Excellent detective work, PGH, and a good analysis of things, KE. The truth is often somewhere in the middle in a sensational story like this.

Artfully stated, as always.  And I'm sure other people who don't even know this Laura Smith are joining in on the hate-mongering campaign of the spa in yet another episode "Of This Week In Internet Outrage" because they only wish to acknowledge one side of the story.  But also on the flip side, Laura Smith probably just landed herself in a world of hurt from people she doesn't even know.  I tried searching to see if any Facebook pages related to this "cause" have been created yet, but can't find anything.  Only a matter of time before the social media mob gets a hold of this and runs (or walks) with it.

I applaud this Laura Smith lady for getting into running and losing 50 pounds, HOWEVER, I think she's full of shit regarding her accusations about the Natural Healing Center and its owner Penny Wells.  OK, maybe "full of shit" is a little harsh, but my bullshit detector is beeping.

 

Laura Smith's credibility is highly, highly questionable.

 

First of all, in a different article, here, she casually states, "I planned it especially for the day after my MARATHON. I knew I’d be hurting."  At first, I thought, maybe the article misquoted her, but if you watch the video, that's what she says.  MARATHON.  Not HALF marathon.  Now, by itself, you miiiiiiight brush that off as someone sort of speaking in a kind of short hand or something, but we all know that someone who has joined the running community, joined a training group, etc. etc., would always differentiate between MARATHON and HALF MARATHON.  I'm not saying she's trying to tell a straight up lie with that one statement, and actually claim that she ran 26.2, but I think she is deliberately stating things in a way to distort the general, non running public's perception.

 

Couple the above, with that picture she sent to the media with the time clock saying "3:02:21"...again, very misleading if it's true that her time is, in fact, 04:25:46 (by the way, good detective work, Running in PGH).

 

I think it's also less than honest of her to keep stressing that she RAN the half marathon with a time like that.  "I RAN..."   "I RAN...."

 

Uh, NO, you DIDN'T.  Sorry.  2.96 MPH is NOT running, I don't care what size you are.  I have no problem or judgements against people who walk or mostly walk a race.  That's not what I'm saying here.  My point is that this Laura Smith lady is being very disingenuous, and therefore, we should be very skeptical about everything else she's saying and about her claims of weight discrimination.  I know weight discrimination does exist, and I'm not trying to make light of that issue, but I don't think that's what happened here at all, and this lady is just being a needy attention whore would-be martyr.

 

Also, one of the comments below the ABC article states that a local CO radio station interviewed the Natural Healing Center where this all allegedly happened, and the owner of the massage place, Penny Wells, merely asked Smith to RESCHEDULE for a different day when a different therapist, more capable of administering the requested deep tissue massage (presumably, I guess, for someone her size), would be available, AND, she offered to give her TWO massages.  Here is the website for the Natural Healing Center.  Besides the owner, there are only 3 other massage therapists there.  Yes, it's She Said/She said.  However, I find Laura Smith's claim much more dubious:

 

"She [the owner of Natural Healing Center] was very matter of fact about it. She said, 'I'm really sorry, but you're just too fat for our table. You'll probably break [it] and have to pay for it.'"

 

I have a really hard time believing that ANY proprietor, much less the owner of a hippy dippy, holistic, reiki, crystals & peace, lotus flower joint, would ever tell a customer they were TOO FAT.  Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to call Smith "LARGE" either, but that's not the same as calling someone "FAT", and that is what Smith is alleging...that Wells said the words "TOO FAT".  It seems to me that Laura Smith was spinning "LARGE" as "TOO FAT", just as she was spinning HALF MARATHON as "MARATHON" and WALKED a race as "RAN" a race.

 

As for all that business about the massage table supposedly only being able to support 165 pounds, that is what Wells told the media, AFTER the fact...AFTER Laura Smith went to the media and CLAIMED that Wells had told her she was too fat for the table.  Actually, Wells didn't even say that the table could only support 165 pounds, she merely told the MEDIA (NOT Laura Smith) that one of the tables had ONCE broken under the weight of a 165-pound man.  Who knows what type of leading conversation the reporter had with her when Wells said that.  It seems to me, that is (1) irrelevant, and (2) taken out of context, in order to frame/spin this story.  And the result is a picture being painted that a snooty, fat-hating massage therapist with fat-discriminating equipment told the poor marathoner she was "TOO FAT".

 

And now Laura Smith has her training group, her friends, and her Facebook friends joining her in a campaign of hysteria against this Natural Healing Center place, writing bad reviews online and calling for a boycott.

 

PATHETIC.

As a part time Massage Therapist I'll chime in that, except for maybe bargain basement massage tables on the interwebby, most tables have a maximum working weight rating of 500 pounds.

I stand corrected!  Here comes the social media riot!

https://www.facebook.com/BoycottTheNaturalHealingCenterInAuroraColorado?ref=stream

 

Facebook - because 'liking' a page makes you feel like you did something worthwhile!

And liking the page of what you're boycotting just to troll is a good use way to support your cause too!  Yeah!

*sarcasm*

 

OMG, the 29 people that like the page are going to put that place out of business.  Despite the fact that 27 of them would probably require a plane ticket to get there.

That's what kills me about 90% of these Facebook/social media "causes"....at least half the people are clueless and don't even know the whole story or the person themselves.

Sadly, it might very well be an average weight for that height in our society today, which is a shame!

Completely unrelated to whether or not the massage place did anything wrong:

 

I love the person who posted on Facebook "at 6'3", Ms. Smith is of average weight"

 

Um...tell that to my 6'4", 200lb husband.  Who is thin, but would never be confused for skinny.  When he weighed 250lbs at that height, he was in high school and was an offensive lineman.  I sure hope that's not average.

What was the time limit on that course?  I'm just thinking that if you're at 3:02 with 5.1 miles yet to go, you might not want to stop for pictures.