JD Greening Doubles Down on Claim That he BQ’d (and won) The Wenatchee Marathon

By
derek
-
38
13773

In yesterday’s article, I revealed that J.D. Greening used his half marathon time at the Wenatchee Marathon in an attempt to enter the 2019 Boston Marathon. By yesterday afternoon, he was removed from the Boston entry list, his GoFundMe page was deactivated and social media accounts were locked down or deleted.

However, J.D. Greening is not backing down on his claim that he ran the Wenatchee Marathon in a time of 2:43:23.

“I registered for The marathon, I had a red bib for the marathon…somehow my case got mis-CATALOGED as a half marathon”

He was on the phone with a local news station where he stood by his claims that he qualified legitimately. It was reported that he claimed my article was “one-sided”.

 

2018 Wenatchee Marathon

Initially, I had posted that J.D. completed the half marathon and submitted the time as if it was his full marathon time. It is now my opinion that he did not complete the half course but crossed the start line of the marathon (well after the gun sounded) and re-entered the marathon course at a later point. He was likely moved from the full results to the half results after officials determined he could not have completed the marathon in the time claimed (I have reached out to the race, but have not yet been able to confirm).

 

Photo of J.D. on the course at Wenatchee during his claimed victory.

The winner of the race, I listed with a finishing time of 3:12:58. If J.D.’s time is to be believed, he won the race by approximately 30 minutes.

JD before the start

I did find photos of J.D. He was photographed in Walla Walla Park and at the finish. He was not seen in any photographs in the East Wenatchee location.

As posted in the prior article, he then offered pacing advice and put himself up as an expert of sorts.

J.D.’s Racing History

Does anything in J.D.’s racing history show the ability to win a marathon? It is not easy to find his other performances because he has run with other’s bibs or with the name “Jesse” but here is what we have.

2017 Army 10 Miler – October 9, 2017:

14:05 per mile. Not quite the 10-minute pace that is claimed. The result was found by looking up the bib # he is wearing in the photo. This has been reported to race organizers.

2017 Marine Corps Marathon October 22, 2017

 

13:40 per mile. One problem though, the missed 30k split. The pace from 2k5 to 30k would have been 12:42 per mile – faster than he was running up to that point. It is my opinion that, in addition to running with someone else’s bib, he cut this portion of the course as he was crashing.

30k is equal to 18.64 miles. This is along an out and back section of the course. Again, it is my opinion that he likely cut this section. This result has been reported to the race.

2018 Lake Sammamish Half Marathon

2:22:16 – 10:52 pace. No splits available for this race. The only photo from the race is the picture above.

In Conclusion

Nothing in his racing history indicates the ability to run anywhere near a 2:43:43. Additionally, are we to believe that he won the race and didn’t mention that when he was posting about qualifying for Boston? It is my opinion that he intentionally cut the course with the intention of obtaining a Boston Qualifying time, and unintentionally finished so unbelievable fast that he won the race and was immediately reclassified in the results.

I have reached out to the race but they have not responded as of yet.

Yesterday, I also reached out to J.D. through Facebook. He has not responded.
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38 COMMENTS

  3. I ran MCM in 2017. I came through that area around an hour later but it is a very easy point to cut on the course. The actual course has you loop around from the Washington Monument down to in front of the Capitol building. By that time in the day there are plenty of tourists milling around he could have slipped in to the crowd and across the National Mall. Didn’t he also run with someones bib that wasn’t legally transferred?

  4. I posted this reply under your original story, but I think it bears repeating:

    I found it very interesting that in his interview he never actually says that he ran the full in 2 hours. He is adamant that he registered for the full, has the full bib to prove it, the race officials moved his results to the half, his parents saw him at the start and finish, etc. And those things ARE true. But he never actually says on air that he ran the full in 2:43. My guess is that the politician in him is formulating his strategy that there was some sort of unintentional mistake. Of course, his FB posts regarding negative splits tell a different story, but the reporter never asked him about that.

    He also says in the interview that the Go Fund me page was just to help with airfare, but before it was taken down he actually said it was to cover all expenses, even food. (Ridiculous to me: you can’t even cover your own meals in Boston?!) Small detail, maybe, but more evidence of not telling the truth.

  6. Well, I look a little like this doughy guy – but I’m nearly 50 – and I proudly own my 4:20 PR.

    As pointed out on Let’sRun this guy’s made-up splits in the FB post don’t even add up to his time.

    It’s bad enough to cheat, but then to get caught up lying about it, and being stupid enough to get the lies wrong. That’s the worst part.

  7. I always appreciate a novice who has no clue the lions den they just jumped into. Cheating at a race gets you shamed, but insulting a runners intelligence gets you eaten alive. Keep digging that grave, Dude.

  8. From the Methow Valley news July 18,2018, candidate bios:

    I am 28 years old, a Christian and love being outdoors with my dog, Rocky. I compete in marathons for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Flags for the Fallen and am currently training to run in the 2019 Boston Marathon.

    (Of note, I applaud his service in the Navy from which he was honorably discharged.)

    Seems plans for Boston 2019 were in the works as of July. Not any Boston, but Boston 2019. Rossi-esque if you ask me.

    Is there a letsrun thread? If so, game over….

  9. Even if he had kept a 10:00/mile pace for the Army 10 miler, the no way he could have reduced his pace to a ~6:13/mile for a marathon less than a year later. He’s basically outing himself there. It’s kind of sad to see the lengths someone will go to for an undeserved Boston entry.

    • I have several friends or their children who have made that much improvement in one year, but they fall into two very specific categories: 15-year-old boys who have never run before and start long-distance training, or elite college women who run a marathon while pregnant, then again when they are back in top form.

  11. Cheaters gonna cheat. I’d love to see Boston tighten the standards for races and raise the bar for race directors. If a marathon is producing a bunch of cheaters and the race directors are willfully ignoring the issue, when why not impose some sort of sanctions? Ban cheaters. Ban those who use a cheated entry from the Boston marathon for life. I’d love to see Boston start coming down hard on these people.

  12. What’s with the RWB shirt. I don’t know to much about the organization, but the only runners I’ve seen wearing them were former military members. Is he a veteran or is he just trying to pass himself off as one? Carrying a flag over his head in one of his races, I’d assume he was a former member of the military. Since his campaign site is down I can’t check, but I’m guessing he’s just faking that too.

    • I am a member of Team RWB. It is a national veteran and civilian organization with over 200 chapters and over 135,000 members. Everything he is doing goes against our Eagle Ethos of Passion, People, Positivity, Commitment, Camaraderie and Community. If he is suffering a mental break down, I hope he gets help soon.

    • RWB is an organization that supports veterans and is made up of both former vets and supporters. It’s a worthwhile group that I’m sure wouldn’t want its name associated with a serial cheater.

  13. Every time I think I have seen rock bottom of stupidity from someone (hey me included, I’ve done some dumb things), something like this comes along and literally has me rethinking my thresholds for lies and idiocy. This guy is a George Costanza: Remember, it isn’t a lie if YOU believe it.

  14. I was feeling sorry for him, as a dumb kid who tried to skate by without knowing how precious is the BQ place he tried to steal. But to continue to lie about it? Execrable. Doesn’t he have a mentor or running buddy who can explain this to him? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him fired, and since nothing ever disappears from the Internet, his chances of working in politics or any position of trust in the future are not good. BTW I’ve run the Lake Sammamish half a few times. Fast course, point to point, no chance to cheat unless you jumped in a car. Even for non-runners, no one could believe he ran a 2:22 half in March and 2:43 full in April. Obviously runners understand from his racing history what kind of time he’s capable of. If he or a friend reads this site, the only way sideways (not even a way out, at this point) is a full confession, with penance and possibly treatment.

  15. I’d love to see side-by-side photos of him “winning” the marathon, and the guy who came in “2nd.” His legs aren’t even coming close to his purported finish time. Some people just insist on being douches. SMH

  17. Too funny.
    I’m no expert, but that is not the build of someone who can run a 2 hour and 43 minute marathon. That means he ran it at a pace of 6:14/mile. No chance. That’s not only a cheater, but a dumb cheater.

    • It would be quite interesting to see if he could run one mile in 6:14, come to that it would be quite interesting to see if he could run one mile in less than 10 minutes. I’m not quite sure why many people are reticent in commenting on his build – for someone that heavy it would be an exceptional effort to run sub 3 hours for a marathon, it is possible such people exist but they would be well-known for their exploits.

  19. I have a pretty good idea what a 2:43 marathoner looks like and it’s not anything like him. Good stuff Derek! I just threw some cash 💰 your way. Keep rousting out these losers!

    • Indeed. 2:43 time is achievable for hobby runners but still requires a lot of training and a good built. No way in hell a person weighing more than 90kgs or so can run a sub3h marathon or rather no way a person can train for a sub3h marathon and stay as big.

      No fat shaming or anything but looks do tell a story here… run in whatever shape you are but don’t claim a 2:43 marathon.

  20. Just running one 6:15 mile is a challenge, let alone 26 of them consecutively. I tried to run a sub-20 5k this summer (which is a little less than 6:30 pace) after three months of training. I came close, vut couldn’t, running a 6:21, 7:59, 7:59 and 7:45 for the remainder. The 6:21 was barely manageable for me.

    At any rate, it is as if JD doesn’t realize just how preposterous his claim sounds. To put it in perspective, here is a great video of someone striving to run just one 8-minute mile…and failing:
    https://youtu.be/r4g-6cuh-Lc

  21. Admittedly this course is nuts. However, there are other things that stand out to me.
    The half is pretty much an out&back course. It goes NW along the Columbia River, crosses over, then heads SE until a turnaround point.
    The full starts in the same direction, but has a turn-around about 3 miles in. Then it makes two loops by going SE along the southside of the river, then crossing & heading NW until crossing & heading SE again.
    1) The half started 15 minutes before the full, in the same direction.
    — the Half turnaround point is at least another 3.5 miles beyond the full turn-around point. So if he ran the half he would have had to go at least 3.5 miles in a direction with no other full participants. The only people who would have been going that direction at that time would have been the slower Half marathoners, who had a different bib color.
    2)It’s highly conceivable that when he reached the half turnaround, the marathon leader would be reaching the same spot, based on his historical paces. The full leader was running about 7:22/mi. Assuming even splits the whole race, he would’ve reached the spot of the half turn around at about 1:13:40. JD would have had to run an 11:20 to reach that point. Which is fits with his Lake Sammish result.
    3) If he ran the half course, then His finish time fits within his capability, with a 12:30/mi pace.
    4) if he actually did the correct turnaround and ran only 1 loop like he said, then that would have been about 17.3 miles. Which would have required a 9:28 pace. Nothing in the guy’s history, including the illegal bibs, even closely suggests he can do that.

  22. I ran and won the Wenatchee Marathon in 2015. Trust me, the person who actually won the marathon would know 100% that they were in the lead the entire time. There aren’t that many people in the marathon field and anyone running the 10k turns off early. If you run a 2:43 you’d probably be right with the 10k finishers. Also, there’s a cyclist who sticks with the leader so they don’t get lost on the course. So the cyclist should be able to answer the question as to whether or not this guy ran a 2:43 pretty easily.

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