Some interesting stuff went down at the Boston Marathon on Monday. That's not unusual, considering the latest trend in bib thieves, race bandits, and cheaters making the news and rounds on social media. This situation, however, is a bit different.
I will preface this story by saying that this thread was originally posted in a closed running group on Facebook of about 2500 members. I wouldn't normally post stuff from a closed group, but this situation has escalated to the point of being posted on Reddit by a member with the original poster's permission, using full names and all. Below is the original post on the group.
Needless to say, everyone in the group went batshit crazy over it. I spent hours last night reading all of the comments on this post as people tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure out how she got a medal, etc.
It's very clear that this imposter lied and never ran Boston, but the lengths she went to just to make her friends believe that's she did is insane. Like genuinely insane.
I never went to the "wrong" Tina's Facebook page. It wasn't necessary considering the amount of screen shots showing up in the thread on Facebook. Lie after lie was posted, digging herself deeper into a hole.
I'm sure she never thought this would escalate the way it did, especially considering she wrote about marathon Sunday, when Boston runs on a Monday. She said she missed the "trade show" (not expo), but still somehow has a hat and jacket....not to mention someone else's bib. I'm guessing you can preorder merchandise for Boston, so maybe she did that? She's definitely not educated on racing because her terminology is wrong.
Anyway, I couldn't stop watching this train wreck last night, nor today. This is great stuff. The Reddit thread was posted within the last hour, and it's starting to light up. If you're interested in watching the crazy like I was, here is a link. The thread on Reddit also has links to some of the original posts that started all of this.
Posted with Blogsy
Um...what?
ReplyDeleteI've stopped following running groups on FB because they get all riled up about stuff like this. So someone took some pictures to make it look like she ran the marathon. Is this really a huge deal? She didn't bandit the bib number or cut the course or do any of the things that runners are so ready to jump on.
That Reddit post is claiming fraud in fundraising when there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it.
I just shake my head. The interwebs are full of people who do bizarre things and other people who seem to feel the need to police and comment on the crazy. Nobody was harmed here, other than the girl whose name was claimed to be a misspelling, and she really wasn't hurt over the whole thing. The righteousness kills me. People need to focus on things that really matter.
I don't really have an emotional investment in what she did, meaning I really don't care. BUT apparently, she's done this for many, many races. I'm just fascinated by the psychology of all of it.
DeleteI personally travelled with someone that cheated at the NYC marathon. We haven't really spoken since but even then, I didn't feel like it was my job to call her out publicly or contact race management. The Internet is a weird place, for sure.
Haha - so a friend of mine used to say cheater, cheater, pants on fire which would annoy me because that's not the saying but now that's all I ever say so seeing liar, liar really weirded me out for a second! Okay, but wow. I mean, definitely crazy to go to such lengths to pretend you ran a race. Why? Other than crazy. But yes, I do get sucked into the crazy when things like this happen!
ReplyDeleteI could not stop watching it unfold. Not only the length she went to just to fabricate this story but also how seriously people took the issue. It made for some interesting reading, that's for sure!
DeleteI heard about this and the bizarreness somewhere and could not believe the crazy train that lady is on. Like, does she even run 5ks? I follow a blog that investigates marathon cheaters and bib swappers and it's really interesting to see the lengths people will go to!! http://www.marathoninvestigation.com/
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