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

Mystery still, but I think none of the "bandits" were bandits. I would guess family...and Frank likes to run the finish with her and Francisco after he has finished earlier. No real harm there, seems.

It made sense all along that it was a family thing. Kind of sweet, really.

Yeah, have your family take your number on & off, change shirts several times (?), sprint, slack off, give your number away several times, magically appear & disappear around the course...All at WR pace!

There’s nothing worse than getting all sweaty during WR marathons! I frequently have family give me fresh, dry shirts. I just FEEL better, more stylish...

Actually, though I am convinced this is Sara Tartof, I see no result for her or any of the so-called "bandits", using what I am fairly certain are their names. When Frank runs through the finish of the LA Marathon with Sara, it was an hour and twenty minutes after his finish.

At the Pasadena half-marathon which featured them running running on course together after Frank had long ago finished.

This (Pasadena) is where their are no finisher results for the 3 "bandits". Maybe, they actually did run without registering. No real other logical reason for Frank to give her his bib. I still can't believe they would not figure a way to pay or donate the money for having run.

He never gets hot, tired, or sore AFTER races, but frequently looks terrible DURING them!

Race histories on Athlinks do show that all the 3 "bandits" (or not) have run many races that Frank Meza has run, including triathlons.

I wish I wasn't such a sceptic. wrote:

Wow, the plot thickens, seems they've been a team for a while, Doc and the Three Banditos. One is the Docs son, Francisco, but who are the other two?

Also, I know the Doc only ran 2:58, (only lol), in this one, but really, does he look like a 68 year old 2:58 runner in those photos?

I've think I've cracked it, there's two Frank Meza's.

Also, put Meza in to the search box, there's 25 of them, take your pick on who The Three Banditos are:

Inspiration without perspiration...

“To observers at the finish line, Rosie Ruiz must have seemed like the fittest athlete ever to run the Boston Marathon. On this day, April 21, in 1980, the 26-year-old New Yorker finished first among the marathon’s women runners in near-record time — just over two and a half hours. Even more impressive: When officials crowned her the winner, she was barely sweating, according to Mass Moments, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities’ online history almanac. Her hair was still perfectly styled, and her face was hardly flushed after the 26-mile race.

Ruiz made winning a marathon look easy. And it was, using her signature strategy: Don’t run the whole thing.”

Roderick Powell wrote:

https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=U0K044&lastName=MEZA

2017 LA Marathon Phillip Bland Francisco Meza Frank Meza and Sara Tartof

Sara Tartof from Alhambra, same as Francisco and Gisella Meza:

It seems Francisco also went back 30 -45 minutes after finishing to run through the finish line again with Sara. (this time his sunglasses are gone)

Roderick Powell wrote:

Phillip Bland Francisco Meza Frank Meza and Sara Tartof

All four work for Kaiser Permanente, so looks like they stick together and help each other out. The only thing anyone's got on them so far is the fact that three of them were bandits in a charity half.

I can only hope he’s a surgeon, ‘cause he sure knows how to cut a course!

OK, here's an interesting series of races for ol' Frank: the Surf City USA marathon:

2011: 3:11:53 - missed the 3-mile and 6 mile timing mats. Interesting fact: his gun time was a full 23:05 slower than his chip time

2012: 3:09:27 - missed the 12.2 mile timing mat

2013: 3:03:50 - missed the 15 mile timing mat

2014: 3:04:44 - missed timing mats at 9 mi, 15.4 mi, and 16 mi

I looked at some results for other random runners in those races. With the exception of 2014, none of the runners I looked at missed any timing mats. (In 2014, a few runners who ran under 2:40 had a missed split or two, but nobody I checked with slower times than that had any missed splits, including the finishers before and after Frank.)

I don't know what to make of that. Maybe Frank is made of some exotic particle that interferes with timing mats?

Looks like the LR sleuths & truth seekers have failed. wrote:

Roderick Powell wrote:

Phillip Bland Francisco Meza Frank Meza and Sara Tartof

All four work for Kaiser Permanente, so looks like they stick together and help each other out. The only thing anyone's got on them so far is the fact that three of them were bandits in a charity half.

If you are a friend or relative of Dr. Meza, please tell him to announce his next race publicly on social media. The LR sleuths will follow him throughout the race. If he runs yet another near world record time with witnesses and documentation, I'm sure we will all eat our words.

Working on a highly detailed investigation on Frank Meza.

Signed not the marathon investigation guy.

What I don't get about this whole thread is that nobody has come on here to defend Frank and say his reputation is being besmirched by LR trolls, etc and that he's beyond reproach.

He's a well known coach to plenty and has been for years, and done other good works, and a simple Google search tells you he's currently coaching at Loyola High School, along with one of The Three Banditos, Phillip Bland, but not a word from anyone.

There must be people who know him and are aware of this thread, even Frank himself, but nothing.

Whatever the truth, it's all a bit weird and sad really.