Sad News: Frank Meza Found Dead In LA River

LetsRun and anyone who is now trying to justify the continued online harassment of Frank and his family should be ashamed of yourselves. No matter the circumstances, none of this is serious enough to warrant someone’s life and reputation. There are three children who will now grow up unable to know their grandfather. And that IS because of the bullying suffered on this website - those of you who edited YouTube videos and made up book titles to mock Frank, threatened to contact his employer and implicated his kids. None of this matters more than the love his friends and family had for him, and you took that away. Shame on any of you who attempt to justify your role in this tragedy, especially Derek Murphy.

ALSO LetsRun should be embarrassed that the first item on your website land is “What’s Hot Right Now: Frank Meza Found Dead”. Insensitive, exploitative, disgusting. All of you should be ashamed.

I don't think anyone is doubting that Frank's decision to end his life (if, of course, that is what actually happened....seems as much), was his own decision. He is responsible for the act. The point, however, is deeper than just the ultimate end result.

What I can say, having been through a massive, self-inflicted, situation like this, is that the "line" I am talking about is the line where the ability to think reasonably and rationally ends. That line is a scary place to be and there is no telling what will get a person to that point. It will be different for each person (some people may never see that line). I can tell you that the line exists for everyone.

Tragic things happen in our lives that can cause someone to lose the ability to reason. Lost the ability to be rational. It happens in situations like this...it happens at the loss of a loved-one....it happens when people go into shock due to emotional or psychological trauma. In November of 1982, Kim Duk-koo died after fighting 15 rounds with Ray Mancini...three months later, Duk-koo's mother killed herself by drinking a bottle of pesticide and 5 months after that, referee Richard Green also committed suicide. It would be heartless and ignorant to brush these deaths off as, "...oh well, it is their own choice..." To be honest, sometimes that loss of reasoning can create a situation by which is isn't entirely "their decision."

I do not think Derek is to blame. I am nobody, so who really cares what I think. It seems as though he was doing his job (not sure if job is the right word).

The point at which these articles and conversations become somewhat irresponsible, is when they reach beyond the issue at hand. When I was getting slaughtered on here, Deadspin, ESPN, etc...I accepted that this was what I deserved. As this translates to Frank...what I don't think he deserves....is the posts on his Doctor page. The calls to his workplace. The attempt to ruin his personal and professional life. For what? Because he cheated on a marathon?

Not to state the obvious, but running is not that important. This website is not that important. Quite frankly, in the outside world, nobody really gives a $$it about it except the few hundred or so that come on here daily.

Frank had seemingly wrapped his identity in this. That alone is a bit irrational. When it was taken away, he lost the ability to reason and to think clearly.

Like I said, tell the story. Seek the truth. Keep in mind that this is a small part of life and it is LIFE that is more important. To those that took it upon themselves to try and ruin the man outside of running....it is up to you to decide if you went too far. Whatever conclusion you make on that...I hope you can live with it either way. You didn't push him off the bridge...but you may have contributed to the series of events that ultimately placed him on the ledge.

Again...just some honest thoughts from a cat that has been there....

~Kevin

Runner 96 -- just leave the forum. You are supporting it by participating. Just stop reading. My guess is you can't!

People visiting this thread shouldn't see ads. This should be a no-ad thread.

I also don't think it should be on the front page. 'Super Hot on Lets Run'.

That's too much.

This ultimately became a battle between Frank and "us". The stakes were greater for Frank than us.

Considering this sad end...Frank perhaps taking one last run...I don't know about anyone else..but I took a long solo run along the SART in Anaheim, just runners and walkers, dogs and rabbits and big birds and bicyclists, and my feet hitting the ground...and thought about all of this...3 1/2 months after starting a thread to maybe bring Frank the glory I thought he deserved...I know I will be making many solo runs thinking of Frank...because I believe he loved running, and runners....to Frank Meza's family and friends, should you read this, I am sorry for your loss

Nice post!

Thanks for that.

Runner96 wrote:

LetsRun and anyone who is now trying to justify the continued online harassment of Frank and his family should be ashamed of yourselves. No matter the circumstances, none of this is serious enough to warrant someone’s life and reputation. There are three children who will now grow up unable to know their grandfather. And that IS because of the bullying suffered on this website - those of you who edited YouTube videos and made up book titles to mock Frank, threatened to contact his employer and implicated his kids. None of this matters more than the love his friends and family had for him, and you took that away. Shame on any of you who attempt to justify your role in this tragedy, especially Derek Murphy.

I could not disagree with you more. Frank's decisions and his decisions alone backed himself so far into a corner that sadly, it was enough for him to want to end his life (assuming suicide is true). The internet did not make the decision for him to systematically cheat for a decade. The internet was not his inner circle and allowed it to continue. The internet didn't enable him. These were all Frank's decisions. It is a terrible tragedy and I have not see a single poster who ever wished something like this as a result. We can be sad for Frank and his family but it was all his doing. Your anger is misguided and not helping.

Old Man by the Sea wrote:

I think a larger question is what is making our society so sick, that a guy who seemingly led a fantastic life, would want to cheat ?

We seem so preoccupied with status and achievements that we do stupid stuff so we get praise ?

I'm saddened by the whole affair though I did not know about it till today.

I do not think it is unreasonable for you to ask this question.

At the same time, it is not at all obvious to me that anything "is making our society so sick, that a guy who seemingly led a fantastic life, would want to cheat." There have always been people who have been mentally ill. There have always been people who have taken their own lives, largely as a result of their mental illness. Yes, this is tragic. But is there any evidence that this problem is worse today than it was in the past? If so, I have not seen that evidence.

Holy sh*t it actually happened. We killed someone.

Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep tonight.

But ignore basic psychology

I agree 100 percent. Thank you.

Rojo and Wejo: Would you be able to remove the "Super Hot" phrasing on the front page regarding this tragic event? I'm sure it is merely an oversight or algorithm, as I do not think you are callous or insensitive, but it would be a good gesture, considering the state of online discourse today.

irunfastXC wrote:

Holy sh*t it actually happened. We killed someone.

Sadly, that's the quote of the day, the inevitable outcome of this website's journalistic behavior.

irunfastXC wrote:

Holy sh*t it actually happened. We killed someone.

Actually, no we didn't.

Which is better??? ...an obscene truth-teller or an eloquent cheater?

Dunes Runner -- you went for it. It's low hanging fruit. Just ignore those comments so they don't get more energy. Discipline mare. Don't scratch that itch.

We did not kill someone. Frank likely killed himself.

It's sad that this person felt the need to cheat and cheat and cheat again and again. It's sad he could not be honest with himself and others over the years and went to great length to lie and further cheat. In the same way he choose not to be honest in his racing and dealing with the truth he behaved the same when confronted with the truth and being forced to live with it.

In the same way he could not handle doing things honestly in races and take the easy way to the finish, he choose to take the "easy" way out of dealing with the truth and ended his life. This should not come as a surprise to anyone and his family or friends perhaps could have done more to get the help he clearly needed years ago.

He was essentially outed by CIM years ago and banned from the race. That should have been a wake up call for him and friends. Instead he doubled down and continued to cheat.

Hopefully out of this other cheaters will begin to see that they have an illness and get appropriate help and groups that find cheaters can not only protect those that compete honestly, but also see that obvious cheaters are connected with the help they need to deal with the underlying issues that prompt them to deceive others and themselves.

Kevin, I don't completely disagree about *the line*, but I really don't think I have that line, so perhaps my input is moot on all this. When my sins ended up on the cover of the NYT, it sure as hell stung but it didn't matter because I had work to do. I had created a problem, so I needed to fix it, period. Even though I was willingly an @$$hole in one area of my life, I still *had* to adhere to the personal responsibility to fix the $#itstorm I created, as it was mine and mine alone.

I will accept that perhaps some posters and/or news outlets "put him on the ledge," as you say, but he never should have made it that far because he should have been held accountable long before it got to this point (as CIM did and as many posters have previously stated). Many have stated, perhaps correctly, that this could have been nipped with swift action on the part of LAM, Sprouts PHX marathon, etc.

I think there may be an argument to be made here for policing our own (as in "fellow runners", not LRC posters). Tons of people *must* have known about FM well before the LRC community figured it out, but he kept getting a pass from everyone who knew. If there's responsibility to be had, perhaps it lies with the Loyola coach, with his buddy Bland (if they were truly running partners, there's no way to *not* know), etc.

I have nothing but admiration for the person who outed me, as they did the *right* thing, instead of just looking the other way and accepting a half-assed "I won't do it anymore" excuse. Maybe I wouldn't have, maybe the temptation would have been too great, but either way I was forced into a situation where I had to face music, rather than continuing to get away with doping yet again. This never happened with FM and I'm sorry for him that it didn't. Perhaps he could have faced the music to a much smaller audience if he had been outed much earlier- of course, without the communal effort put forth in his thread, it probably wouldn't have happened, at least in the comprehensive fashion of the FM thread.

Finally, I think all reputable posters unanimously agreed that it was poor form to post fake doctor reviews and/or call his workplace. From what I could see, *nobody* who contributed relevant information/evidence to the FM thread was engaging in such behavior, so I think that is a non-issue, as there's going to be trolls anywhere you look in the interwebs.

Hesch~