Gracie Hunt Marathon Claim Raises Some Serious Red Flags

Let's get one thing straight: we around here at OutKick are big Gracie Hunt fans. Our loyal readers like the Kansas City Chiefs' Heiress, and have followed her career - as Chancellor Palpatine once told young Anakin Skywalker - "with great interest."

She's a staple of site, especially around January and February when the Chiefs are usually in the AFC title game/Super Bowl.

That's been no different over the past few weeks, when Hunt has supercharged her Instagram game as the Chiefs made it deeper into the playoffs, posting what have become appointment viewing pictures every Friday before each round.

With all that being said, I have to be fair and call it as I seem 'em. They didn't make me a Nightcaps writer three days a week for no reason, you know.

Hunt recently sat down with the NY Post to discuss anything and everything about her life. It was all fine. Good article, good story, good insight into Gracie's upbringing.

But here's where things, at least for me, veer waaaaaaaay off course.

From The Post:

"I signed up for my first marathon about 13 hours before the race started,” said Hunt, who had stumbled upon a sign for the event after hiking with her mom.

“I had never run in a registered race before this point and had never run more than 13 miles consecutively, and that was on treadmill several years before… took a chance, registered at about 5 p.m. that evening, and ran it at 6 a.m. the next day, and finished it in three hours and 45 minutes, and that is what started my marathon career.”

Chiefs Heiress Gracie Hunt is apparently an elite marathon runner despite no prior training

Yeah, no.

Sorry, can't buy that for one second.

There is just zero chance that anyone with no marathon training whatsoever, with 13 hours notice, can just strap it up and run a marathon in three hours and 45 minutes.

It's not happening, especially for someone who had only run a HALF-MARATHON once, years prior, and it "was on a treadmill."

Maybe if she'd run a half-marathon six months ago and then decided, 'You know what? I wanna give this a shot,' it would be somewhat conceivable. But this story stinks to the high heavens!

I wish it didn't. I want to believe Gracie, I do. But I just can't. I even did some Big J journalism research to try and help her out, and it only made me believe her less.

Buckle up.

According to Run Repeat, the average overall time for running a marathon worldwide is 4:29:53.

You're telling me Gracie Hunt, with no prior training and 13 hours notice, rolled out of bed and ran her first marathon nearly an HOUR faster than the average time?

Taking it even further, the organization did a study of what made up a "good marathon time" and took into account several key factors, including:

Anyway, they discovered that a “good marathon time across all sexes and ages is 3:48:20." So Gracie isn't even better than average! She's pretty much elite!

Don't believe me STILL?

The study broke things down even further, and determined what a "good" marathon time was for different levels of runner - from Beginner to Elite.

Elite runners were defined as being faster than 95% of other runners, had over five years of running experience, and had "dedicated themselves to competing in the sport professionally."

The study concluded that a "good" marathon time for an elite female between ages 20 and 30 was ... three hours and 19 minutes.

Gracie Hunt, 23, rolled out of bed and is apparently an episode of The Office (with ads) away from being an elite female marathon runner.

Call me a skeptic, but I can't believe that.

Again, big Gracie Hunt fan. Frankly, she's coming close to unseating Pageviews Paige Spiranic as the gold standard of OutKick stars. But I have to be objective around here, and I'm officially calling BS.

Anyway, apparently she's competing in the Boston Marathon later this spring, so I reckon we'll have a true answer in a few months.

In the meantime, I look forward to our final Red Friday of the NFL season in a couple days.