As expected, Ragen has come up with a litany of excuses in a new IronFat update following her Fat Boy 5K course cutting disqualification. The list is quite extensive. She had blisters from her “long run” earlier that morning. She didn’t look at the course map. She forgot to turn on her GPS watch. The volunteers at the turn didn’t direct her properly. The volunteers handing out medals at the finish line didn’t tell her she was going the wrong way. She didn’t notice the racers with bibs who crossed the finish line directly before and after her. Somehow an “elite” athlete with experience in several 5Ks, a marathon, and an IRONMAN 70.3 didn’t think it was odd she received a medal before actually finishing. And then on and on with the usual handwringing claims about harassment from anonymous internet trolls who apparently contacted every single race official as well as her best friend. Of course, their efforts were for naught, since Ragen, honest to a fault, had supposedly already contacted the timing company to out herself.
It should not come as a surprise to anyone reading this blog that video evidence clearly shows Ragen’s version of events is not accurate. She claims a volunteer handed her a medal as she crossed the finish line, and she didn’t realize anything untoward had occurred until later. In the video itself, Ragen’s friend Jeanette DePatie slinks across the finish line the wrong way and sets up for a photo while Ragen presumably receives her medal off-camera. 10 seconds later, a racer with a bib crosses the finish line in the proper direction, directly in front of where Ragen is standing off-camera. After a further 30 seconds, Ragen crosses the finish line going the wrong way, already proudly wearing her medal. As she poses for her victory photo, yet another racer with a bib walks straight past her and crosses the finish line. Somehow Ragen remains oblivious to every indication she has cut the course.
Whether or not Ragen intentionally cut the course is rather immaterial at this point. She took a medal and didn’t say a word about it until a week later, after it blew up in her face. She has clearly spent time reading through all the posts about her on Reddit and other sites and attempted to address every criticism with weak excuses. She didn’t manage to come up with anything to explain why she and Jeanette were the only racers who took the wrong turn. She also didn’t explain why the other two members of her walking group took the correct route and finished in almost exactly her predicted true finish time, indicating they probably split at the turn. If it was a genuine mistake, then Ragen’s inability to correctly follow a novelty fun run 5K course speaks volumes about her preparation for IRONMAN Arizona in 4 1/2 months.
Ultimately, the most embarrassing part of this entire affair may be Ragen’s admission that walking 4.3km in over an hour was enough to seriously interfere with a week of IRONMAN training. This is the person who has claimed for many years that she normally exercises for an average of 3 1/2 hours every day, and up to 5 hours daily over the last 25 months of marathon and IRONMAN training. The person who claims she has attained “what is considered to be an elite level of health and fitness” and is in the top 5% of the country in strength and stamina. The person who is only months away from an IRONMAN and should be reaching the peak of her athletic form, but instead can barely walk like a normal human for a few kilometres.
In Ragen’s training update we learn that she has trouble swimming in public, that she has broken her bike again by exceeding its weight limit, and that her walk/runs have pleateaued at an unknown pace, presumably around her previous “barely faster than a walk” based on her recent 5K performances. Instead of any meaningful training data we are treated to yet another collection of blurry close-ups of Ragen’s face in the dark or in the same few locations, with the EXIF data redacted to prevent a repeat of Fake Selfie Sunday. In 4 months Ragen has gone from describing failing to finish at IMAZ as a “nightmare scenario” that would shake the foundation of her training regimen, to greatly lowering expectations and setting up yet another attempt in 2017 after she fails to finish in Tempe this November.
In 140 days, Ragen claims she will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run a full 26.2 mile marathon in under 17 hours. To date, she has yet to demonstrate the most basic competence in the any of the components of triathlon, or even the ability to walk 5km in under an hour. She has yet to complete any of the promised smaller events in preparation for her IRONMAN, unless her farcical attempts at 5Ks this year constitute serious race experience in her mind. It is abundantly clear that her training has not progressed in any meaningful way since her IRONMAN 70.3 DNS. She continues to lie, exaggerate, and obfuscate every single detail in an attempt to prove she is training harder than even professional triathletes. 2017 will presumably bring more of the same, and it remains to be seen how long Ragen will continue the “soon to be IRONMAN” charade.
At this point we have to seriously consider whether Ragen is still going through the motions of “training” for the financial benefits to her “elite fathlete” reputation, or whether she is truly delusional enough to believe she has a chance of completing an IRONMAN at her current weight and fitness level.
Dances with Facts 
But actually why was she even given a medal when they saw her coming the wrong way?
Exactly. It’s not like she just snatched it right as she was running over the line. She stopped, took it, put it on, and then walked at least several metres to the finish line, then crossed it.
i assume that the volunteer saw a lady with a number and assumed that she has missed getting her medal when she came through the in the proper direction. All in all this was very non “race like” finish as they usually have chutes where bib tags are pulled and stacked and then medals, shirts, beer, etc… Is given to finshers. The open nature of this probably made it a bit confusing and the medal person wouldn’t see it as unreasonable that someone would be coming back for a thier finisher prize. This is all on her.
The reason is pretty simple.
It’s a zero consequence charity run. It means absolutely nothing.
She walks up to a skinny kid, wearing a bib, and a kid knee jerks a medal around her neck.
“Trolls” are overemphasizing the issue of ‘cheating’ when no one, especially the event organizers, really cares.
The real issue is that this 5k breaks the facade of her training.
Did she/does she train every night? Doubtful, but unprovable.
Did she go for a 5k training session, finish at 430am, not sleep, then go to the 730am start time? Can’t prove that she didn’t, but it makes no sense for someone to forgo sleep. And what kind of messed up circadian rhythm is this?
The only thing that can be proven, is that a 280 lb person walked 4.3kms and has blisters.
So the only thing I’ll garner is that she walked the fat boy and got blisters from walking it.
That’s what I think too, the reason she has an actual “training” injury photo for once. She can fall and bleed anywhere but blisters take actual walking.
I don’t know what that Finish chute at that 5K looked like, so I can only speculate based on my experiences. Medals aren’t handed out directly after you cross – you have to walk a couple dozen feet first. They don’t want people crowding the finish line – they want participants to move through to let others behind them in unobstructed. There are plenty of people in the finish area already, so it has the ability to be a bit chaotic. Even in a 5K, there are spectators milling about/medical staff/photographers/food/volunteers assigned to various tasks. Not to mention an announcer and sometimes loud music. During one 10K I participated in, I couldn’t even find the medals and had to walk back to get mine. I had a bib, I was wearing workout gear and sweating – no one noticed there was a 2-3 minute gap between me crossing and getting a medal. So I can see Ragen grabbing one from a volunteer easily. Not the volunteer’s fault, not the race’s fault.
When did they start giving away medals at 5k races? I’ve not done one since 2012, I stick to halfs and fulls because I have a congenital lung disease and I can maintain a 9 minute mile for 26 miles a heck of a lot easier than 6 minute miles for 3, I am an endurance girl, nowhere near a speed girl, so I quit killing myself in sprint triathlons and shorter distance races for results that make me feel like I suck at sports for as much as I train for them.
And I agree with a lot of the posters, the half and full marathons, both big and small, that give medals, are at least 100 yards past the finish, as the photog is usually just behind the finish chute catching most of us looking down stopping our garmins and ruining any hopes of a good finish photo. At the full and half Ironmans that I have done, it is the same way, but they stop you and take your chip as well, because those things are 75.00 to replace.
Okay, Ms. Congenital Lung Disease, thanks for making my asthmatic ass look like a failure. ^_^ (Actually, way to go on being awesome. Imagine one more fan at the finish lines cheering for you, because that’s me.)
Sigh. I honestly wonder if she’s even going to show up for the Iron Man, seeing how much she is trying to lower our expectations in that post.
Ragen, why don’t you do what you claim to do, and listen to your body. It’s breaking down. They way Ragen is walking in the video, compared to her friend taking the photo, it just scary. Like a woman almost twice her age. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ragen did some irreparable damage to her joints by now.
The fact that Jeanette seems to wait until the course has cleared before doing the video of Ragen screams that they knew they were doing it wrong. Of course Jeanette didn’t see the lady in black finishing as Ragen did her “finish” because she was coming up behind her, so it’s very obvious they cut the course, stole a medal, and snuck around trying to make it look like Ragen did it.
She made no mention of the fact that out of four attendees only one paid and completed the course honestly. I don’t want her to have to be dragged into this and I see her as a victim of those three harridans, but they could at least have publicly congratulated her for doing and finishing the course properly. They’re so selfish.
One of the other ladies in their group had a bib and finished with Wann.
That’s the one I meant. I know Ragen paid the fee too, but she didn’t finish.
Yeah, one paid but didn’t finish, one finished but didn’t pay, one did neither, and only one of the four of them paid AND finished the thing. Classy.
How common are those kinds of blisters?! That has to be from ill-fitting shoes. I seem to recall her wearing some odd size because of her swollen feet so I’m guessing it’s that. A few days ago I took my dog to the greenway and wore my minimalist souls – I haven’t barefoot ran in a long time since I’ve switched up my shoes – anyway, I hadn’t planned on running but dog was excited so we jogged about 1.5 miles. Next day, my ankles were wrecked. Had I worn my current running shoes, I would have been fine.
She looks like she’s in a lot of pain after her victory photo – I don’t think that’s just “blister” pain either. If she was honest and finished a “long run” 3 hours prior to the 5k, what the hell is she thinking? Sometimes I think she’s setting the stage for her inevitable disability/immobility. She can say it was due to “years of athleticism” as opposed to obesity (though it doesn’t take a moron to figure out all that weight is breaking her down). Ugh… the last 16 seconds of that video. Ragen needs to just pull the plug on Ironfat, forget it ever happened, and go back to blogging about oppressive seating.
Her stiff legged walk looks like her IT band on her left leg is giving her problems.
She doesn’t train then does a 5k. She’s morbidly obese ontop. I’m surprised her knees didn’t give out before her skin did.
Wish she would look into competitive weightlifting or powerlifting or something along those lines. Her blog indicates that she likes doing the strength training workouts and doesn’t much like the endurance workouts. So why continue doing something that isn’t enjoyable?
??? She doesn’t do ANY workouts; she writes fiction and stages photographs. I can’t believe there are people who still actually take her seriously — she isn’t ever going to do anything that takes actual effort. She has lied about her childhood, her teen years, her work history, her accomplishments in everything…there is no sincerity or validity whatsoever to her or her story. Her blog indicates that she was a “national dance champion” and a fucking Rhodes scholar or some such…come on.
Agreed. It’s all fiction. Bad fiction at that.
It would be a lot easier for her to lie about how she’s lifting than all her lies about her Garmin being broken.
Not really.
It’s very easy to video yourself doing strength weight reps. It’s only a few seconds of video and is considerably more proof than falsifiable GPS data.
I love the reverse finish video.
At 0:35 our hero saunters across the finish line from the wrong direction, toward her friend to get her picture taken. She has no problems at all walking at this point. Immediately after she raises her arms for the photo she slowly turns and seems to barely hobble into the crowd with newly developed limp.
She reminds me of someone. I don’t know who. Just round up the usual suspects.
The position of the photo strikes me as odd. If she didn’t know she was going the wrong way, don’t you take the picture the other way? With the finish line behind you? I did the Army 10 miler in Kuwait and you better believe I ran thru the arch, (have pics of me passing thru it), then the unit and I went and had our pic taken with the arch behind us.
So it seems like this was done in a way to give the perspective that she was *about* to cross the finish line. Just my 2 cents.
I’d just like to say.. I see what you did there
Imagine what she could accomplish if she funnelled the energy she uses to lie and cheat for this facade into actual serious commitment.
And the worst thing about this “confession?” It was given in the Ironfat blog, the blog that only sad Issentrout follows. None of regulars and Facebook friends, none of the FierceFatties,no one but reddit, perhaps the less savory Voat crowd, 4 chan and this blog’s followers. And we already gave her the schematic for her excuses. She will never be done with this charade util she injures herself enough to quit from a “training injury.” And they will still follow her, she will still speak to vulnerable kids. It’s like watching a Teflon narcissist as far as her supporters are concerned.
Are any schools still hiring her to speak?
Ragen no longer publishes her speaking schedule. I can’t remember off-hand what her last college/university speaking engagement was, but she gave a number of talks last year, including the one in October where she was heckled by a “disgustingly offensive” male protester holding a sign simply stating that obesity is unhealthy. Her most recent major speaking engagement was at an eating disorder conference in May.
So, not influencing malleable children. That’s something?
So Jeanette DePattie appears to also be a scam artist. I had thought she was just delusional.
“How is it possible that I’m actually getting slower. This is like some kind of nightmare I was faster walking up the inclines than I was running down them.” Taken right from her blog.
For me, when this happened, it was a huge sign of injury. I could sprint no problem up a hill all day long. But walking/running down? Wasn’t happening. So much force is being placed on joints. Knees, ankles, hips, vertebrae. She is most likely disintegrating her joints and cartilage by continuing to place so much strain on her joints at such a heavy weight.
Yep-exactly. Injury. Likely she’s not performing any sort of maintenance program of regular stretching, foam rolling, massages and the like – to help the body heal between workouts. Her blog indicates she does take rest days but that isn’t going to be nearly enough to properly recover. The intensive workouts (if actually performed) coupled with the excessive body weight requires performing a good deal of maintenance to counter the muscle damage that occurs. Plus she should take steps to address the joint & cartilage damage (weight loss).
I wonder if her coach is instructing her about this or she’s blowing off the advice.
And it’s not just that. *If* she’s actually doing these workouts, she would be losing weight and reshaping her body. If she is purposely over eating to maintain the weight, there is virtually no way to get that type of caloric intake on health foods. Which means if that is the case, she must be gorging on anything and everything. Carbs, sugars, fats, processed, fried foods. Which isn’t supplying the proper nutrition to support repair and recovery. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was malnourished and anemic. Seeing as she doesn’t post her diet plan and all.
Anyone who has ever done the smallest amount of hobbyist level fitness, or more than 5 minutes of fitness related research via google, can see clearly that everything about Ragen is a total fraud.
No doubt, this person has a serious mental disorder. The fact that universities would allow her to speak to students is the scariest aspect of this entire saga.
Sure makes me wonder what vetting occurs regarding the speakers these universities bring in.
Did Ragen really run 5K in 2013?
https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/reflections-and-rage-from-my-first-5k/
The reason I ask is because she talks about running in the first blog post I linked to, but in the photo of the group in the middle of the race (the caption says “more than halfway there”) on the “More Cabaret” page Ragen links to in the above blog post, it doesn’t look like they are running: they are all posing together as a group, and they don’t look particularly red or sweaty or anything, and they were OK with stopping mid-“run” to take a photo.
https://morecabaret.com/gallery/#jp-carousel-358
Oh, my bad. Later on in the post she admits to walking it. It just sounded like she was claiming to have run it in the first paragraph. Should’ve read the whole thing properly instead of skimming the last couple of paragraphs.
Ragen plays very loose and fast with the term “run”. You’ll notice her talking about “long runs” all the time in her marathon and IM training reports, but in the vast majority of cases she actually means walking, or sometimes walk/runs that only average out to normal walking speed. It’s one of her lovely little quirks.
Still leaves me wondering why a team of trained dancers bothered to sign up for and walk in a 5k though.
It’s interesting to go back and read that post, which is now more than 3 years old. She said, “The truth about this event is that I didn’t really have to train. I knew that we were going to be walking it, and 3 miles is a distance I can walk comfortably.” Fast forward to 6/16, after years of training, and she can no longer walk the distance, never mind run it.
Her still being fat is not proof to me that she doesn’t train. It is possible to out-eat your training. However, her performances prove that she is not training. I would bet that most sedentary obese people her age could walk a race just as fast as she does.
There is no evidence that she does any training. As others have said, it is probably 100% fiction. I think she does no exercise outside of her few public appearances.
But she claims to train upwards of eight hours a day. She would certainly have to be eating 6,000-8,000 calories to maintain her gigantic obesity if she were actually working out as hard and as long and as varied as she claims. As you said, her training is ABSOLUTELY 100% fiction…I would usually say her only exercise is typing her internet rants, but I bet she uses voice to text because typing is too strenuous.
Damn. I lol’d. You’re right, it’s all fiction. She could npt possibly maintain the exercise routine and caloric intake. It’s going to be the train wreck we all expect.
[…] record and managed to get it down to an elite 1:05:51. This was followed up by her recent IronFlop 4.3K disqualification when she was unable to finish a novelty fun run 5K course properly and ruined a week of IRONMAN […]
[…] regimen in May 2014, she has managed to drop out of a marathon, two super sprint triathlons, and cut the course at a novelty fun run 5K. Over the the last two years, her 5K PR has gone down from 1:09:50 to […]
[…] May 2014, she has managed to drop out of a marathon, drop out of two super sprint triathlons, and cut the course at a novelty fun run 5K. The only athletic achievement she has to show for the 2000-3000+ hours […]
[…] managed to drop out of a marathon, drop out of two super sprint triathlons, drop out of a 5K, and cut the course at a novelty fun run 5K. After several thousand claimed hours of training, Ragen’s only […]
[…] In exactly nine days, Ragen Chastain claims she will swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run a full marathon in under 17 hours at IRONMAN Arizona in Tempe, AZ. As it stands, she has not shown even the slightest indication she has the necessary fitness and athletic ability to complete any part of an IRONMAN, despite apparently training for 3-5 hours every single day since mid-2014. In the last few years, Ragen has dropped out of multiple triathlons and runs, been hit with numerous scandals like being caught faking training selfies, and put in a dismal set of performances in a handful of 5Ks, culminating in course cutting a novelty fun run. […]
[…] success in short races, finally shaving a few minutes off her 1:09:50 PR last year, followed by an embarrassing disqualification with implications of cheating, and a blistering 55:57 finish at a local fun run in December. Her […]