While it is a team, Desi is so far ahead of the other women on the Hanson's team, she pretty much trains by herself whether she is in MI or training in Africa. Her marathon PR (not her Boston, rather her other 2:25-2:26 runs) put her 5+ minutes ahead of the next fastest woman on the team. Her half marathon and 10k times are well ahead to. Watch some of the team workout videos on Youtube. Other than easy runs, Desi is way ahead of all the other women. While it may not always fit the team concept, if you have a star performer sometimes it is good to let them to their own thing if it produces results and doesn't cause problems. If Desi wanted to leave Hanson's, with her resume, she could easily do so. The coaching and training relationship she has with them is working for her. Sure there are ups and downs (like the 2012 Olympics) but for the most part, she has greatly improved under their tutelage. Maybe should could improve more elsewhere, maybe not.
Neely hadn't been with the team long enough to earn the right for any exceptions, etc. (assuming they would be willing to accomodate them) Was she crushing her training partners? Since she is a 5k-10k specialist, and most of the women are marathoners, was she mainly running alone? If she was alone all the time, I could see why she would want to go to CO to train and get out of the MI winters. At the same time, if you are alone all the time, what is the point of being on a team if you are training solo all the time? It just didn't workout for her and the Hansons. Why is there a need to fingerpoint?