Why do some people blatantly lie about how fast they are?

did they know they lied? if so when. were they intoxicated or trying to impress friends?

also it matters if they are serious runners or more the weekend only type?

I was racing this 8k and knew the RD- he came up to me before the race and said, "hey, there's supposedly some big shot girl here who is trying to get an OTQ for the 10k this year," so of course I was interested- this was a small town fun race that had good prizes. I started the race and she went out like a bat out of hell and I assumed she was legit- except I caught her at the mile mark and she blew up. After the race (and beating her by 2 minutes in what was not a good time for me) I was talking to her and she said she was in a "Olympic training group" and she had already qualified for the trials in the 10k. She claimed she ran D1 track/xc on a full ride. Of course I went home and stalked her results and found out she had a 5k PR of 19+ minutes in the 5k and 40+ min in the 10k and went to a very small school that was D1 but you wouldn't know it.

My interest was piqued as she seemed to make a big production of herself at the race we ran...so I found her on facebook. She has an athlete facebook page and claims to run for New Balance- like Emma Coburn style. She actually runs for a local NB store team. She claimed that she was running the Olympic Trials in the steeplechase, by virtue of be ranked in the top 5 steeplers in the country with her 11:45+ time. When she started saying that her OT race was coming up, I asked when it was because I was actually at Hayward for the trials (for real) and I wanted to watch/cheer- surprise, she never answered. She narrowly missed the Olympic team selection and all her friends and family sent her the nicest messages on her athlete facebook. She seems to have given up on the Olympic dream and has relegated herself to running local 5k/10k races like they are all national championships, then posting about her "wins" on the facebooks afterward. It is comical and I get a lot of enjoyment out of following her because running is black and white- you run the times or you don't. You qualify for big races or you don't. You win races or you don't. I just don't understand it.

This sounds awesome! I've seen something similar, but nothing quite this drastic. This is on the level of that obese rights activist lady claiming she was training to qualify for the Ironman world championships (Reagan something). It's just crazy to see how far they're willing to take the lie and how gullible people are sometimes.

I had a classmate in middle school who told me that she ran a mile in just over 3 minutes. She said that she couldn’t wait to run in a race so that it could be an official world record.

I didn’t believe her, of course.

Turns out she thought that a mile was one lap around the track...

I've been in a number of coaching situations where someone has posted their times and credentials. I always google them or even dig deeper. It is interesting dealing with the legit guys (and gals) vs. the posers.

It is crazy how so many individuals stretch the truth about their race performances, heck some even about their workouts! Some of them just do this to please their social media followers to try and be marketable, while others can't come to terms with the fact that they aren't as good as they think they are. We in the running community can sniff those people out, as we have done here. Unfortunately, we the many, are then classified as losers and haters! Sad!

I even know some runners that have stated they have wheel measured a loop around some parking lot like Walmart, Big Y, Costco, said it's X distance, then proceed to run workouts that don't match their race performances. I've seen on some runners logs that they run miraculous workouts on holiday mornings/eves, that even the most elite would have trouble with. Some runners even go to the extent of saying they ran a 5k race (in lets say like 14:25), but the results are nowhere to be found! Whats the point!? How can they wake up so naturally knowing that they are doing this...lying to their followers and themselves. It's mind boggling.

lorde wrote:

This does seem somewhat systemic in running, but one that gets me is a guy I know who has run 3:58 for the mile, but tells people he is a 3:56 miler. To the common folk, the difference is negligible, but to serious runners it is not. 3:58 is legit regardless so why lie?

Converted 1500?- maybe he wants to give an idea of his best time, but knows that most people won’t understand a 1500 time.

Yep mind boggling is the right word for it...this guy claims to have gotten top 3 in a fairly large race thats been around since 2006...I was easily able to pull up the results for each year and he was nowhere to be found...best part is the time he claims to have run has never been run by anybody in that particular race

There’s a guy who went to my college who wanted to walk on for the track team. He told us he did 25x400 at 53... with 15 seconds rest because “his coach was mad”. That’s like a 28:20 10k... his 800 PR was around 2:08

There really was a Corey DuQuette in VA who ran those kinds of times... no idea if that's the same guy. http://va.milesplit.com/athletes/pro/21019/stats

I have a friend who does this. I honestly think he just doesn't know what he's saying. He I see telling a story for entertainment but has no clue what the times mean that he quotes

I've actually had the opposite happen to me where I tell a coworker I ran division 1 track nothing spectacular in terms of PRs low 4 mile, low 14 5k mid 29 10k. So because I ran 4:0x for a mile this coworker starts telling everyone I am basically a sub 4 minute miler and going to the olympics, etc. Every time he tells people how fast I am, he exaggerates more each time. initially I would correct someone if they asked but he's told enough people in the office I've given up correcting people.

I'd have to say that is him. Which makes me feel sort of like a jerk because I have been sort of telling everyone that he is a liar. As a man of integrity I can admit when I am wrong and I was wrong on this one. However as an avid runner it just seemed fabricated that the guy would say he ran times like that but never runs any of the road races that our command has and when I asked if he ever trains he said he doesn't race nor want to any longer.

Well, a seventh grader is probably saying what some moron who taught a PE class told him.

I've seen the opposite too. At school this lanky skinny lad turns up for the 100m school age 15/16 champs. I'd never seen him run he was into punk and was wearing s Clash t shirt.

He was up against the school champ a real muscular guy. The punk guy had such a lead he turned to the crowd at 70m and did an Ovett wave!

A mare of his later reckoned he was wearing doc Martin boots as well.

Anyway s few years later I bumped into him mentioned running and said bag he wasn't that good!

The only kid I've seen with his talent went onto run 200m for GB. The punk guy finished top 5 later in school xc out of 200+. If he didn't make the sprints he could definitely have got an international vest over 800m if he'd trained.

That's one modest guy against scores of bs'ers and liars in my time!

This is my monthly gross and I am struggling:

Gross Pay: $6,174.00

Taxable Wages: $4,716.94

Nontaxable Wages: $419.06

Deductions: $1,499.06

Net Pay : $4,674.94

Deductions:

Allotments, SV: $4.00

FEHB: $171.84

OASDI: $146.22

Retire, Fers: $112.99

Tax, State: $74.08

Dental: $28.96

FEGLI: $10.35

Medicare: $34.20

Union: $15.00

Tax, Federal: $138.44

TSP: $8.72

Vision: $8.73

Take Home: ($3,921.41)

Now let’s talk About Bills:

Rent: $774.00

Car: $490.00

Insurance: $334.00 (Michigan is not cheap)

Utilities: $200.00

Phones: $184.00

Internet: $50.00

Food: $400.00 (Family of 4)

Gas: $200.00 (I work 50 miles away)

Day Care: $600.00

Additional: $687.00

Total: ($3,919.00)

Pocket Average is about even.

For those that can assume you can survive off of minimum wage good luck to you it is not a forgiving economy right now and they will pounce on you the moment you are down and try and keep you there. As you can see I make a decent income and don’t take much home a great deal of the deductions are not by choice and I do not have a very nice car. I went through some financial difficulties when the economy took a turn and my wife and I lost everything our house our nice vehicles and even got hit with a bankruptcy. Also when we asked for state help food stamps, and other assistance we got denied. They kept trying to say well you made $110,000 last year and I was trying to explain well I am completely out of a job now. They did not care and yet it is a fact you will see illegals at the state office getting everything they need but myself a hard working disabled veteran basically got spit on.

Wrong Post

I find more people lie about their "friends" or people they know.

Recently a coworker found out I was a runner (few years out of college, still train a bit). He asked what was the furthest I ever ran - told him about 18 miles. He then told me that he was surprised that is all the further I ran and that he had a friend in high school that once ran like 30 miles to the next town and would run 4 minute miles for fun.

He isn't my direct manager, but still above me. So I didn't call him out on it. I did ask where he ran in college (he didn't)... I am not sure if the guy was trying to be a jerk to me on purpose or was thought this was a good conversation to have with me.

LOL. One year after I ran the Boston Marathon this girl who apparently didn't understand English very well asked about my race. I told her it was good I ran 3:08 and I was shooting for under 3:10, so 'success'. Later on I heard she's been telling people I finished 8th in the Boston Marathon. FECK!