I agree with you, but the analogue is not scientists having their work replicated, it's doing the work in the first place. We don't accept 'trust me on this' in

I agree with you, but the analogue is not scientists having their work replicated, it's doing the work in the first place. We don't accept 'trust me on this' in a scientific paper. Regarding marathons, some people do cheat them - they're more interested in the social rewards than the personal growth. Some people flat-out lie about doing them at all. Different folks have different motivations.