Mary Cain—training in Mammoth (with Deena Kastor)

Let's compare Alexi's accomplishments with those here who trash her ...

Alexi:

Essayist

Olympian

Superb runner

Poet

Successful filmmaker

Good friend to many

Cherished wife

Witty

Charming

Engaging

Thoughtful

Omniscient

Caring

Typical male trasher:

Loser who lives in Mom's basement and never been with a woman

Greek goddess wrote:

Let's compare Alexi's accomplishments with those here who trash her ...

Alexi:

Essayist

Olympian

Superb runner

Poet

Successful filmmaker

Good friend to many

Cherished wife

Witty

Charming

Engaging

Thoughtful

Omniscient

Caring

Typical male trasher:

Loser who lives in Mom's basement and never been with a woman

Hi Mr Alexi Pappas!

Always inspiring to see the LR message board boys crying again. " Waaaaaaa. I don't like her. Waaaaaaaa"

Go ask mom to make you a sandwich while you polish your awards.

Is Pappas the female equivalent of Nick Symmonds?

Look at me look at me look at meeeeeeee!

I am special I am interesting everyone loves me

Look at melee!

Anon wrote:

I believe Asics no longer sponsors the group. On now sponsors at least some of the athletes.

https://www.mammothtrackclub.com/

Asics never sponsored the group. A while back it was Joe Vigil, Terrence Mahon, and they coached Deena, Meb, Ryan, Sara and others. They had different sponsors at the time. Asics was a big supporter of many of the runners, but I don't think that they were strictly an Asics based group the way The Oregon Project is with Nike.

It was a stroke of genius for Mary Cain to train with Alexi . Everyone biiitches about Alexi so much they can’t say anything bad about her ! Brilliant!!!

notrump wrote:

Recently we were all impressed with Tuohy running 2:49 for 1K. Mary Cain ran 2:35.80 in 2014. I like to think she can find that talent again.

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Just Wondering... wrote:

notrump wrote:

Recently we were all impressed with Tuohy running 2:49 for 1K. Mary Cain ran 2:35.80 in 2014. I like to think she can find that talent again.

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Deena Kastor. She had a very similar trajectory to Mary’s. Almost quit running post-college after some injuries and a racing hiatus. Cain would be finishing her NCAA eligibility this year. You should read Deena’s book.

insta updates wrote:

I follow Alexi Pappas on Instagram (I know she’s not liked on these forums, and I do find her annoying too, blah blah blah, not the point), and Mary Cain has been featured in a lot of her recent stories, apparently training with the Kastor Mammoth crew. Anyone have any info on this—is this a permanent group for Mary or is she just visiting? If so, it’s an interesting choice for her—marathon-centered training and far from New York.

She's made a good choice. Training in the NYC area blows goats.

She sounds like a truly wonderful person. She looks quite like Meghan Markle too and clearly has many of the same attributes, plus instead of a bit part actress, she is a bit part runner!

Oh if only, if only, Prince Harry had married Alexi instead of Meghan! Could we just swop them over and maybe he wouldn't notice?

Just Wondering... wrote:

notrump wrote:

Recently we were all impressed with Tuohy running 2:49 for 1K. Mary Cain ran 2:35.80 in 2014. I like to think she can find that talent again.

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Mo Farah, obvs.

Many, namely... wrote:

Just Wondering... wrote:

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Deena Kastor. She had a very similar trajectory to Mary’s. Almost quit running post-college after some injuries and a racing hiatus. Cain would be finishing her NCAA eligibility this year. You should read Deena’s book.

Not really a good comparison. Post college and injured isn't the same as missing your whole collegiate period because your talent vanished.

[8y9pt7ofk wrote:

Just Wondering... wrote:

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Mo Farah, obvs.

Do you know what a hiatus is?

Just Wondering... wrote:

notrump wrote:

Recently we were all impressed with Tuohy running 2:49 for 1K. Mary Cain ran 2:35.80 in 2014. I like to think she can find that talent again.

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Mary Decker and Carlos Lopes but they did not completely lose all of their ability in that period. Plus their hiatus which seemed very long at the time was shorter than what Cain has been through so far.

Decker and Lynn Jennings

Never sponsored it in the first place wrote:

Asics never sponsored the group. A while back it was Joe Vigil, Terrence Mahon, and they coached Deena, Meb, Ryan, Sara and others. They had different sponsors at the time. Asics was a big supporter of many of the runners, but I don't think that they were strictly an Asics based group the way The Oregon Project is with Nike.

Meb has only been coached by Bob Larsen since he went to UCLA. Deena really was only coached by Joe Vigil post-college. Mahon coached his wife, Jen Rhines, and some others who were training in Mammoth at the same time as Meb and Deena.

Mary Lopes Along wrote:

Just Wondering... wrote:

Has there been any top-flight distance runner, male or female, who has ever recaptured or surpassed their earlier form after a years-long period of plateauing followed by a lengthy hiatus from competition?

Mary Decker and Carlos Lopes but they did not completely lose all of their ability in that period. Plus their hiatus which seemed very long at the time was shorter than what Cain has been through so far.

Jenny Spangler is the GOAT of comebacks. Ran 2:33 marathon AJR at 19, and 2:32 at 40 to become the only athlete to hold both American Jr and masters records simultaneously. In between, she won the '96 Olympic Trials.

Meh. She may run a couple of 4:08-4:10s this year and realize that she can remain "good" for another decade, but has no shot at running in the Olympics. Maybe she'll hang 'em up, maybe she'll keep being another Cory McGee/Sarah Brown type for a while. Bleh.

when it all began... wrote:

4) Created some grade school level "short films" for the NYT

sconehead wrote:

4) She starred in a feature film too. Actually the filmmaker is Jeremy Teicher who is an industry professional.

Hahahahahaha.

Are you are aware that Jeremy Teicher is her husband?? Bizarrely, the wedding was covered at length in the New York Times:

And calling him an industry professional is a stretch. "Tracktown" is his only non-student feature film credit. It seems that his biggest cinematic claim to fame is making a movie starring his wife, and her biggest credit is being in a movie made by her husband.