A 26-year-old influencer and entrepreneur has enraged thousands after she participated in last weekend’s Brooklyn Half Marathon without properly registering, after which she took to social media to brag about the dubious accomplishment.
Connecticut resident Alexa Curtis, who owns Be Fearless Inc. , decided to join the marathon at the last minute, according to a statement from her publicist provided to The New York Post .
“I didn’t sign up for this race,” Curtis admitted in a video bragging about the swift time she made, posted shortly after she crossed the finish line. “I just asked the security where it started and where it ended and jumped in,” she said.
The process, known in the running community as “banditing,” is deeply frowned upon. Entrance fees for the Brooklyn Half Marathon cost around $125, and go towards benefiting NYU Langone Health, the medical research facility which is a “signature charity partner” of the marathon. Typically, some of the registration fees also go towards maintaining the course as well as providing runners with hydrating beverages and medals.
“I just ran 13.1 miles for the Brooklyn half marathon at a 7.43-minute pace,” Curtis wrote in a since-deleted social media post immediately after the race. “I didn’t walk at all. I cried during a lot of it.”
When detractors began weighing in to inform Curtis of her folly, she sniped right back at them. “Bit unfair on the others who have paid for the police support, road closures, and first [responders],” one X (formerly Twitter) commenter opined.
Curtis replied: “Life’s not fair :(.”
As more people accused Curtis of stealing, she attempted to acquit herself with a rambling story about a recent business transaction. Explaining that a client had recently asked her for a $17,000 refund, Curtis admitted she “didn’t have a contract and [the client] decided she wasn’t ‘happy and desperately needed the money back’ but the last thing I wanted was an American Express dispute to deal [with]…
“I worked for free for two weeks while running a second business,” Curtis continued. “So get back to me about stealing—google the definition of it, ‘cause that’s what happened to me in business this month not running a half marathon.” She then addressed her challengers: “Hbu? Any wins and losses you wanna mention on Twitter?”
On Monday, after apparently realizing this tact hadn’t worked, Curtis issued a more apologetic statement on her social media channels. “I did not realize I would offend so many people,” she wrote. ‘The post was meant to be inspirational and I had no intention to take anything from anyone or the race: I was running for myself for my mental health.”
“Delete the [original] tweet then and make a sincere apology,” one user replied, which is exactly what Curtis did.
On Monday night, she posted an official statement apologizing for “any upset my hasty actions by unofficially joining the Brooklyn Half may have caused.”
But by this point, eagle-eyed keyboard detectives had pieced together enough about Curtis’ track record to say with confidence that her Brooklyn Half entrance wasn’t a one-time thing. One user found a tweet from one week ago where Curtis expressed her intention to participate in the marathon.
“Second half marathon prep,” she wrote. “Haven't properly trained for this but used to run cross country in high school so running feels like second nature to me. Anyone else running Sunday?”
Another user found a picture of someone who appears to be Curtis holding a medal at the Austin half marathon. It’s unclear if the person in the photo is actually Curtis, but their running outfit appears to be the same one Curtis wore in Brooklyn.
“Are you going to give back the Austin Half marathon medal too?” the user asked. “Cause it doesn't look like you signed up for it, either. No bib. Can't find you in results.”
“She’s clearly done this before,” another commented. “Fearless indeed…”
But Curtis contended that her actions were indeed fearless. In one of her original posts, she told a naysayer, “When people ask me what being fearless is, it’s like asking security where the race starts and where it ends.
“Everything in the middle, all the bulls--t, the pain, the trauma you’re gonna experience in your life is nothing because you started running and you’re not going to stop just because you cross that finish line.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0