Marine Corps Marathon Issues Lifetime Ban to Runner

[Spirit Unleashed]

...it feels good to have met the standard.

This!

I never intend to go to Boston. But I have qualified twice and definitely told everyone I BQ'd. It was very fun; my ego loved it, dopamine rewards out the wazoo!

[canalrunner]

...it feels good to have met the standard.

This!

I never intend to go to Boston. But I have qualified twice and definitely told everyone I BQ'd. It was very fun; my ego loved it, dopamine rewards out the wazoo!

This +1! Hard to imagine the desperate sort of person who would cheat their way to Boston. Hard to run with the weight of a cheater on their shoulders. It is a sad, shallow and hollow thing. Can it really feel good?

Working towards a goal and then achieving it is awesome whatever it is. Meeting the BQ standard is one thing, running it is a bonus. Bit like the saying about education: it is the journey not the destiny.

[Jwolf]

Hard to imagine the desperate sort of person who would cheat their way to Boston. Hard to run with the weight of a cheater on their shoulders. It is a sad, shallow and hollow thing. Can it really feel good?

They don't think of it like that, because they just want to run Boston-- the qualifying part is meaningless for them. Many people do it to run with a friend, or whatever.

[Pat29]

I still intend to run Boston. I'll take a shot in the spring at taking more time off my qualifying time. If not I will try and register in September with my 2:31 buffer and hope for the best.

[turd ferguson]

Hard to imagine the desperate sort of person who would cheat their way to Boston. Hard to run with the weight of a cheater on their shoulders. It is a sad, shallow and hollow thing. Can it really feel good?

They don't think of it like that, because they just want to run Boston-- the qualifying part is meaningless for them. Many people do it to run with a friend, or whatever.

Its totally OK not to be motivated by qualifying for Boston. Lots of people buy a charity entry, or get an entry through the title sponsor (Hancock?) or whatever. Qualifying is only one of several ways into Boston. But cheating is still wrong.

[Jwolf]

Hard to imagine the desperate sort of person who would cheat their way to Boston. Hard to run with the weight of a cheater on their shoulders. It is a sad, shallow and hollow thing. Can it really feel good?

They don't think of it like that, because they just want to run Boston-- the qualifying part is meaningless for them. Many people do it to run with a friend, or whatever.

Its totally OK not to be motivated by qualifying for Boston. Lots of people buy a charity entry, or get an entry through the title sponsor (Hancock?) or whatever. Qualifying is only one of several ways into Boston. But cheating is still wrong.

Of course it's still wrong.

I was just trying to explain how they can do it without a guilty conscience.

Or the more general way to say it to them, Boston is not something that needs to be earned. It's wrong and it's cheating and stealing and lying.

[La]

There are qualifying spots in Boston and non-qualifying spots. If you cheat your way into a qualifying spot (thereby preventing another qualifier from running), then that's wrong.

[canalrunner]

Or the more general way to say it to them, Boston is not something that needs to be earned. It's wrong and it's cheating and stealing and lying.

Actually I disagree. I do think it needs to be earned and I include the charity runners in this. They have to fundraise a ton of money for charity in order "to earn" the bib. Isn't it about $4,000. That takes a lot of effort so I have no problem saying they earned their way to run Boston. They raise a ton of money and I don't mind them taking up space. OK there are sponsor bibs...but welcome to America and that's a small sliver. At the end of the day, the core of Boston is the BQ runner, and I think we all agree that cheating to be one is an ugly thing.

[Jwolf]

I don't really think we disagree...
I agree with everything you said there.

Not sure how I've been totally misunderstood. Anyone who knows me how strongly I feel about the Boston Marathon both for qualifiers and charity runners.

I have nothing against runners who earn their bib through raising money for a charity- in fact I'm considering doing it one day. That also takes a lot of work and dedication - just a different type. That's not really even is relevant here since the cheaters in question took qualifiers' spots. I was simply saying that THEY don't believe it needs to be earned. I don't believe that!

[canalrunner]

I don't really think we disagree...
I agree with everything you said there.

Not sure how I've been totally misunderstood. Anyone who knows me how strongly I feel about the Boston Marathon both for qualifiers and charity runners.

I have nothing against runners who earn their bib through raising money for a charity- in fact I'm considering doing it one day. That also takes a lot of work and dedication - just a different type. That's not really even is relevant here since the cheaters in question took qualifiers' spots. I was simply saying that THEY don't believe it needs to be earned. I don't believe that!

Understood now. Misread. To sum up, I think we agree that Boston should be earned whether it is through a BQ, raising money a lot of money for charity or being connected to some rich corporate friends (I think on Wall Street they call it insider trading). Happy to donate if you decide to do a charity bib. I have raised money twice for the Boston Foodbank while running as a BQ runner and the two'fer was awesome. Lots of respect for the efforts it takes to raise $4k+ while training for a marathon. Plus you get to have dinner with a whole bunch of people with a Boston accent...like being in a Ben Affleck/ Mark Wahlberg movie. Where are those Southies?

[HCcD]

Not tough. Fair. Should be done more. In cases where the cheating is parlayed into a BQ or prizes, I am ok with this public shaming. See this different than accidental cheating or meaningless cheating (I am thinking here of the load of NY "marathoners" who don't make the right turn off the bridge and go north and instead walk off the course and end up crossing the finish line and head to their waiting bag checks with very curious splits--in these cases not sure they ever were claiming anything.

This feels like Boston Dad. BTW anyone know if he has run any races since?

Since you asked ... Apparently, he is at it again ??

http://triathleteguru.blogspot.ca/2015/11/did-race-cheat-michael-rossi-attempt-to.html

[ian]

(Looking for the "eating popcorn while watching both sides of this controversy embarrass themselves even further" emoticon...)

[canalrunner]

(Looking for the "eating popcorn while watching both sides of this controversy embarrass themselves even further" emoticon...)

Make that two popcorns with real butta

Got to say, it would be fun to run with this guy. Would be easy to know whether he was legit. Happy to pay his registration for Race Weekend. He could name the race.

[HCcD]

(Looking for the "eating popcorn while watching both sides of this controversy embarrass themselves even further" emoticon...)

Make that two popcorns with real butta

Got to say, it would be fun to run with this guy. Would be easy to know whether he was legit. Happy to pay his registration for Race Weekend. He could name the race.

[La]

(Looking for the "eating popcorn while watching both sides of this controversy embarrass themselves even further" emoticon...)

Make that two popcorns with real butta

Got to say, it would be fun to run with this guy. Would be easy to know whether he was legit. Happy to pay his registration for Race Weekend. He could name the race.

I think it would be fun to find out in advance and secretly run behind him. If you ran with him, he'd likely just feign some type of illness/injury as a way of explaining why he can't run the pace he claims.