Yahoo Sports Johnny Manziel's wife set a world-record half marathon pace or more likely cheated for it
It’s been a rough week for the Manziel family.
Johnny Manziel is out of a job again after his Canadian Football League team released him. No other team in the league is allowed to sign him, either, though the Alliance of American Football (AAF) offered a workout for the former NFL player Friday.
With his name prominent in headlines again, his wife is under scrutiny for a half marathon she recently ran. Bre Tiesi-Manziel took part in the Run Like A Diva half marathon Feb. 16 in Temecula, California, and is being accused of cheating.
Tiesi-Manziel finished what she said is her first half marathon in a time of 1:58:22.
Per Mara Stats, the median female participant is 32 years old and finishes in 2:09:45. Her finish puts her faster than 73 percent of female runners, per the statistical comparison, and within the first 30 finishers, male or female, in the Divas race that had 411 entries. However, she isn’t listed on the results page.
(If we knew more about her training and body mass index, we could use an equation to more accurately predict her half marathon time. Somehow, we don’t think she’d be down with it.)
Tiesi-Manziel is a fitness and Instagram model and keeps in shape. Her average pace of 9:02, even given her first half marathon, isn’t unbelievable.
What is are her mile-by-mile splits, investigated by LetsRun.com earlier in the week.
Tiesi-Maziel ran the race with friend and model Khloe Terae and they crossed the finish line at the same time, shown in both the results and Instagram video. The event results show Tiesi-Manziel clocked a 6.4-mile split pace of 14:15 minutes per mile. The 11-mile split information is missing and she finished at a 9:03 minute-per-mile pace overall.
The two somehow finished the first half of the race in 1:31:29 and the second half in 26:53. That’s unbelievable considering the women’s world record for a mile is 4:12.56, set by Svetlana Masterkova without any racing beforehand. Tiesi-Manziel’s time splits would have her run a 4-minute mile, every mile, for the final 6.7 miles.
As reference, one woman finished in 1:58:54, good for 26th overall and second in the female 55-59 age range. She clocked a 6.4-mile split pace of 8:49 and an 11-mile split of 9:03 for a complete pace of 9:05. The last finisher did it in 3:39:09 after a first-half time of 1:40.31.
And if this Instagram post by Terae is in chronological order, the friends were wasting time casually doing moves for the camera during the race. And doing it without much sweat.
Deadspin went further with the analysis. It looked at the original race map and the one used after weather forced modifications. Its theory is they cut out one of the laps, which would account for the lack of an 11-mile split time.
Tiesi-Manziel posted to her Instagram story after cheating allegations started to surface, but deleted the posts. Screenshots by Deadspin and For The Win show her trying to prove her time with a photo of the Mile 11 marker while she calls it “sad and pathetic” people would accuse her of cheating when she was there for charity.
The Divas Running Series holds 5K and half marathon races around the country. Runners get “bling” for finishing, pink tutus, boas, tiaras and a “bubbly toast” after the race. The race in California was a “special edition” and included more swag.
Participants can raise funds for the Breast Cancer Charities of America (iGoPink), the charity partner of the running series, but per a disclaimer on the same page “no percentage of registration is donated to the charity partner organization.”
The Khloe Terae fundraising team raised $65 from three people.
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