I am increasingly convinced he has an accomplice. He can't run fast enough to hit any of the splits and hitting the non-photographed checkpoints would exponentially increase him logistics. Easier for him to concentrate on getting himself from A to B to C to D and having someone else take the chip over the non-photographed splits.
Part of my thinking stems from my surprise that he showed up on the outside of the course in my earlier post. If you were jumping around to hit points on a course that is basically one big curve I'd expect you'd stay on the inside of it.
So why didn't that hold for 10km?
2 possibilities.
1. He was never on the course until 10km. His accomplice held his chip over the start line, through 5km and met our hero at 10km.
2. FM started the race but immediately gave his chip to his accomplice and left. If you look at the course:
https://www.lamarathon.com/event-info/the-course/course-map
...and if you've got someone else to hit 5km for you, the easiest way to get from the start line to 10km is to walk across the top of the out and back, across Angelino Heights. Other quantum leaps my need a car or a bike but that one's an easy walk/jog - especially in all the craziness around a race start.
Now, if FM is waiting at 10km for an accomplice and plans to give his chip back immediately after the mat so he can get to the 20km mark, that accomplice has two options: (1) leave the course at 9.9km and meet FM at 10.1 or (2) run through the line - if he doesn't have his own chip what does it matter?
Who is this?
https://www.finisherpix.com/gallery/singlephoto/en/usd/3017/3017_046300
She runs through 10km around 41:30 - 23 seconds behind FM. She has a gPS watch but is running with her phone (which, for 42km, sucks). She is overdressed for the marathon but arguably not for an early morning 10km or 15km. She has no visible number and doesn't show in the elite or open results (I checked the leaderboard at 10km and can easily find 131 and pink).