inner child, missing that he is neglecting his own children in the process. (history repeating itself). You can do something for "the children" and what you should for your children at the same time. I don't think that's how he is handling it.

Anyway, I am happy about the humanity people are showing this guy here on LRC. Don't forgive and forget yet though. The cover ups and enablers( you know who you are). Those guys are more part of the problem.

If he can get within 100 miles with 2 days to go, he'll gut out a finish.

We haven't seen him go to exhaustion yet. Still pulling 45 + a day or more.

And notice there is no definite mileage total announced by the RV team. So no one really knows how many miles he has left according to them. All you need is 2978. Earlier he said he was shooting for 3100. So that may mean that his announced pace of needing. 13 days of 58 left refers to 3100 goal but not to 2978 minimum for record.

If so that means he knocks off 122 miles.

So instead of 13 days of 58 for 754 miles he would only need 754 - 122 or 632 miles divided by 13 days = 48.5 miles per day.

Guess what he is running? 48 per day

Coincidence????

Natty Dread wrote:

Whether a world-class performance is turned in by a Greek, an African, or an American, it is still a world-class performance.

True. Even if no runners with world class talent compete in an event, I guess you can call the best walk..er runners who do show up "world class". Btw, I'm world class at running that little trail back on my local hill. Nobody has run up there faster than I have.

reader of posts wrote:

It would be an interesting poll to see what most non-runners would think about this:

Which is the more impressive running feat to you:

A) Run 100 miles in 24 hours.

B) Run 1 mile in 3:50:00.

The times could vary bu you get the picture. My gut says "A" will be the overwhelming top pick.

As others have stated, 100 miles in 24 hours is pretty easy to achieve for most average ultra runners. I would argue that 100 miles in 24 hours is equal to running a mile in 5:50. For a 3:50 mile the equivalent would be finishing an average 100 mile route in 17 hours.

PTSD wrote:

Anyway, I am happy about the humanity people are showing this guy here on LRC. Don't forgive and forget yet though. The cover ups and enablers( you know who you are). Those guys are more part of the problem.

Yeah, whatever sympathy I have for RY (and it's pretty limited) does not extend to the guys in the crew. Not only are they clearly fabricating stories and information, they are putting this guy at pretty significant physical risk to chase a record that they should all know they can never get honestly. I'm not letting RY off the hook for anything, but I have some understanding of how a guy who is exhausted from running however far he was running in the heat could make some questionable decisions. If you're sitting in an RV most of the day, though, you have no excuses for watching a guy almost kill himself.

Couldn't agree more Rojo. He was partying it up after 70 mile days in the beginning through the heat and elevation of the Rockies. Now he is a brittle broken man running around 40mi a day at lower elevations without the hills. Dude must be in a world of hurt that only he caused himself.

49 Miles for the day.[/quote]

Once again the main man comes back at you all! You must be pig sick as so many of you predicted his demise for so many days. Crying out about his mental state and health and slating his past once again.

I should point out that Skins is Rob's preferred clothing for this little run and he has mostly white clothing for the day runs to keep off the sun and black clothing which is compression for the evening runs to preserve and help his legs. This is one forgotten reason why he was in black that night at the garage.

I'll give some of you lot one thing..........there are a few of you that have a good sense of humour and the 'banter' is not bad.

Pity it's let down by the judgemental ones who of course have never ever done anything wrong in their entire lives. I wish I could be an amazing as you hallowed ones.

Isn't it interesting to see the dodgy geezer Asher try to back track on his lies in the latest articles. Trouble is he is this deep in his lie he has to try to keep on lying as he knows his evidence is total BS.

As far as Marcus goes he is now posting more on here as he is being villified on Ultralist due to his awful comments about Rob's past and it's only in here that he gets the audience he so desperately craves.

The people on ultra list are at least ultra runners and know a little about this great sport. What a pity so many of you haven't got a clue and stoop to such low levels in your comments.

For those that do know about this sport I don't have an issue with your doubts and understand them fully, the rest are......

I realise many of you think it's just fun and 'banter' but you don't think about how awful it would be if an entire section of people suddenly turned on you for no decent reason and began to discredit your entire life and question everything about you. Just sit back for one moment and ponder that and think before you post vile things about another human.

Remember this is just a little run and not life or death. There are far more important things to be getting upset about than whether Rob can run fast or slow.

As far as "The Kids" go, this really gets my goat and I'm not going to have a rant but i'm going to point a few things out. This is a run to raise awareness and money for three charities. Two of these charities are American.

This limey is coming to your fecking country to raise money for your fecking children, and you complain!

You couldn't write a comedy about that even if you tried.

Can I suggest that for every person who has written a bad comment that you pledge to donate $1.00 if Rob succeeds in this challenge and to double it if he is proven to have done it without cheating.

I'll wager that I won't get a single person to pledge that.

I'll donate $1.00 for every positive comment i've made on here, Ultra Running Community and on FB if Rob is shown to have cheated or if he fails to complete the challenge.

I'm putting my money where the sausage rolls are and it's treble espresso's with ice cream on top for my horse in this race from now on.

The finish line is beckoning and Rob is defying you all......be afraid as the Brits are coming!

If you don't know what fecking is or banter is just ask any knowledgable Irishman or Englishman and ask them in the rub a dub dub over a nice drop of King Lear whilst discussing the next Captain Cook from this Bacardi Breezer

[quote]Pieman wrote:

All you need is 2978. /quote]

No, all you need is to run to NYC. Moving NYC closer to Indiana is the one thing I don't think they can do via cheating.

Serious question, can't someone 'walk' 50 miles a day?

I could probably walk a marathon in under 7 hours pretty easily. So I could walk 50 miles in around 14 hours. That leaves 8 hours for sleeping too. Are his 40 mile days just moreso rest?

No matter if he's cheating or not, he's really putting his body through the ringer. Sounds like he might die attempting this feat.

recognizer of clowns wrote:

Natty Dread wrote:

Whether a world-class performance is turned in by a Greek, an African, or an American, it is still a world-class performance.

True. Even if no runners with world class talent compete in an event, I guess you can call the best walk..er runners who do show up "world class". Btw, I'm world class at running that little trail back on my local hill. Nobody has run up there faster than I have.

That's an illogical conclusion.

The best performances at running event would be the winners of that event regardless of whether their performance was world class.

There are lots road races across North America every year, most of which are won without a world class performance.

rojo wrote:

So a guy who was well on his way to smashing the WR until Asher posted on letsruncom is now suddently a rookie who is just learning how to be a multi-day runner?

That post is more damning than anything.

I don't agree that the crew "has been very open". Release the watch files.

I think we all need to read between the lines on the ultra guys witness accounts. I'm interpreting their latest reports as calling the earlier parts a sham without outright saying so. They know RY, like him and are watching him gut out miles in a way they relate to. It's different than posting anonymously on a message board. You could pay someone in Indy $1000 to go stick a camera in RY's face and confront him with obvious questions, but I don't think it's necessary at this point. Since he went under observation, does anyone here have any doubts about the earlier stretches?

The ultra guys didn't go in for blood right away because they appear to be much more patient and knew something that his board largely didn't (myself included)--that stringing 50+ mile days together is very challenging and takes a huge toll even if it seems like pure walking, and the 70+ mile days strung together in the mountains was as absurd as the shorter stretches we've pointed out. I think that's why they don't want to touch the watch. Observing him for a week would answer all their questions, just like you watching him try to run 15 miles at 6:00 pace in his current condition would answer all of yours.

T BONE wrote:

Serious question, can't someone 'walk' 50 miles a day?

I could probably walk a marathon in under 7 hours pretty easily. So I could walk 50 miles in around 14 hours. That leaves 8 hours for sleeping too. Are his 40 mile days just moreso rest?

No matter if he's cheating or not, he's really putting his body through the ringer. Sounds like he might die attempting this feat.

Certainly. Anyone who is reasonably fit could walk 50-miles in a day. A few less could walk 50-miles on two consecutive days. Even fewer could walk 50-miles a day for a week. Far fewer could sustain that rate for a month ....

Natty Dread wrote:

100 miles (rd): 11:46:37 - Yiannis Kouros (Greece)

...

However, until you, or anyone else, is prepared to run 100-miles in less than 11:46 ... Mr. Kourus' best shall stand.

That's not even close to one of his best performances, though. I watched Zach Bitter beat that on a track last year. I have no doubt that it can be beaten on the road. Necessarily by an African? Agreed, there is no reason to think so. The advantages the Africans seem to have at marathon don't really translate to this kind of race. The energy requirements are very different (less power for a much longer time, much more fat-metabolism based), and overall the ability to withstand muscle damage is paramount. Also the mental aspect is much more prominent. Really it's a whole different skill set, physically and mentally.

But as I was saying... Kouros' 303 km in 24 hours is head and shoulders above his 100M. He has said, and it may well be true, that that's a mark that will stand for centuries. Nobody else is even close. And there are those who think his 48-hour record is even more untouchable.

Kouros is of course a very interesting reference point for RY's run, as it was his first Spartathlon that everyone said was so unbelievable that he must have hopped in a car during the night when no one was watching. Very quickly he proved all the doubters wrong. I am afraid we will not see the same with RY.

rules is rules wrote:

49 Miles for the day.

Yeah, not many people questioned whether he could run/walk 49 miles a day. 49 miles/day is a 56-day crossing. Had he set out to attempt the record, honestly accounted for his mileage, and crossed the U.S. in 56 days, it would be plenty impressive. But that isn't what they've claimed at all.