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

Okay, that’s enough. I’ve proved my point. I’m going to my day job now.

2014 Long Beach Marathon…..

Frank claimed a 3:00:54 at this race.

https://imgur.com/a/LmYQSOl

The first photo, which is obviously fairly early in the race due to the low light, shows the ultimate winner, #4334, who ran 2:31:27, running next to #2597, who ran 2:33:44. The last photo is #4570, who finished in 3:11:44.

Again….where’s Frank? Did he stop to pee?

The finish is also on a nice downhill so maybe an extra 10-15 secs per mile faster.

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lamarathon.com/misc-images-files-pdfs/Elevation-Chart.pdf?mtime=20141120220328

Frank Meza Report wrote:

Rojo,

LAM 2018 CAM and the magical bib

43:10 Frank Meza appears at the top left hand corner in a white singlet and long black shorts with no bib visible

43:17 A long black line comes across his white singlet

43:23 Frank’s hands both drop to adjust something around his black shorts

43:26 White bib is now visible on the long black shorts

43:37 Dr. Meza veers off to the side of the crowd to hand off something to a bystander

This looked to me like he had his bib on a race belt and turned it around. The black line you see was the same item he handed of looked to be a sweatshirt or something. Someone else in the video did the same thing much closer to the camera.

I'm not sure there is any issue here other than wondering why he had his bib turned around the whole time (especially given most races say it has to be worn on front at all times).

Roderick Powell wrote:

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.

I noted that anomaly, too, Roderick. The people depicted in the photos with the 1/2 bibs all had listings of "Half - Early Start". See attached. The had about a five minute differential between clock time and chip time, too. But they don't show up in the final standings, even though their chip times were quick.

I won't blame Frank for this, though. There's only so much piling on I'm willing to do.

Nice work, people. Is FM on the Endangered Species List? Asking for a friend.

Spelchek wrote:

Haha. Moran is the new looser

You must be new here, Frank.

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

Again….where’s Frank? Did he stop to pee?

Just having some fun out there.

Stopping, stretching, peeing, changing clothing (a fresh set of clothes always feels better), wandering off course before the photographer to take in the scenery, reentering after the photographer.

"He told coaches that he was diagnosed with a heart condition and that his running days may be over."

Well, we knew this was coming. They should DQ all of his previous marathons.

If someone can run a 2:20 marathon, there is bound to be a record of it.

" If I had known about the questions raised by my fast marathons, I would have slowed down.”

Don't most runners speed up when they know they are being filmed? Like when I run a marathon and see a sign that says "photographer ahead" I usually speed up and try to have a better form for the picture!

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.

Agree.

Real runners conclude quickly that he cheated.

Non-runners have no reference and these challenges mean nothing. But if he met such a challenge, runners would say "ya, well, running a 20 min 5k is nothing like running a 2:45 marathon (subtracting the potty and stretching breaks)" but non-runners would say "he met your challenge so he must be legit". If he didn't meet it, runners would say "told you so" but non-runners would still not have a reference for it. In other words, a challenge wouldn't help but could hurt the cheating prosecution.

elephino wrote:

Agree.

Real runners conclude quickly that he cheated.

Non-runners have no reference and these challenges mean nothing. But if he met such a challenge, runners would say "ya, well, running a 20 min 5k is nothing like running a 2:45 marathon (subtracting the potty and stretching breaks)" but non-runners would say "he met your challenge so he must be legit". If he didn't meet it, runners would say "told you so" but non-runners would still not have a reference for it. In other words, a challenge wouldn't help but could hurt the cheating prosecution.

We have heard this argument repeated several times now - it keeps missing the points that

1. Non-runners are not the audience

2. He wouldn't consider it if being watched (he could try to Rossi it)

elephino wrote:

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.

Agree.

Real runners conclude quickly that he cheated.

Non-runners have no reference and these challenges mean nothing. But if he met such a challenge, runners would say "ya, well, running a 20 min 5k is nothing like running a 2:45 marathon (subtracting the potty and stretching breaks)" but non-runners would say "he met your challenge so he must be legit". If he didn't meet it, runners would say "told you so" but non-runners would still not have a reference for it. In other words, a challenge wouldn't help but could hurt the cheating prosecution.

Most Runners and Non-Runners can see that he cheated based on the available evidence. A time trial isn't going to convince the people with a personal connection to Frank who still believe him.

I liked the Rossi challenge, there is no upside to this one. Worst case scenario is he drops dead during the trial, and Letsrun is all over the news as that website that bullied a 70 year old man to run himself to death.

rojo wrote:

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.

I've watched the video. It's hard to tell because of the foreshortening effect of the lens, but Frank appears to hold pace with green top/red short guy, but they both get passed by other runners. Frank appears to lose about 11 seconds to a guy in black who is clearly behind him when Frank can first be seen and is 11 seconds ahead when he crosses the white line in the foreground of the video.

So Frank is running somewhere between 6:35 - 6:55 pace for 3 minutes in this video. That's very good for a 70-year-old, but it's only 3 minutes... and it's last year... and it's a bit downhill.

Here's some 70-year-old perspective. Last year, Gene Dykes won the USATF Masters 5k Championships in 19:27. 2nd place was about a minute slower.

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

Roderick Powell wrote:

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.

I noted that anomaly, too, Roderick. The people depicted in the photos with the 1/2 bibs all had listings of "Half - Early Start". See attached. The had about a five minute differential between clock time and chip time, too. But they don't show up in the final standings, even though their chip times were quick.

https://imgur.com/a/12X01E9

I won't blame Frank for this, though. There's only so much piling on I'm willing to do.

It's weird I ran a lot of races as Frank has, just waiting for a pic of myself to show up on one of these sheets. I even ran an Aztlan 10k a few years back, I remember being pissed it was only about 5 3/4 miles. At the Long Beach Marathon, I recall the temps one of those years- I think 2016, was extremely hot, mid 70s at start got up to mid 90s, maybe even 100 by afternoon, so they gave the half marathoners an option of starting early to avoid the heat, but said they would not be counted as far as earning prize or awards, perhaps they didn't even get an official finish time.

"Derek: We’ve decided to take a different tact: Next time Frank runs one of our races there will be an official observer in place. This is a great opportunity for him to confirm his past performances and end the conversation.

Pending any additional information, this is the best solution for all. Appreciate your efforts. Best. "

Did LA Marathon not follow up? He ran their race in 2017, 2018, and 2019, yet no observer ran with him? Did he sign up late so they didn't have someone stick to him? Didn't they flag him that if he sign up, they would have someone following him?

No follow through wrote:

"Derek: We’ve decided to take a different tact: Next time Frank runs one of our races there will be an official observer in place. This is a great opportunity for him to confirm his past performances and end the conversation.

Pending any additional information, this is the best solution for all. Appreciate your efforts. Best. "

Did LA Marathon not follow up? He ran their race in 2017, 2018, and 2019, yet no observer ran with him? Did he sign up late so they didn't have someone stick to him? Didn't they flag him that if he sign up, they would have someone following him?

I know he signed up late in 2019. Not sure about the other years.

2015- 70 at the start and high of 89

2016- 63 at the start and high of 86

Fast runners wrote:

Don't most runners speed up when they know they are being filmed? Like when I run a marathon and see a sign that says "photographer ahead" I usually speed up and try to have a better form for the picture!

You're thinking of joggers. Runners are focusing on racing people and DGAF about pictures.

Frank Meza Report wrote:

rojo wrote:

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.

Rojo,

LAM 2018 CAM and the magical bib

43:10 Frank Meza appears at the top left hand corner in a white singlet and long black shorts with no bib visible

43:17 A long black line comes across his white singlet

43:23 Frank’s hands both drop to adjust something around his black shorts

43:26 White bib is now visible on the long black shorts

43:37 Dr. Meza veers off to the side of the crowd to hand off something to a bystander

https://ktla.com/2018/03/18/live-video-watch-final-le

Alternatively, if you look at the amount of time remaining on the video:

1:26:16 -- He appears at the top left-hand corner

1:23:12 -- He crosses the line near the bottom of the screen