I get what you're saying, but why on earth would he do that? Again, that falls into the category of things that are physically possible, but highly unlikely. For one thing, he just ran a hard race (at least, if he really ran it it would have been a hard race: 1:26 for a 70-y.o.). Then what? He drove back to a certain part of the course because it was so important to him to run that part again? And he gave someone else his number (that he had presumably already used to cross the finish line) so that they could cross the finish line too? Why would they make an arrangement like that? You present it as if this is something that people at races routinely do, but I've never heard of it and can't think of any reason anybody would do it.[/quote]
Oh, I get that it's weird. I am a big skeptic of this guy's full marathon times. But I don't have an explanation for it based on the timeline of the photos. Granted, this is without knowing what spot that is in the course compared to a distance split. However, how else would you explain this combination:
1) his pictures at that spot with other runners who have similar finish times
2) then his finish pictures with the bib generally around said runners
3) his reappearance at the photo spot next to the group
4) her going through the finish with his bib at a much slower finish, when he's already been photographed there?
Here's the course map:
https://www.pasadenahalf.com/assets/uploads/phm-course-map-2019-v1b.jpg
Here's photos of the guy who finished ahead of him:
https://freephotos.finisherpix.com/gallery/2019pasahalf/8415/1
He's got the same thing. He has two sets of photos at the finish, and it looks clear he went back and finished with someone who ran slower. Based on the course map, it doesn't look too hard to walk from the finish over to the 10-11 mile stretch to jump back in. Again, I don't have an explanation for the bib-swapping, but this doesn't appear to be evidence that he's a course cutter. I'm dubious of his marathon times, but this doesn't appear to be evidence to use against that.