If you arrived at this page through a shared link, I have to inform you that the post you were looking for is no longer published.
I am a woman of my word, and I did state that I would take it down if anyone involved regretted their actions and/or apologized.
If you are interested in the subject of bullying I would like to refer to this post instead to understand why I was offended enough to post in the first place.
Those of you who wish to help support Laura in her fundraising can find her GoFundMe site here. You can also leave her some love in the comments below.
Anyone wishing to learn more about her can find her personal blog here.
To Laura (and everyone else dealing with haters today)
You keep being YOU! Live your dreams, never apologize for being yourself,
And keep kicking ass.
We at The Running Thriver support you!
The Running Thriver 
Thank you for this article. I find the egos of some to be atrocious! Just because you’re faster than some one doesn’t make you “elite”. People should realize that attitude is everything. Not just about training. How you treat others is how you should be defined. The ugliness in people can shine so bright some times! Just remember who you guys are looking up to. Are these really the people you want to call your “idol”? Laura…. You are an amazing person and friend! Keep doing you.
Good at you for having the guts to write this. Hope they got your point and maybe these horrible people will take the time to reflect on their actions. I am proud of you for doing this!!
Love your blog even more after this post. Wow! What a sad group of people. Laura’s blog rocks! And having recently participated in a program similar to the one Laura is raising funds for, I can guarantee you she’ll rock even more!
I completed my first OCR with my 9 year old granddaughter who ran the adult course with me (and totally rocked it!). I am by no means “elite”, LOL… I’m an overweight 50 yr old grandma 🙂 However, there were some elite runners at our event and they were all awesome and supportive. One ran back water for Sadie. I hope these other runners see the err of their ways, and in general are good people.
THANK YOU for this post ❤
p.s. The last post on my blog is my post about my OCR… My pride for my 9 yr old granddaughter overflows in the post… She reads your blog with me and we'll be reading Laura's now, as well. She loves running and is inspired by you xo
Thank you!!!! This comment means so much to me!!! You made me even tear up a little. Now that I know your granddaughter follows this blog with you, I will try to use cleaner language! Kudos to her and to you for setting a good example! Love so much that you are part of this page!!!! xo back at you!
I happen to know Laura and would like to consider myself a friend. I would just like to say that from what I know of her, that she is nothing other than kind, genuine, and good hearted. And to be perfectly frank, I find the fact that she is only in her twenties and yet has such passion, drive, and heart at that age, to do nothing other than better herself, as you pointed out very nicely, to be incredibly refreshing! So many of the youth of today are so self centered and entitled. Good for you Laura! Keep doing what you’re doing…you’re an inspiration!
Some human beings shock me. They obviously have nothing better to do with their time and are in some way threatened. I admire anyone going for their goals and dreams…I just wish I had that much guts when I was younger.x
Actually I am not sure they can be classed as human;)
Well done for speaking out against bullying.
People need to have a long hard think about this sort of thing before they post.
I am sure that Laura is a very strong person but we never really know how fragile someone is. Bullying like this can tip someone over the edge.
What is the point?
Just need people like you to call it out. I don’t actually think that some of these people are bad people , just not very aware. I have hope that people look at this and become more aware. Spartan are supposed to be standing up for whys right, not beating each other down.
Thank you for writing this. Every single, small-minded person who participated in this incredibly stupid and mean-spirited Page and postings should be ashamed of themselves. We are supposed to pick each other up, not tear one another down. Laura did nothing wrong with her GoFundMe page, she merely asked friends to help her do something positive so she could continue to be a positive influence on other people’s lives. I personally love “Striking a Messner’ because it’s fun, and it makes me (and other people) smile. When something stops being fun I feel you should stop doing it. The folks who thought this Bullying page was the right thing to do may have lost the “fun” aspect of their lives and their racing careers. To the Spartans who joined in on this horribly bad, tasteless, and incredibly mean exercise in the dark side of human endeavors – I hope you reexamine your own lives before you make fun of other people and the lives they lead. there is a Spartan Code that you supposedly adhere to. I suggest you read it and re-learn what you have apparently forgotten.
I have met Laura in person- and she’s even more beautiful inside than out (and well, you’ve seen her pics) She has earned her notoriety through hard work, sweat and grit. Her pictures are tasteful and well represent the strong woman she is and ad credibility and motivation to women. Thank you for such a well written article. Women who lift women up make me happy indeed!
Well, judging by the comments here, there a quite a few people doing exactly what they say they despise. Your original post could have been dedicated to Laura’s gofundme page and been very positive. I understand why you’re upset, but it is still a pot calling the kettle black situation. I’ve met Laura and just about everyone else involved, and none of them can be characterized in this simple fashion. I can assure you that neither Laura nor these others are “horrible people” or “not even human” as some commenters wrote. I don’t think judging others like this is beneficial. On either side. But if you’re going to, don’t pretend there’s a high horse you can do it from.
Joshua,
First, are you saying that I am the pot calling the kettle black or my commenters are because it may surprise to learn that I do not control what people respond.
If you are trying to say that I am behaving as badly as all parties involved then I would like to question you as to whether you actually saw the content of this site beyond what I posted here?
Rather than attempt to seek out and destroy a single individual with a load of derogatory terms and false accusations, I merely shared what was stated about this individual and systematically countered their arguments. I would like to point out that the person who constructed this site did request people spread the word, so he or she (or they) quite literally asked for it.
At no point did I call ANYONE any names other than hypocrite, because I do find it extremely hypocritical to berate someone for not using her free time to fundraise for charity while using one’s time to construct a Facebook page to ridicule another person. I think I was pretty clear about that in my post.
What I DID DO was openly criticize the behavior, which I still find deplorable. Yes, I called out a bunch of adults for bullying behavior. In complete contrast of what you are accusing me of; however, I did so without making gross assumptions about the people involved. I DID NOT accuse anyone of anything false. I DID NOT call anyone by derogatory terms. I DID NOT use any sexually explicit language, OR create any insulting memes of the persons involved. In fact, I specifically said in reply to the comments below that it was the behavior I had an issue with and that I was not accusing anyone of being a terrible person.
Yes I did write that THEIR BEHAVIOR made them look jealous, mean, stupid (specifically in regard to spelling an insult incorrectly) and elitist because it did.
Finally, I truly doubt you understand why I was so upset since you seem to see no difference between my behavior and the parties involved. Perhaps if you know all the parties involved you should have said something to them about their behavior before it got to the point it did.
I think most of the negative commentary comes from the comments themselves. I won’t pretend I can understand how or why this issue struck you so deeply, but I do stand by my assertion that your approach does unfairly characterize people in the same manner that you found abhorrent. One example, a gentleman who’s name you’ve listed above just lost his son
I will tell you openly and honestly that I have no personal issue with any of the parties involved. I don’t know any of them. It was their collective behavior that I found extremely offensive- no one individual more than any other. I simply captured the images of some of the threads that were the most mean spirited. I think it is unfortunate that your friends were caught up in this mess, but I did not alter any of those images in any way. If you don’t like the way the images make you friends look, that is on them, not me. It was a public site, not a private group or page. I was not out to make any specific people look bad. While I do feel for the gentleman you mentioned, it doesn’t excuse the fact that no one should be involved with a site of this nature. People make bad decisions- I get that. I even offered to take the whole thing down if any of them apologized. The thing is that NO ONE has. My goal in this post was not actually to make your friends look bad (as you suggest), rather it was so they would be held accountable for their behavior. Even more so, I wanted to point out that this type of behavior is not acceptable in hopes that other people who are witnessing or experiencing it might have the courage to speak up and say something about it. I don’t believe your friends are bad people, but what they did was really crummy. I am sorry you disagree with the way I went about dealing with it; but had I approached them all individually, do you really think they would have gotten the message? I still stand by my initial offer that I am happy to take it down if the people involved regret their actions. However, the few individuals I have seen react continue to defend their comments and behavior. I do appreciate your opinion and you speaking up on their behalf, and I hope that they appreciate it as well. I also am not claiming to be omniscience or better than anyone else for that matter. (I could have easily have deleted your comments- and any others I didn’t agree with- if I were). I am simply trying to point out that this kind of behavior is not okay and makes the parties involved look really terrible. I truly hope they have learned from this experience. I don’t enjoy making other people look bad or causing other people suffering or embarrassment. However, I do know what it is like to be berated and ridiculed in an entirely unprovoked and unjust manner, and I absolutely will not sit by and watch it happen to someone else (stranger or not). As I said, no one deserves that.
Got cut off.. Just lost his 10 year old son and is a veteran, and has already had a profound, positive impact on others. I won’t go through everyone on the list, but I assure you this post no more defines them than Laura’s gofundme request does her. Reaching out in private to those who you felt went too far would have been a better approach, in my opinion. Though, I don’t claim to have omniscience on this topic. Only my opinion.
Pointing out bullying makes people very uncomfortable, as it should. I think you’ve done a fantastic job at keeping this post neutral. It is not judging to call out bullies, more people should do this.
Joshua, I’m sorry for the man you mention that lost his son, I cannot imagine that pain. However, this does not excuse him from this type if behavior and, if anything, his loss should make him more sensitive to others.
I don’t think any of these people are in general bad people. There seems to have been a mob mentality occur here. As adults, as athletes these young, talented people need to set examples for our youth. My granddaughter Sadie, who turned 10 a week ago, follows many blogs about running and now she is in love with OCR. I want her to see how powerful giving your all can be and see that through the eyes of athletes that optimize what sportsmanship is about. Holding one another up, not tearing down.
I’ll finish by sharing what gets me through a race… My friends. I run a 45 minute 5K, most of them under 28 minutes and my dear friend, Ed, is often under 20 minutes. They finish their race and then as a group they run back to me and run with me, encouraging me. On my first (and only so far) OCR my friend Shannon stayed with me the entire 5 miles and 20 obstacles. This is what it’s about. You win when you love.
I’m SO proud of you for writing this post. Another step toward ending bullying!
I am not a fan of people trying to have others fund their own desires. HOWEVER, that whole FB thing is despicable. I’ve done several OCR, and people have been nothing but supportive. There seems to be a few bad apples in every community though. I’ve seen a bunch of them in the running community,
For the record any comment I made was made directing people to other gofundme sites for kids with cancer. I am the person who lost his son and I took offense to the blatant begging for money when she travels all over the US on a regular basis. Anytime somebody posting something I replied with a link to a more deserving gofundme for a kid who won’t get a full life. but hey it’s 2014 and any disagreement is bullying.
For the record, I have no idea which comment was even yours or who you are. I can tell you that none of the comments I captured in photos had links to other gofundme sites, so either you weren’t in the photos or you did not respond with a link to a more deserving cause every time. As you can see, the images aren’t even posted anymore, but if you don’t believe me I am happy to send you copies. And YES a Facebook page with multiple individuals attacking a single individual is BULLYING- especially when it includes a bunch of sexual comments and name calling. I fail to understand how you can justify that page under the umbrella of “any disagreement”. Perhaps if the page had been directed at someone you love you would not be so quick to justify it. I stand by my initial statement from my post- if you are so passionate about helping children with childhood cancers (or any other “more worthy” cause), you should spend your time on those pages instead of fueling a site geared at destroying a single individual. It’s not okay to treat someone however you choose simply for disagreeing with them.