a comment from my site:
My son is on the Loyola cross-country team so I have been to dozens of practices and races and I have gotten to know Frank Meza, or “Doc” as most of us call him as he is usually there for the Saturday morning runs and the Tue/Thu afternoon runs.
I plod along in the back, with a few of the other middle-aged parents, trying to hold an 8 minute pace. Doc is way up at the front running with the strong runners. One of the other parents called him a “jackrabbit” on the hills and I’ve seen it! He’s an amazing runner. He can no longer keep pace with the varsity runners when they go flat out (the varsity team will finish the 3 mile race distance in just under a 5 minute pace), however, Coach Meza is strong and smooth and so, while it’s an incredible feat, I don’t doubt that he could hold a 6:30ish pace for 26 miles.
Doc is a humble guy. He is eager to talk about the boys and their races but never one to toot his own horn. His response to this attack is characteristic of him — humble and never trying to cause offense. I once asked him his marathon PR and I think he said it was around 2:20 (I don’t recall the exact time but I was astounded at how fast it was). He told me that he has kept running hard and has slowed down less than his peers and now that he turned 70 years old, he’s one of the fastest for his age group.
Based on what I have seen him do at practices and what I know of him personally, I can’t imagine that he has cheated on this. He’s an incredibly gifted runner who works hard and cheating is not at all in character for him.