Mary Cain 17:26 5k @ NYRR Van Cortlandt Park

High Wire wrote:

R U Kidding? wrote:

If the parents are smart, they will discontinue this Salazar experiment and let her continue to develop her academics as a priority, now and into the top college she no doubt can achieve admission to.

At the end of the day, she is one ankle, knee or hip injury away from a counter job at McDonalds if she doesn't develop her academic side.

So Salazar will fail with Cain where he succeeded with Rupp, i.e. produced the best uninjured progression in an athlete in coaching history? I think that the Cains had this foremost in mind when considering the options.

There are no guarantees of health for any runners, top level or otherwise. That Rupp has stayed healthy is great for him and one positive data point for Alberto but to imply that this makes Cain getting injured highly is absurd.

That said, R U Kidding is equally absurd in his post. Sure Cain may get injured. Even if she does not there is not a whole lot of guarantee that she will have Olympic medal level success and a bunch of money coming in through running. But do you really think that she is not continuing her education in some way, whether through private tutors, local colleges...?

I do not know the specifics of her arrangement but I am having a very hard time believing that she and her parents have decided that it is best for her to cut off her education at this point. Whether or not you are with AlSal, you can only train a few hours a day leaving more than enough time to continue your education.

She has not relocated and she is still attending the same high school she previously attended. Salazar is coaching her from afar. There is surely no barrier standing in her way preventing her from receiving a first-rate education.

What the heck wrote:

...There are no guarantees of health for any runners, top level or otherwise. That Rupp has stayed healthy is great for him and one positive data point for Alberto but to imply that this makes Cain getting injured highly unlikely is absurd...

Anyone who thinks that Rupp is just "one data point" hasn't been paying attention. At all.

Rupp and AlSal (along with Farah, et al) have been to the summit of Running's Everest, while all the Keyboard Koaches are still trying to negotiate the first stream crossing in the plains far below. I'll take a big risk go with their take on the situation.

cainisthefuture wrote:

4:11.01

Just turned 16 years old

Salazar is now coaching her

4:04-4:05 this year. 3:59-4:01 her senior year.

She'll also get sub 2 in the 800 this year. 1:59.80

If she can get in one good 3000 race she'll go 9:05-9:09.

By the time she graduates I look for her to have the 800-1500 and 3000 HS records.

No other HS athlete holds that many records.

Nice prediction from November!

Did they definitely run the back hills?

They weren't included in the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships.

To answer my own question, it was the Fred Lebow Cross Country Championships, which definitely includes the back hills.

I was way, way slower than my 5K PR.

Randy Oldman wrote:

Did they definitely run the back hills?

They weren't included in the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships.

Yes on the backhills. Nationals used a multi-loop 2K course that didn't. All the normal 5Ks do the backhills.