Influencer sparks backlash after running the Brooklyn Half Marathon without registering

The Brooklyn Half Marathon took place on Sunday 28 April and one influencer decided to run the race without signing up.

Shortly after completing the half marathon, Alexa Curtis took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to write about her experience and exactly how she was able to follow along with the race without being formally entered. “I just ran 13.1 miles for the Brooklyn half marathon at a 7.43 minute pace. I didn’t walk at all. I cried during a lot of it. I went to bed at 10PM,” her post began.

She explained that instead of signing up for the race, she simply asked the security guard for the exact locations it started and ended and started running.

“I didn’t charge my AirPods last night. I didn’t train for this. The most I’ve run in the past 13 months was six miles. I had two glasses of wine last night,” her X post continued.

Curtis then viewed her current life compared to where she was at the same time last year, explaining that she was living in Austin, Texas, with a boyfriend she is no longer with and a since-failed business.

“Over the past year I’ve faced the worst heartbreak in business and my personal life. Moved to a different country. Got f***** over so bad in business. Got out of debt and got back into a bit of it,” she wrote.

“The only person I relied on to show up and cross that finish line today was myself.”

The post ended as she compared running the half marathon to her everyday life.

“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 bull***, 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. You never have it all figured out but you rely on yourself because that’s all you have in life: you. People will disappoint you and life will and you will make mistakes but you never stop running,” the post concluded.

After posting, many people ended up taking to the comments to explain that despite Curtis’ positive intentions, they were upset that she didn’t run the race by following the rules.

“You are a bandit and you stole from this race and this community. These things are expensive and for charity. Shame on you,” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “Bit unfair on the others who have paid for the police support, road closures and first aiders…”

Curtis responded to this comment writing that “life’s not fair”.

“That’s a lot of word salad for: I stole my way into a half marathon because I felt like it,” a third commenter wrote.

Curtis decided to make a second post on X to specifically address the negative comments.

“Hi everyone. I did not realise I would offend so many people. 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,” her follow-up post read.

“In the future I’ll be sure to look up the rules if I decide to run again.”