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

I ran LA marathon years ago back when it finished in downtown LA. Finished top 20. At about mile 22-23 about 30 high school cheerleaders jumped onto the course causing me to have to weave in & out of them.

And I was Top 20 with the lead women behind me. And people just jumping on the course with bibs.

Tons of cutters & bandits there. When you have a marathon that size it’s going to happen.

RODERICK POWELL

You are some kind of flat out psycho.

Either you are Meza,

Or one of his confederates.

Please stop posting.

This thread is NOT about you.

Its about Meza, the most accomplished cat burglar of times ever.

Powell, you just don’t matter.

Go away.

Clock tower pumpkin chick wrote:

RODERICK POWELL

You are some kind of flat out psycho.

Either you are Meza,

Or one of his confederates.

Please stop posting.

This thread is NOT about you.

Its about Meza, the most accomplished cat burglar of times ever.

Powell, you just don’t matter.

Go away.

Thank you. Hopefully he takes your advice.

Re your handle... wrote:

LAM sneak back onto course or potta potty? wrote:

This is for doubler. The LA marathon photos may include video of FM cutting into the course. You would need the video for runner #22397.

Re your handle, I think it was established pages ago that there was no toilets in the area and it was outside Hooters, that is if it was him sneaking back on to the course, which appears highly likely, but a high res copy of that photo would be needed to fully establish it.

No one can argue for a bathroom break where Frank was caugh on camera jumping back in. There are no porta-potties or viable establishments on this part of Hollywood Blvd. Three videos of the 2019 course were posted on page 35 showing that. Another poster pointed out The Coffee Bean would be the only place open early Sunday morning and Frank would have had to backtrack to where he jumped in. Plus, all those establishments on Hollywood Blvd would be a poor choice for a pit stop since they utilize key padded RRs to keep non-customer tourists and riff raff out.

I calculated his pace to be in the 6:10s just to get ahead of the Greek runner at the picture point without any break since Frank was trailing him at the previous timing mat. Just a minute break would put his pace in the 5:40s before he snuck back into the race.

I have the hi-res photos and have some additional information and am finishing up the analysis at least as it relates to LA 2019.

I have reached out to Frank and he has responded to my initial questions.

If anyone has anything new that they feel is substantial, email me at

. Communicating with me through here is not the most efficient.

While I am mostly done with The LA 2019 analysis, there are many more races going back as early as 2014 that I need to look into with some level of detail.

-Derek

That's great. Looking forward to the report.

.

Yes, that is good news. I am surprised to hear that FM responded to your "initial questions". In my mind, he's obviously guilty. I'm open to the slightest chance that maybe this is all legit, but well under 1%. I donated to your site a year or two ago. I pledge to do so again after your report. Appreciate your efforts.

MESSAGE TO FRANK Now that Derek has contacted him I'm guessing Frank is now definitely aware of this thread so a repost:

tri guy, thanks for that, i'm going to donate to Derek right now, as I appreciate the work he does on this stuff and it's invaluable to uphold ethics in our sport. Thanks Derek...

try-ath-uh-leet wrote:

Yes, that is good news. I am surprised to hear that FM responded to your "initial questions". In my mind, he's obviously guilty. I'm open to the slightest chance that maybe this is all legit, but well under 1%. I donated to your site a year or two ago. I pledge to do so again after your report. Appreciate your efforts.

Message to Frank. wrote:

MESSAGE TO FRANK

Now that Derek has contacted him I'm guessing Frank is now definitely aware of this thread so a repost:

[quote]Just sayin'. wrote:

I think he's probably been aware of this thread from the get go. This was posted on the first page. A very good "friend" or Frankie himself? What a glowing character reference nonetheless...

run4life23

registered

What is the point of this post? He is a highly accomplished runner who doesn't seem to care for publicity and public accolades. This man was raised in East LA by a single immigrant mother who worked as a seamstress and spoke little English. To say that he and his mom were poor is an understatement. The fact that he became a successful doctor meant he already defeated the odds against him in life.

I know this man personally and I assure you, he runs because he loves it. He doesn't really care if anyone else notices or not. The disqualifications and missed mats happened because honestly (when you are a fast runner, the mats don't always pick up on the chips), he was a little upset, but shrugged it off. As far as pictures being taken, he doesn't even notice cameras or his bib may not have even been showing (like I said, he's a private guy and he knows what he can do).

Again, I never get the sense that he really cares whether or not the world thinks he's great. He's already doing great in many aspects of his life personally and professionally (not related to running). So, feel free to argue or be a non believer, I don't think he cares. But, I assure you, he is not a cheater, he's just a simple man who loves to run. If you still don't believe, go ahead and physically follow him on his next race and please stop posting about stupid cheating ideas, it diminishes the whole sport and the spirit of running. If you all ever met him, you would understand.

See Roderick's quoted post above about getting no media attention for beating Whitlock's times. I wonder if that's what this is really all about. Someone's irked because they didn't get media attention?

He fesses up that's why he started the thread. No media attention. But his first post is a simple message saying congrats. So what does this actually mean?

Roderick Powell wrote:

Great race Frank. Wow!

Quoting the first post on this thread in case it is deleted.

Frank or Frank's best friend has been here all along... wrote:

run4life23

registered

The disqualifications and missed mats happened because honestly (when you are a fast runner, the mats don't always pick up on the chips), he was a little upset, but shrugged it off.

Haha, classic, couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read this.

? ROFL ? Pick me up off the floor. wrote:

Frank or Frank's best friend has been here all along... wrote:

run4life23

registered

The disqualifications and missed mats happened because honestly (when you are a fast runner, the mats don't always pick up on the chips), he was a little upset, but shrugged it off.

Haha, classic, couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read this.

Yes, this used to happen to me ALL THE TIME (rolls eyes to very back of head).

Yes, it is true that I started this thread because I believed Frank Meza got "no respect", so to say. I had posted prior when I found out a month after that Frank had run 2:53:54. It amazed me that no media coverage at all could be found. I then realized it may not have counted as a record for a couple reasons at Phoenix. (point to point and net downhill) It got just a few posts. Some congrats and some critics. I then found out about Frank being signed up for LA. (while doing my trackings) In fact I found out about Phoenix because I looked on Athlinks after doing earlier trackings for LAM 2019 and not seeing his name. I am not Frank Meza and have never spoken with him. It is true that I had noticed his times a round 5 years before. As I do, I had looked him up on athlinks, and I noticed the steady improvement. Especially Long Beach and LAM and later Santa Clarita. I had noticed the post about CIM once, I blew it off, thinking how someone who has a "cheater" issue, having Frank Meza "slandered" was so wrong. But the seed of doubt had been planted. I did notice that he did not look fast. But I see many people who run fast that look slow. This thread was c shock. Shocking more is that I started seeing the logic of these split times, etc. I had actually noticed the LAM 2018 splits before, having the same kinda sick feeling. Yet, I still believed in Frank. Enough to ask the many runners I run races with if they knew this amazing runner, who continues to improve year after year. That fact did motivate me as a runner. This whole thread has left me sad. Yet the challenge of getting to the truth challenged me. I just hope if Frank did cheat, that this will not devastate him. My gut tells me that he is a good person who may have got caught up in this. Some people on this thread I wish were not on it. They clearly chased away Gene Dykes. I would not be surprised if Gene didn't actually reach Frank. I would not dare ask Gene, if he had. That would have been a private matter between them. This matter is getting serious now. With Derek doing the best thing, asking Frank directly, it should resolve itself. I still wish with all my heart, that Frank really ran these times legit.

This is another where there's just odd stuff going on, 2015 LA Marathon Frank Meza Age:66 Bib: 1287 Net Time: 2:52:47 Clock Time: 2:54:15, yet in the photos he's shown crossing the line at 3:03:38.

And this is the one where he fluctuated between 5:57/5:58 mile pace and 8:02 mile pace and ran a couple of awesome age group world class 5k splits, 18:35-20to25k and 18:30-35to40k.

Also, in those photos Frank does look rather portly for a 66 year old running a 2:52:47 (which included two sizzling hot 5k's), note the old bib belt is getting a bit of a work out too.

Why do so many anomalies seem to occur only where Frank's involved?, it's probably just me, I must be missing something.

https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=7K0H12&LastName=MEZA

https://live.xacte.com/lamarathon/

Geez this thread is still going and no answer yet?????!

Is it that hard for one of you fast guys to just run with him for the next race he enters and see if he can keep up?

And why hasn’t the marathon investigator expert figured it out? Is the cheating so good there’s reason to think he’s just a great runner? C’mon. And doesn’t this so called MD do podcasts like other record breaking runners? It would be fun to have him answer questions to a live audience??

Ok, well said. I hope it's cleared up too. The truth will prevail. Yes, there are some rude comments on this thread. But I think most want the truth to come out. Yes, a 2:53 at 70 should get attention. It's getting it now and being scrutinized. And yes, the whole thing makes me sad too. This thread makes me sad. I have empathy for him, but I can't ignore the inconsistencies.

But he can bounce back from this EVEN if he did cut the course. He can admit his mistakes if he made them. Jane Seo confessed to biking the course to cover her tracks. It softened the whole thing and she can surely laugh about it now. There's also the remote possibility this is all a simple misunderstanding. Unlikely given the evidence, as strong as that marathoner in Penn, but possible none the less. No one deals in absolutes.

So yes, a 2:53 is given the attention it deserves. No one would care if someone ran 3:05 @70.

Snake dik wrote:

Geez this thread is still going and no answer yet?????!

Is it that hard for one of you fast guys to just run with him for the next race he enters and see if he can keep up?

And why hasn’t the marathon investigator expert figured it out? Is the cheating so good there’s reason to think he’s just a great runner? C’mon. And doesn’t this so called MD do podcasts like other record breaking runners? It would be fun to have him answer questions to a live audience??

The wheels of justice turn slowly so it's long drawn out process, unless there's an admission of guilt.

It's all stuff we've seen on the LR cheater threads dozens of times before, no doubt it will happen again. ?