Weak Sauce: Mary Cain May Duck The Competition At Pre

It is clear that her most recent workouts do not indicate that she would be successful in a Diamond League 1500 or she would be running it-for all the of the reasons that have been cited.

Perhaps Salazar is worried that at her current fitness she could be beaten by Cranny which would be a blow to the "NOP" brand. If she was as fit as she was this winter or last summer she would be on the track against Jenny and Aregawi. If she is close enough to being fit that Alberto will go for the 1500 next week, he will be able to get her in at the last minute if she is ready to compete at that level. But there is no way he wants to chance getting beaten by another high schooler. And anyway within the next 3 months MC will be taking the AJR down to 4:00 somewhere over across the pond.

Search out some video of Pre, during the summer of 1969, racing Lindgren, Frank and Liquori. Pre was wearing Marshfield colors. He finished a creditable second. Need I remind NOP that this meet is named after Pre, a Duck who never ducked?

the second that cain decided to be evil and join NOPe, she ceased deserving any shielding from criticism. The sooner that she gets busted for doping, the better.

For the idiot who said this was Nike's biggest meet this year. NO it is World Juniors in Eugene (same place, different channel). This is just one of many DL meets on the calendar - it is no more important than any other of its ilk (even to Nike). No medals will be awarded (though maybe, hopefully, some fast times). If MC isn't ready, run the 800m or don't compete - she owes you bozos nothing. It it is her career and AS is trying to look out for her best interest (even if I don't like the guy). Stop living your useless lives through her involvement sport. Frankly I don't care if you think this makes the sport "crap" - don't watch.

Without taking aim at Cain (it's not her idea anyway), I just don't get this idea of how a loss could be so psychologically damaging as to affect the rest of someone's career. Get real! Most runners, even really fast ones, have taken some pretty thorough beatings at some point. I can tell you from personal experience, getting beat is no big deal. In fact, for the more competitive types, it can be a good thing, motivating them to improve their fitness and gain revenge.

It is her first race of the season. If she isn't ready to run against the big guns why race? There is absolutely no point in racing if they know she can't hang with 4:00 pace. What good does it do her if she runs 4:10 by herself in this meet?

There is a huge difference between the big guns ducking/hiding when they both are clearly fit and ready to race(examples mentioned in this thread) with the case where you are just starting your season and clearly not ready to race at that level yet.

Luckily Mary and crew could give a rats ass what a bunch of folks who were never any good at running think.

But if she's so unprepared to run, why is she running the 800? It's not like the 800 is an easy event to run if you're not in shape yet.

Sixty Cent wrote:

But if she's so unprepared to run, why is she running the 800? It's not like the 800 is an easy event to run if you're not in shape yet.

cause losing by 1 second is better than losing by 10 seconds.

Why is she not ready to race? Clearly everyone else is. Same with Rupp, they said him getting beaten by Collis B isn't a big deal, it's early in the season. Did you watch Alamirew close last weekend? Pre is probably the biggest race in the country this year, and it's not likely it was suddenly sprung on the field. This is what, the 3rd DL meet of the season? Seems to me that folks should be in pretty decent shape to race. Maybe not peaking, but nor is the rest of the field.

It's called competition. Go compete.

Wtfunny wrote:

Why is she not ready to race? Clearly everyone else is.

Yeah, she's a seasoned professional. It's not like she's some high schooler. Oh, wait...

Bubbalooey wrote:

For the idiot who said this was Nike's biggest meet this year. NO it is World Juniors in Eugene (same place, different channel). . .

Oh, forgive my ignorance. How could I have missed the World Children's Championship as opposed to the annual historic meet which has been primarily sponsored by Nike since 1978 and is one of only two Diamond League events held on North American soil featuring the best Adult athletes in the world?

For those worried about the possibility of Cain ducking the world's best at 1500m, you won't have to be put out for too long. Cain is scheduled to run against Simpson et al two weeks later in New York at the Adidas Grand Prix.

If she "only" runs against world class competition in the 800m in Eugene because she has been too busy focusing on her studies to complete her High School graduation requirements (a task that makes it logistically difficult to travel the world in search of tune-up races with competition challenging to an athlete of her caliber), I'll give her a pass.

She's running two weeks later at Randall's Island.

I guess I'm alone in this, but I'd like to see her 800 form at this age - can she get down to 1:58+ or not - especially in a time trial for her like the Pre 800 is likely to be. We might not see an 800 from her again this year. It's unlikely she would do better than fifth in Eugene (Aregawi, Obiri, Kipyegon and Simpson all seem to be in great shape). It will be a nice sub-4 race with or without Mary Cain. The big question will be can Jenny get under 4 again.

That's right. She's a high school student. She ran in the WC last year, right? So she's not quite the same as every other high school girl in the country. Al Sal is coaching her, right? So she's at the very least semi-pro, dontcha think?

been around ya' know wrote:

If she "only" runs against world class competition in the 800m in Eugene because she has been too busy focusing on her studies to complete her High School graduation requirements (a task that makes it logistically difficult to travel the world in search of tune-up races with competition challenging to an athlete of her caliber), I'll give her a pass.

I'm ok giving Cain a pass, but what about Rupp? Prime of his career, home track, premier event - the 5k, that is.

This is just such a pattern with Salazar - all these games. Maybe they'll run, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll run this event, maybe they'll run that one. No Centro on the DL list, (yes, I know he's listed on the Pre site). Remember USTAF Club XC?

I just don't see how it is good for fans of the sport for NOP to keep everyone guessing about their star athletes' participation until the last minute.

just commit dammit wrote:

[quote]been around ya' know wrote:

I'm ok giving Cain a pass, but what about Rupp? Prime of his career, home track, premier event - the 5k, that is.

This is just such a pattern with Salazar - all these games. Maybe they'll run, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll run this event, maybe they'll run that one. No Centro on the DL list, (yes, I know he's listed on the Pre site). Remember USTAF Club XC?

I just don't see how it is good for fans of the sport for NOP to keep everyone guessing about their star athletes' participation until the last minute.

I'm not sure what more you want. If conditions are good for AR shot at 10k Rupp will do the 10k, if not 5k.. There are tons of 5ks this year, but what 2 10ks? Salazar said what the plans are. Remember 10k is rupps event.

This also fits what they did indoor , start with the longer and go shorter as the speed comes in.

agip wrote:

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Why is losing a problem? Should an up and coming professional track athlete only enter races she can win? MC already picked up some nice Ws indoors.

If she isn't ready to race a 15, she isn't ready. That is fine, especially if part of the reason is simply being a high school senior. However, unless there are any injury risks, as a T&F fan, I'd like to see her in the in the 15 with the top runners.

well you have to go athlete by athlete. Some athletes actually want to do a few smaller races before a big one. Some don't.

To be honest, if MC runs I see a likely scenario being that MC runs 4:07 while aragawi and simpson and others try to run 3:58. Does that sound interesting to you? I'm struggling to see the appeal.

I frankly don't think Cain is fast enough to matter against Aregawi. But what I want to see is Aregawi try to sit and kick against Brenda Martinez and Sum, both with 1:57 speed. Cain's 4:04 is frankly not going to get it done in that race.

Good. She doesn't belong in that race and will only be another body in the way of a fast time.

The answer is probably that she is out of shape. However, I dislike the way Salazar puts excuses into the minds of his athletes rather than mental toughness. They know he will always stand up for them and provide them excuses to avoid things. In his comments, he says something like you avoid things you can't control like heat and wind. No, you train for them and you compete hard. As for Cain, he kept her out of indoor worlds with a sore calf (probably advisable) and now has not had her race even once prior to Pre, so he can give the excuse that she hasn't had a sharpening race. But if she runs 800m, that would be probably because she can run that distance better without being in as good shape, relying more on her natural speed. And then he doesn't want her to be embarrassed by losing to a fellow high schooler when she's out of shape. At any rate, let her enjoy her final month of high school and she'll be competing against the best competition in big meets later this summer, probably destroying all of her own junior records.

agip wrote:

Sixty Cent wrote:

But if she's so unprepared to run, why is she running the 800? It's not like the 800 is an easy event to run if you're not in shape yet.

cause losing by 1 second is better than losing by 10 seconds.

Maybe she should enter the 100.