A private model entrepreneur is backtracking after her submit about crossing the end line of Sunday’s NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon with out signing up for the race drew swift criticism on social media.
“I didn’t understand I might offend so many individuals,” Alexa Curtis, 26, wrote Monday on X. “The submit was meant to be inspirational and I had no intention to take something from anybody or the race: I used to be working for myself for my psychological well being. Sooner or later I’ll remember to lookup the principles if I determine to run once more.”
Banditing — working a race with out registering — is very controversial within the working world as a result of entry charges are used to pay for course assist equivalent to safety, medical responders, water and Gatorade on the route, and medals on the end line. A portion of the registration prices sometimes goes to charity, as nicely.
The NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half — which traveled underneath the Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn bridges earlier than ending in Prospect Park — counts NYU Langone Well being as its “signature charity accomplice” to assist in the combat to finish most cancers disparities in Brooklyn.
A whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} are anticipated to be raised from the sold-out occasion — the place registration price $125 and up. Greater than 21,700 runners ran the 13.1-mile race Sunday, in accordance with the race outcomes.
“We had a report variety of runners at Sunday’s NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon with over 21,000 official finishers,” NYCRUNS mentioned in a Monday assertion to The Put up.
“Our prime precedence is the security and well-being of each a kind of runners, and the bib that each runner wears is their lifeline if a medical concern arises on the course,” the assertion continued. “It’s harmful to run in a race with no bib, and it’s additionally not honest to the hundreds of runners who’re.”
In a Monday assertion to The Put up, Curtis’ publicist mentioned she “determined very last-minute to take part within the Brooklyn Half.”
“It was not intentional that she didn’t enroll, fairly she thought it could be a pleasant manner to assist unfold the phrase through her platform in regards to the significance of transferring your physique/figuring out and the mind-body connection in addition to share some good consciousness for the Brooklyn Half,” learn the assertion, which famous that Curtis is visiting from abroad.
“Her participation was meant to be a constructive transfer, and it’s very unlucky that she is now receiving such adverse backlash about one thing that was to be uplifting for her followers,” the assertion went on. “She didn’t take a medal, nor did she have interaction in any of the facilities offered. She ran on the facet of the group, independently, and was comfortable to unfold excellent news within the spirit of positivity.”
In Sunday’s X submit, which has been seen greater than 3.4 million occasions, Curtis mentioned she ran the race with out coaching.
“I simply ran 13.1 miles for the Brooklyn half marathon at a 7.43 minute tempo. I didn’t stroll in any respect. I cried throughout numerous it. I went to mattress at 10 PM,” she penned.
“I didn’t join this race. I simply requested the safety the place it began and the place it ended and jumped in,” she added.
A Connecticut native, Curtis based Be Fearless Inc., a “reinvented profession model” dedicated to “serving to you be fearless & the boss of your individual life.”
She has 13,100 followers on X and 23,300 followers on Instagram, and she or he responded to some of her detractors.
“Bit unfair on the others who’ve paid for the police assist, highway closures and first aiders…,” one X person wrote.
“Life’s not honest :(,” Curtis replied.
“You’re a bandit and also you stole from this race and this neighborhood. this stuff are costly and for charity. disgrace on you,” one other individual tweeted.
Curtis wrote again that final week she refunded a consumer $17,000 as a result of she was “an fool, didn’t have a contract and [the client] determined she wasn’t ‘comfortable and desperately wanted the cash again’ however the very last thing I wished was an American Specific dispute to then deal,” which might have an effect on the bill processing for different purchasers.
“I labored without cost for two weeks whereas working a second enterprise (be fearless) the place I always lose cash but present as much as encourage younger ladies to be fearless who depend on me to,” she added.
“So get again to me about stealing — google the definition of it trigger that’s what occurred to me in enterprise this month not working a half marathon. Hbu? Any wins and losses you wanna point out on twitter?”
In her preliminary X submit, Curtis recalled enduring “the worst heartbreak in enterprise and my private life” over the previous yr.
“When individuals ask me what being fearless is, it’s like asking safety the place the race begins and the place it ends,” her submit learn. “All the things within the center, all of the bull***, the ache, the trauma you’re gonna expertise in your life is nothing since you began working and also you’re not going to cease simply since you cross that end line.”
