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Living on a Prayer… that She Wouldn't Get Caught
On February 20, the runner who placed second in the A1A Half Marathon in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida registered 44:12 for the first 10K and 1:21:46 for the remaining 11.08 kilometers. These results indicate the runner ran 7:09 minute/mile for the first 10K and then picked up the pace to 5:25 minute/mile for the second split. This breakdown piqued some race participants' curiosity, leading some to argue she cut the course and didn't run the full half-marathon. The runner approached runners and race officials by her own volition and denied these claims. She then celebrated by attending the awards ceremony and accepting the second-place award. To prove she ran an average pace of 6:15 minutes per mile for the entire 13.1 miles, the runner manually posted a map that shows she completed the course.Image

"She had this labeled as a run, and the total time *almost* matches her original time for the 1/2 marathon. The cadence data is more consistent with what you would expect on a bike ride, not a run. Also, through the Flyby screen, I was able to confirm that she actually covered this course in the afternoon – long after the race was complete."Some additional digging uncovered several photos of the runner after she had completed the race. A few of them even showed her facing the camera with the face of her Garmin 235 GPS smart watch clearly displayed. Curious as to whether the runner's data matched her professed completion time, Derek purchased high-resolution copies of the pictures.
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"I made a HORRIBLE choice at the Ft. Lauderdale Half Marathon on Sunday, Feb. 20. I wasn't feeling well so I CUT THE COURSE and headed to the finish line. "I got swept away in the moment and pretended I ran the entire course, when in fact I CHEATED and should have DISQUALIFIED myself."Derek isn't having any of it, though. He thinks the runner's proactive defense of her runtime proves she knew what she was doing. In his estimation, the runner probably wanted to receive a good enough time so that she could qualify for membership into the Performance Team of the Dashing Whippets, a member group of New York Road Runners community. But it wasn't meant to be. Since news of her deceit emerged, the Dashing Whippets has revoked her membership. It looks like she'll never make the Performance Team now.