"Suspect 2" (Photo: FBI.gov)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation held a press briefing today in which they released photo and video footage of two individuals suspected of being involved in Monday's deadly bombing of the Boston Marathon.

"Today we are enlisting the public's help to identify the two suspects," F.B.I. Special Agent Richard DesLauriers said at the conference.

“After a very detailed analysis of photo, video and other evidence, we are releasing photos of these two suspects. They are identified as 'Suspect 1' and 'Suspect 2.' They appear to be associated."

"Suspect 1" is wearing a black hat with a matching black packpack and "Suspect 2" is wearing a white hat with a matching white backpack. They both are wearing dark hoodies and sneakers and walk by dozens of spectators, one after another.

A collection of photos of both can be viewed on the F.B.I.'s website in greater detail, along with directions to reach out agency with tips should the public have any.

"Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members of the suspects," he added. "Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward."

Mr. DesLauriers only took a couple questions, urging the media to stay focused only on official photos after a number of embarrassing reports on "possible suspects" have emerged over the last few days. The New York Post splashed the photos of two unconnected individuals on its front pages today, for example.

"For clarity, these images should be the only ones--I emphasize, the only ones--that the public should use to assist us," he explained. "Other photos should not be deemed credible and they unnecessarily divert the public's attention."

Surveillance footage of both suspects can be viewed below:

President Obama talks on the phone with FBI Director Mueller about the bombings. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Earlier this evening, President Barack Obama addressed the nation about the deadly bombing of the Boston Marathon. And, while extending his condolences, the president urged the American public to avoid jumping to conclusions—terrorism, unmentioned by Mr. Obama, seemingly being the most obvious—as the devastation is investigated.

"We still do not know who did this or why and people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all of the facts," Mr. Obama explained. "But, make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals—any responsible groups—will feel the full weight of justice."

Mr. Obama also said that he's mobilizing the federal government to assist local governments respond and investigate the apparent attack, as well as increasing "security around the United States as necessary."

A man is loaded into an ambulance after the explosions. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

"I've directed the full resources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the United States as necessary and investigate what happened," he said.  "I've also spoken with Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino and maid it clear that they will have every single federal resource necessary to care for the victims and counsel the families. And, above all, I made it clear to them that all Americans stand with the people of Boston."

Mr. Obama, sending his sympathies to the victims, further provided a post-partisan message of unity as Boston recovers.

"I've updated leaders of Congress in both parties and we reaffirmed that on days like this, there are no Republicans or Democrats; we are Americans united in concern for our fellow citizens," he said. "Boston is a tough and resilient town; so are its people. I'm supremely confident that Bostonians will pull together, take care of each other and move forward as one proud city. And, as they do, the American people will be with them."

A man is loaded into an ambulance in Boston. (Getty Images)

As more details of the deadly explosions in Boston are released, the running community is slowly reacting to the shocking events.

Mary Wittenberg, the President and Chief Executive Officer of New York Road Runners, issued a statement lamenting the devastation and its impact on the running community in particular.

“All of our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families of the bombings at the Boston Marathon today, as well as with the runners, spectators, volunteers and staff of the Boston Athletic Association," she said.

"Marathons bring out the best of the human spirit and unite our cities and towns. This is a tragic day for all of us in the running community. We are here in full support of our close friends at the BAA."

An unnamed law enforcement source told the New York Post that the original target may have been the New York  City Marathon, with Boston being the hypothetical back-up plan.

“This changes everything [in New York],’’ the source speculated. “Everyone’s on high alert. Our marathon was canceled in November. Who knows if that changed someone’s plans?’

For her part, Ms. Wittenberg reiterated her own event's commitment to security.

"The safety and security of all New York Road Runners’ races is and will always be our top priority," she said. "We will continue to work hand in hand with the City of New York and the NYPD as we plan for upcoming events.”

(Photo: Anna Silman)

Earlier today, multiple bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing at least two and injuring dozens more.

New York City has already stepped up its own security efforts in case there is a plot to attack additional cities, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced.

“[T]he NYPD has stepped up security at strategic locations and critical infrastructure, including our subways," the mayor said in a statement.

"Some of the security steps we are taking may be noticeable, including deployment of Critical Response Vehicles and additional police personnel, and others will not be. We have 1,000 members of the NYPD assigned to counter-terrorism duties, and they – along with the entire NYPD and the investments we have made in counter-terrorism infrastructure – are being fully mobilized to protect our city.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo issued his own statement announcing that all state agencies are on "a heightened state of alert as we learn more about this incident," the facts of which are still emerging.

"I have directed state agencies, including the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, State Police, the MTA and the Port Authority, to be on a heightened state of alert as we learn more about this incident," Mr. Cuomo said.

(Photo: Anna Silman)

"New York National Guard on Sunday sent three vehicles and 6 soldiers to support the Marathon, and they are on hand to assist with emergency response and work together with local authorities following this incident."

Several other cities, including Washington D.C., have begun taking similar steps to secure landmarks and high-trafficked areas.

In Times Square, bystanders were frightened by the news and the heightened police presence.

Kirsten Andrews and Lauren Adamo, visitors from Maine, had been following the news for the past hour in their hotel room and came out to observe the scene in the square.

“I wanted to come down and talk to a cop and see if they have a plan in motion if anything happened right now, because it would be chaotic," said Ms. Andrews. "I’m wondering why subways and buses are still running."

Ms. Adamo was concerned about the possibility of more explosions. “My stepdad’s in the military and he says all big cities are under threat right now,” said Ms. Adamo. “It’s a little unsettling.”

" There’s a saying on the internet," Mr. Scheele began. “Pics or it didn’t happen”.

"In other words, if something is real, if it actually happened, there will be pictures to back that up.

But what if something DIDN’T actually happen, but there are STILL pictures of it? Does that mean it DID happen? If something is fake, how much evidence does it take before it becomes real?

That’s the question we’re trying to answer.

So, on February 2, 2013, we are faking a marathon. "


The idea behind Run Free 2013 is simple.
Step One: People give Ridiculo.us money.
Step Two: People receive packets of marathon materials (racing bib, program, safety pins, and a "running time" included in the Kickstarter donation).
Step Three: The night before the race, people blop out social media droppings about their growing excitement for the race. (Facebok, Instagram, Twitter, Linked'In, J-Date, MySpace…whatever!)
Step Four: The day of Run Free, post pictures of you and your friends participating in the marathon.
Step Five: Everybody on the Internet is like "What is this Run Free marathon everyone has been social media-ing about?"
Step Six: ???
Step Seven: Profit.

If enough willing bodies join in, Mr. Scheele's team hypothesizes, they can "prove" that it takes a certain amount of people participating in a photo hoax to convince the rest of the world it's for real. (Though the data seems a little murky: for instance, how will Ridiculo.us measure the "tipping point" that will formulaically prove that readers are duped after X amount off photos?)

Of course, you don't need to fund a Kickstarter to study the trend of doctored pics going viral: Hurricane Sandy provided ample evidence for Snopes.com and Buzzfeed to compile a list of fake photos and intel; even providing some insight into why anyone would knowingly try to deceive people on social media.

(Did we mention that Ridiculo.us is owned by the Wonder Grove, a group that's vaguely worded "adventure-capitalist" rhetoric boils down to a service that offers viral marketing? Do we have to?)

"Okay, but there's a difference between what we're doing and what Ryan (Holiday) did," Mr. Scheele told The Observer by phone Saturday evening, just one day after Mayor Bloomberg had officially cancelled New York City's real marathon. "We're being very obvious about this not being a real race. You can read about it on the Kickstarter page. We're promoting it as fake. We're…"

"…talking to the media?" We suggested.

"Exactly."

Fair enough. But that doesn't explain why we should donate money, time, and effort for some big Internet hoax that apparently has no intention of trying to actually fool anyone?

That's when Mr. Scheele told us a story. A story that had us dying to fund this project.

"The way we came up with this idea," he said, "Is that I have a friend…well, I think everybody has this friend…that cannot stop talking about how there marathons. Even if they acknowledge it's terrible and painful and not even that great for your body, they are constantly talking about it. And then they say, 'Well, you do it so you can say that you did it.'"

"This is a way for people to say they 'did it' and photographic proof, without actually having to run a marathon."

Jesus, why didn't he just say that in first place. Forget the warmed-over social media commentary pitch. If there was something, anything, we could do to make our marathon training friends shut the hell up--not that we don't love them and admire what they are doing but Good God it's like listening to a two hour sales pitch on a really in-shape cult--we would reactivate our credit cards a heartbeat.

Mr. Scheele tried to continue telling us about the Incredulo.us success od their first (and only) other Kickstarter: A 50 Shades of Grey spoof book, 99 Shades Of Grey, where each page was printed in a variation of the color. The monetary goal was $600, to cover printing costs. The group raised more $10,000 for the project.

But our minds were elsewhere. Hey, did Scheele remember that op-ed from The Onion, titled "I'm Truly Sorry For This, But You're About To Hear All About The Last Marathon I Ran"?

He had not.

"It's like this insufferable guy with an alarming amount of self-awareness, profusely apologizes for talking to you about his marathon regime. Here, we have to email it to you. It's just like what you're talking about, with those friends who just do not take the hint!"

The logo for Run Free 2013 (Kickstarter)

Mr. Scheele said he actually didn't have anything against people who ran marathons, and was actually offering free registry to anyone who had entered the NYC Marathon. "I had friends who spent months training, and hundreds of dollars in canceled hotels, flights, and marathon materials, so this way they can still feel like they participated."

"Okay, but read this part," we said, emailing him a link to our favorite quote from The Onion article.

" Believe me, if I could stop myself from talking about this, I would. But I can't, and so I'm going to tell you all about my personal best time, and you're going to think to yourself, "This guy's the fucking worst." But here's the truly awful part: Out of politeness, you will have to pretend to be impressed by that number, even though to you it will seem completely arbitrary and hold no meaning at all."

Right? Aren't those people the worst?

"The Onion is actually a great example of what we were talking about," Mr. Scheele said. "They are quite openly a satirical, fake news organization, yet they have repeatedly had their articles re-posted as fact by people who are seemingly incapable of operating a search engine (for examples, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Onion#The_Onion_taken_seriously)."

Except that blurgh, The Onion's goal—unlike Incredulo.us's-- isn't to conduct a "social experiment" (Scheele's words, not ours) to create "convincing propaganda" (see above) about an event that never happened. The Michigan founders of the fake newspaper did not create their product to answer the question, "Will (people) buy into it being real, even when a quick Google search will tell them it's not?" (The fact that people confuse The Onion's satirical headlines often enough to warrant its own website is an added bonus, not part of a lazy use of the scientific method. )

But no matter how much Mr. Scheele sounded like a viral marketing apologist—"We'd take corporate sponsors if they had the right attitude and believed in the project," he said at one point--we couldn't help being excited.

"How much money do we have to spend to give ourselves the best running time?" We asked feverishly, imagining the looks on our parent's faces—the only people who would be fooled by the Run Free con—when we produced pictures proving that we sometimes went outdoors and exercised.

"Um, that will probably be a combination of factor," Mr. Scheele said. "Like the amount of money donated, and who donated the earliest."

"So if we pledge $100 the moment the site goes live, we can guarantee that we'll "win" the marathon?"

"I mean, that's a possibility, sure. But we're really in this to have fun," Mr. Scheele said. "That's why we encourage groups to sign up with the Race Team Party Pack." The $100 pledge "includes SIX full registrations PLUS limited-edition racing headbands." If you add $50, everyone gets medals, too, according to the Kickstarter page.

"The more people you have 'running,' in the photo, the more this will look like a believable race. Points for creativity, sure. And you can take as many pictures as you like till you find the perfect shot." The best photos will be curated on our website, Runfreerace.com."

"Oh my god, we could all be the Ridiculously Photogenic Guy," we murmured to ourselves, overwhelmed by the implications. "The New York Times would have to find an entirely new trend story about people who look attractive in fake marathon photos."

"We just want this to be a big, fun community project, and maybe we can learn something from it, too" Mr. Scheele said.

"Totally," we agreed, trying to login to our PayPal account before remembering we had forgotten the password two months ago.

Run Free might not be able to answer its own question on the amount of validity needed to "prove" a fake picture, but it could certainly help put a price point on a person's desire to "prove" they ran a marathon. And never, ever want to talk about it again.

*As of last night at 11 p.m., Run Free had already surpassed it's goal of $999 by double.