Mary Cain Is Taking a Break from the Nike Oregon Project

University of Portland spring semester is over and students have to vacate the dorms. Cain finished her freshman year and now it's time to go back home and recharge. It's what normal college kids do.

agip wrote:

she doesn't seem a good fit for NOP - she is goofy and fun - there's no edge to her. The other NOP athletes are all knifelike - totally purposeful and pointed.

It's too late, but NB probably would have been a better fit for her - with coburn and simpson in Colorado? They seem more like cain than rowbury and moser.

I agree with this sentiment. I've never thought NOP was a good fit for Cain...or Hasay for that matter. Not that they don't take running seriously, but they have more fun, easygoing & relaxed personalities - basically the opposite of Salazar who is all business pretty much all the time. I've also noticed that when they underperform - at least to Salazar's expectations - they look frightened after the race, as if to suggest they know they're going to experience their coach's wrath. One specific example I'm thinking of is when Hasay underperformed at Indoors. Of course one can argue they knew what they were getting into before they signed up for this but I think they were starry-eyed about Salazar's coaching credentials & a prestigious Nike contract & not necessarily thinking about his uncompromising style & demand. However, you can only really learn that having "lived it," I guess.

rojo wrote:

agip wrote:

she doesn't seem a good fit for NOP - she is goofy and fun - there's no edge to her. The other NOP athletes are all knifelike - totally purposeful and pointed.

.

Really? Thats' how you describe Centrowitz? That description is 180 degrees away from Centro jr.

fair point

and Mo is goofy.

I'd say that centro's sense of humor seems frat boyish - call me crazy but I don't see Cain being interested in that kind of person. She's a brainy nerd - not much common ground with centroish guys.

agip wrote:

she doesn't seem a good fit for NOP - she is goofy and fun - there's no edge to her. The other NOP athletes are all knifelike - totally purposeful and pointed.

.

rojo wrote:

Really? Thats' how you describe Centrowitz? That description is 180 degrees away from Centro jr.

Exactly! I mean he raced in a hat. A HAT! And it was BACKWARDS!

My first inclination is to believe that she is finished with Spring semester and is taking a break (logical).

My second take is that this is another reason to attend college and mature a little bit more before heading straight into the life of a professional athlete (semi logical).

Thirdly, that she is off the rails and NOP was never a good fit and she should be hanging with those goofy girls at NB and having fun and Salazar is too intense and the OPRJCT boys are bad news and...etc., etc., ad naseum (hysterical).

jay walter weatherman wrote:

rojo wrote:

Really? Thats' how you describe Centrowitz? That description is 180 degrees away from Centro jr.

Exactly! I mean he raced in a hat. A HAT! And it was BACKWARDS!

A hat! Do you remember Rojo how INSANE matt was racing with a HAT???!

Rojo?!

BoyfriendDistraction wrote:

The question is - what was it about Salazar's training that ultimately did her in? Too intense? Post race workouts? Being far away from family/friends?

This indeed is the key question. Probably the very same that Cain and Salazar are wondering right now.

Regarding the personalities match, Mo and Galen seem to be goofy and having fun all the time. And Centro surely comes off as humorous, too, in his interviews. So probably doing fine there. What about lack of company of the same age? Missing a boyfriend back home?

My God, look at a recent full-body shot of her and compare to one from two years ago. She has sprouted hips and is probably lugging another ten pounds around. Most people would run slower with those developments. Hasay experienced the same thing -- set her HS record as a junior and then did not improve her PR for 3 years. But Hasay was protected from scrutiny by being in college. Cain being a pro, is not. That is the risk of being young and ambitious. The upside is great but so is the downside. Cain is experiencing the latter right now.

Good grief! There's your answer! Starve herself back down to hs weight like Hasay who is injured bc she is a freakin' skeleton.

Centro was a UofO legacy, and papa Centro was AlSal's teammate. Little Centro's future was determined long ago.

rojo wrote:

agip wrote:

she doesn't seem a good fit for NOP - she is goofy and fun - there's no edge to her. The other NOP athletes are all knifelike - totally purposeful and pointed.

.

Really? Thats' how you describe Centrowitz? That description is 180 degrees away from Centro jr.

Everyone's talking about whether she's a good fit with NOP, but nobody's mentioned whether she fits in at the University of Portland. A lot of college is about your classmates. She probably doesn't have a lot in common with many of her classmates at the U of P. The U of P is a solid regional college. Most of the students are locals. A third are from the Portland area. Over half are from Oregon & Washington, and 90% are from the Western US. She might just be the only kid from NY! Most of the students are academically solid, but not outstanding. Kids like her -- ambitious, upper class, bright -- from Portland go away to college. If they do stay in Portland, they are likely going to Reed or Lewis & Clark, not the U of P.

This probably isn't a big deal, just another thing for her to adjust to.

agip wrote:

she doesn't seem a good fit for NOP - she is goofy and fun - there's no edge to her. The other NOP athletes are all knifelike - totally purposeful and pointed.

Yeah, that's why they are playing FIFA video games with such intensity. They are businesslike even when they are supposed to be having fun...

Jefe in the CO wrote:

My first inclination is to believe that she is finished with Spring semester and is taking a break (logical).

My second take is that this is another reason to attend college and mature a little bit more before heading straight into the life of a professional athlete (semi logical).

Thirdly, that she is off the rails and NOP was never a good fit and she should be hanging with those goofy girls at NB and having fun and Salazar is too intense and the OPRJCT boys are bad news and...etc., etc., ad naseum (hysterical).

I think putting lipstick on this and saying it is normal is not the right angle - profesh runners don't normally take a time out from their training group 4 weeks before USAs. They go to altitude camps or start doing what it is they do to get ready for major championships.

so it's not logical to say that she is just taking a break.

Getting out wrote:

Rojo,

I thought you were smarter than that.

Getting out of NOP and hanging on to your Nike contract requires a very delicate balance. The " in communication with" is the same thing that Ritz said when trying to exit the cult. Dathan currently has zero contact with Alberto and no longer wears the team singlet.

We now know you aren't smarter than that.

Ritz had a career full of experience, former coaches, and a whole network of people outside of NOP he could rely on. Mary has hardly had the time to develop that kind of network.

Hey, everybody knew what Cain was getting into when her parents pimped her out to the devil. She is on the fast track to prison and an eternity in the fires of Hell.

It is a lot easier to feel sorry for Hasay. She seemed like a nice kid before she ended her innocence by going to oregon.

dumb and dumber wrote:

Ritz had a career full of experience, former coaches, and a whole network of people outside of NOP he could rely on. Mary has hardly had the time to develop that kind of network.

Had? Ritz is still sponsored by the Nike. He plans to run the Olympic Marathon U.S. trials, and he no longer coached by Salazar.

This is a smart move, no matter how you think about it. As H.S. or college athlete, you can just continue competing until things turn around, but as a pro, you have to be capable of at least 4:10 every time you race. Also, she is still the age of a college freshman and is perhaps home sick.

I wish someone could look it up. I posted it when she made the decision to go pro right out of HS. I said she should run in college. Everyone here called me crazy, and said things like "she can still go to college.."

Well?

Now she's burnt out at what age?

If she ran in college, she would've had fun, ran on a team, had a less taxing workout routine and much less pressure.

Just another talent rushed in before she's ready.