Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

bored troller wrote:

the front of the visible field. To me, he appears to keep pace with the other runners for the 3 minutes he's visible. Presumably the other runners are 2:55 marathon finishers, so about 6:45 pace.

Everybody knows that just like the other challenges it is put out there to counter the "How can I prove a negative?" B.S.

As I'm sure you know there is all the difference in the world between putting on a good show for 3 minutes and going sub-20 for 5K.

So, why start a race four+ minutes late, behind everybody?

I think it’s about making it easier to duck out after activating the timer, as most fans have moved on and the even personnel are on to their next duty and, like a lot of spectators, it’s off to the parking lot/waiting car.

But there’s another aspect that we might not have touched on. The re-entry. It allowed him to re-enter into a throng of mid-packers or back-of-packers at the early mats, raising less suspicion. The front of a field has people who know where they’re at, who’s ahead of them, that they’ve been behind the guy in orange or whatever. But the density of mid-pack running? You glide right in but on the clock you’re 4+ minutes ahead and on pace.

Two more news sites picking up the news. One only a small piece, but mentions that his split times are off and that he didn't show up on the 22 mile camera in the Sprouts Marathon.

https://www.theeastsiderla.com/news/news_notes/year-old-marathoner-fights-cheating-charge-huizar-must-answer-in/article_4fd43ca2-96d5-11e9-a1fd-83fac819e13f.html

https://www.examiner-enterprise.com/sports/20190624/pacin8217-place-70-year-old-marathoner-focus-of-controversy

RossiCheated wrote:

So, why start a race four+ minutes late, behind everybody?

Kip may not have invented this but it was his M.O. every time for the obvious reasons.

I wonder what the insurance agent for the school or the diocese thinks about parental participation? It's bad enough when a team member is injured. Can you imagine what would happen if a parent went down?

This also helps explain two watches. One is to get correct split times to avoid another DQ like his “too fast split” DQ at CIM.

The other would be for total time because every time he sees a clock on the course it won’t be even close to his time. Subtracting exactly 4:00 would be easy but his start times are probably based on opportunity and are a bit random. Who wants to subtract 4:27 or something like that every time you see a clock?

If the accused attended a public university, could his college times be FOILED through the athletic dept?

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

Data thief wrote:

Hmmmmm

Have someone else upload Strava data in your name, perhaps?

You are seeing crazed conspiracies where none exist, go and have a look, he is completely open and above board.

So he’s really running with a broken scapula? Impressive.

Roderick Powell wrote:

bored troller wrote:

Damned fine work.

If you keep working at this, you’ll hit on something eventually that will end up on the front page of a magazine. It would be nice to have visual evidence of FM ducking off course at the beginning of a race, shortly after crossing the starting mat. I believe this is a technique of his.

And doubler will steal your work.

Good morning! Along with a strong cup of coffee, how about a contact sheet from early in the 2015 Long Beach Marathon?

Frank claimed a 2:55:07 at this race.

https://imgur.com/a/W5YqWvn

The first photo is the lead pack, with the ultimate winner, #2872, who ran 2:31:25, running next to #1298, who ran 2:32:04. The final runner in the series is #3384, who finished in 3:10:35. The runners with red bibs are evidently in the ½ marathon, but they’re all speedy.

Maybe I’ll start calling Frank the Invisible Man?

Guru Fran wrote:

And doubler will steal your work.

Pretty weak cheese attempt at distraction. Doubler always credits sources, including letsrun.

Moran.

Not clever Fran wrote:

Guru Fran wrote:

And doubler will steal your work.

Pretty weak cheese attempt at distraction. Doubler always credits sources, including letsrun.

Moran.

Haha. Moran is the new looser

Looking for my brother. Ancestry-dot-com said I might find him here?

https://cdn10.bostonmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/RosieRuiz.jpg

Too much time on my hands.... wrote:

Good morning! Along with a strong cup of coffee, how about a contact sheet from early in the 2015 Long Beach Marathon?

Frank claimed a 2:55:07 at this race.

https://imgur.com/a/W5YqWvn

The first photo is the lead pack, with the ultimate winner, #2872, who ran 2:31:25, running next to #1298, who ran 2:32:04. The final runner in the series is #3384, who finished in 3:10:35. The runners with red bibs are evidently in the ½ marathon, but they’re all speedy.

Maybe I’ll start calling Frank the Invisible Man?

This year LB starts the half at 7:30, the full marathon starts at 6:00. So if this was the same in 2015, than these photos would be way past halfway through the full marathon.

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

bored troller wrote:

the front of the visible field. To me, he appears to keep pace with the other runners for the 3 minutes he's visible. Presumably the other runners are 2:55 marathon finishers, so about 6:45 pace.

Everybody knows that just like the other challenges it is put out there to counter the "How can I prove a negative?" B.S.

As I'm sure you know there is all the difference in the world between putting on a good show for 3 minutes and going sub-20 for 5K.

If he takes up a 5K/20 min challenge it would give credibility to the humility argument, and when he comes close it only muddies the water and only gives those "how do I prove a negative" people with more fuel. I think based on that video where he sustains 6:45 pace for over 3 minutes, and possibly based on the parent comment to Doubler's article, he might be able to put on a good show.

Even if he runs 22:00, there will be MANY who will be very impressed and not understand how big a gap that is to a 2:53 marathon. Many people can't run a 22:00 5k at any age, and will see the fact that he's able to do it age 70 as credibility.

The mountain of evidence is overwhelming to anyone objective with just a bit of marathon knowledge. Please do not offer him an out.

bored troller wrote:

My $0.02

Challenging FM to run a 5K at 20 min, or even a 10K at 40 min, is a TERRIBLE idea.

Watch the video of the 2018 LAM finish. Frank's visible from 1:26 LEFT to 1:22:50 left. At 1:22:50 LEFT in the video he's at the front of the visible field. To me, he appears to keep pace with the other runners for the 3 minutes he's visible. Presumably the other runners are 2:55 marathon finishers, so about 6:45 pace.

The evidence is already overwhelming. If he were to come close and run even 21 min 5k or even a 42 min 10k, I think it'd cloud the issue for many people. No challenges.

Can you explain this again? I don't see anyone running on there for 3 minutes. Please tell me where to go as I'm going to issue a challenge.

bored troller wrote:

If he takes up a 5K/20 min challenge it would give credibility to the humility argument, and when he comes close it only muddies the water and only gives those "how do I prove a negative" people with more fuel. I think based on that video where he sustains 6:45 pace for over 3 minutes, and possibly based on the parent comment to Doubler's article, he might be able to put on a good show.

Even if he runs 22:00, there will be MANY who will be very impressed and not understand how big a gap that is to a 2:53 marathon. Many people can't run a 22:00 5k at any age, and will see the fact that he's able to do it age 70 as credibility.

The mountain of evidence is overwhelming to anyone objective with just a bit of marathon knowledge. Please do not offer him an out.

If staged properly, it would be a very convincing and compelling event to demonstrate what he's got. I think the post by the "parent" is smoke and mirrors.

Have one pacer run the distance adjusted 5k pace (around 18:15); have one pacer run his FKT marathon pace, and let Frank run his race.

If he's able to run the full distance at marathon pace, he'd probably be very close to getting lapped by the target 5k pacer. Minutes on the track seem like an eternity for the audience.

If he runs 22:00, it'd look like a blood bath.

bored troller wrote:

Even if he runs 22:00, there will be MANY who will be very impressed and not understand how big a gap that is to a 2:53 marathon. Many people can't run a 22:00 5k at any age, and will see the fact that he's able to do it age 70 as credibility.

You are way over-thinking this whist simultaneously changing the nature of the challenge from sub 20 to any time that feels similar-ish to the general public. I repeat he is not going to contemplate this and I'd be amazed if he can run a legit sub 25.

If you do a challenge, challenge him to run a sub 38 10k. That’s his split in the 2015 LA Marathon between the 20k and 30k timing mat.