Mary Cain makes more allegations: Claims her HS coach took a perverse interest in the sex lives of his female runners

Might she complain about the trauma of being bullied by her patients and sue Kaiser Permanante or something?

I am starting to wonder who the actual bully is in this mess.

Well written post. Do you honestly believe she’ll make it through med school? I can only imagine her personal statement. I think k they’ll push her through M4 but she’ll never apply or match to a residency.

Hey sometimes you have a bad time and things don’t work out. When you are a rich white girl, you get a book to complain about it.

plenty of other young athletes have been through the grinder. Shoot in Europe you can be a pro soccer player at 15!

I don’t know why we treat running with such kid gloves. If you want to be the best in the world… probably need to work and train like it.

and if you are the top high schooler ever with wealthy parents and a solid support structure, access to lawyers, agent, doctors, call some of your own shots!

Why would Mary and her parents agree to having her live with her coach? This sounds very unprofessional and a recipe for potential problems.

What did she write about Julian?

Julian was out of cancer medication (we didn’t learn why, but as a cancer survivor myself, this happens more than one would think with insurance and such, it’s scary)when he was in Europe and heading to Moscow for the world champs. Allegedly, Alberto asked Mary’s dad if he could help get Julian’s medication to him.
Dr Cains response was highly cruel and unusual, more or less berating Julian for not having enough medicine. One would hope a physician would have more compassion. Mary then calls Julian “a loser” for it and the chapter ends. We never learned what happened and if Julian had to return back to the States.

This one chapter was enough to turn me on Mary and her book. It revealed who she and her parents are. I can’t believe she’s going to be a doctor.

She called him a “loser” because he was trying to figure out a way to get his cancer medication while they were competing overseas. For this, Mary’s own father — a physician — also denigrated Pete. Her dad could have just told Alberto he couldn’t assist with getting the medication to Pete, but that he would try to help figure out a way to buy it abroad. That would be kind. Yet, her and her family’s response was cruel.
Looks like Mary only expects compassion to be directed towards her. Good luck in medicine, Mary.

Reading the initial post about how Mary was power walking to try and drop weight at 115 pounds, I felt sorry for her. I do feel like she's lashing out at various coaches, but I feel the real culprit is biology. Biology is brutal.

I remember clearly being in high school and about 112 pounds or so trying to drop weight. At 95 pounds, I was naturally skinny and fast. (Not as fast as Mary Cain but fast.) Then i went through puberty and eventually got up to 115, height went from 5'3 to 5'6. I slowed down. A lot. No one told me to lose weight. My parents told me I was overtraining (running maybe 25 mpw - absurd). But I wasn't stupid - I knew it was my size. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be Mary Cain, fastest in the country, going through natural puberty and my body betraying me and slowing me down, with coaches and mentors around her telling her she needs to lose weight when her body just does not want to. It is HARD to weigh less than your body wants.

These men around her trying to get her to lose weight really just didn't know how to solve her problem. There is no solution I know of. Some girls are never as fast after puberty. I was one of them. Mary apparently is one of them. So was my sister - state runner up at age 12, never quite as fast in high school. It was rough for my sister and me, but I can't imagine how much harder it would be if you were truly great.

I believe that MC was probably mistreated, but mostly I think she just hasn't been able to come to terms with her own body's betrayal.

It's very common for athletes to live with coaches in many sports. I agree with you it's a bad idea, but it's not at all unusual.

Whatever happened to the running club she started? Atalanta?? What is her excuse for the failure of that endeavor?

Which, if you think about it, kind of proves Mary's point ...

I still believe part of the blame for her experience at the Oregon Project, is either hers, or those that advised her.

If she went to run in college, the experience of team would have been much different than what she experienced in high school with jealous teammates. She would've made friends for life, probably would have been and All American, NCAA champion, etc.

Just my 2c

This is not an example of compelled speech.

Jordan has a shady past because she ran for NOP. Now, Mary is claiming she was bullied by Jordan. Is it true? How am I supposed to know? Jordan can stay quiet, ignore it, and hope it eventually goes away. But that has consequences. I am perfectly within my rights to suspect she and her coaching services are shady.

Yeah, she was a victim. But quit parceling out dribs and drabs over time; it makes her look like an attention seeker.

I haven't read the book yet but the accusations of bullying by older teammates in high school seems highly credible under the circumstances.

Didn't Bronxville have state championship level relay teams? So let's say there's this close knit team of upperclassmen on a relay team there - best friends on and off the track - and then along comes a middle school age upstart that is much faster and more talented and she bumps someone off the relay team. Jealousy, resentment and teenage girls from wealthy families involved? This was never going to turn out well.

Alberto seems like the type of guy who is obsessed with getting every little advantage. He's running the numbers, rubbing down Galen with various creams, meticulously tracking his runner's weight and monitoring the related performances. It's certainly weird and wrong if he went into Mary's room at night, but it strikes me as the type of obsessiveness he exhibits in his coaching. He's probably thinking that this silly 17 year old girl probably isn't setting up her altitude tent right and he needs to go adjust it so maximum benefit is achieved, and he was blinded by his obsessive pursuit and didn't realize how weird it was or how his approach might come across to a young, impressionable female athlete.

This is all speculation but that's my take

Full disclosure I haven't read the book yet, but as a healthcare professional licensed to prescribe, I can tell you that you can't just get drugs for anyone, anytime. Not good medicine, unethical and illegal in most states and definitely across state lines and country borders. When someone asks, especially when it is a friend that you feel is taking advantage of your friendship, we call that emotional blackmail. Someone is literally asking you to risk you medical license and your livelihood. So I could see someone reacting strongly to the ask, especially when we are talking about cancer drugs. It was probably triggering, and someone should have been enough of a grown-up to be sure they had the drugs they needed before they left.