BREAKING: Mary Cain leaves Oregon Project

Didn't think the Ivies gave full scholarships unlike the Big 10 or the Pac 12

You know there might not be a backstory--it might just be a logistical thing. If you leave the Portland area, you are not a member of NOP. Salazar maybe just checked back to see what her plans were and when he saw she wasn't going to come back, they thought it best to part ways to make it easy on everyone.

MC could have run at UO but only if she can keep up with the Top 10 academic demands of a school like Oregon.

I completely agree. She insists on being a clean athlete and that was the wrong place for her.

UO Top 10 Academics wrote:

MC could have run at UO but only if she can keep up with the Top 10 academic demands of a school like Oregon.

Good one, using UO and "academic" in the same sentence! Made me snort my beer.

You can't blame her. She was just a kid. She did her best. Her overzealous parents and Alberto overselling her prospects are another story.

There is always a possibility that her physical maturity was few years ahead of other girls and she peaked early on. She did run Olympian caliber times.

I always said she should've taken a free ride to Stanford. At worst, she would graduated with a top degree at no cost while having fun.

We saw Mary Cain and talked with her at the Mayor's Cup today. She seemed like most everyone else happy to come to race on a cross country course. Yes, it was windy, but otherwise Mary and almost everyone enjoyed being part of the sport, a good race—show up, run as fast as you can—see what happens. She finished third, but showed a normal, mature attitude about it all.

Tom

Highly doubtful wrote:

good runner at one time wrote:

It's also a sign that her best days are behind her and that puberty kicked her right in her ample #ss. It happens to the majority of top female junior runners. She just happened to be particularly fast. Not anymore. 20 years from now she'll be like the rest of us, hobby jogging and trying to convince her kids that she was really a good runner at one time.

Are you really an adult, and not a 14yo troll? If so, you're a bitter person. Wow.

How d fk is that bitter ffs. She sold herself for NOP money, now that she realizes her career is pretty much done on a international level...she trots back to school. This, because she knows shes done at the top tier level.

waddle wrote:

W.O. Moore wrote:

I always thought she was an 800/1500 runner. Cut the volume, focus on speed. Forget the 3000s and 5ks. She has run sub 2 on little specific 800 training.

There is no such thing as being a type of runner. You are what you train for. She did specific 800m training. Everyone in NOP does lots of speed and sprint work. They aren't running sub 2, 3:50i, and 3:26 by accident.

You're a fool if you believe this. If your 5k is a 17:00 and your 800 is a 1:50, you are an 800m runner. If your mile is 4:45 and your 5k is a 16:00, you are a 5k runner. It's not as noticeable for everyone, but all runners have a specific event at which their body performs best at.

The more I've thought about it over the past year or so, I wonder why she hasn't considered Wetmore. Yes, Jenny/Emma are NB sponsored, but AFAIK, Wetmore isn't associated with NB (since CU is a Nike school).

She'd have two great training partners and Wetmore seems to be doing well handling women's physiological changes.

lefty wefty wrote:

Delta Training Group wrote:

It takes guts to do what she does and at 20 no less!

20 is a full grown adult. That takes no additional guts.

Unless you go to a bar

Crammy never would have been able to drop from ~49sec to 45.38. Or Conchellah running 1500 under 3.30, impossible.

"If Cram wanted to get Billy's 400m speed, then he would have to spend a decade to do it just like Billy did." No, Cram´s natural maximum speed and anaerobic capacity would have been the limiting factors.

The type you are has a big role, you can´t change that as drastically by just training a decade or so as you say.

Illinoisphotographer wrote:

The more I've thought about it over the past year or so, I wonder why she hasn't considered Wetmore. Yes, Jenny/Emma are NB sponsored, but AFAIK, Wetmore isn't associated with NB (since CU is a Nike school).

She'd have two great training partners and Wetmore seems to be doing well handling women's physiological changes.

Because she wants to be home. Why would she go from one high intensity running community to another? She needs to back off, lay low, and progress slowly. She can't do that while training with Olympians. She has been clear about her intentions and is being wise to avoid the same mistake twice.

Just read Chris Lotsam's article from the LRC front page, which included this photo:

https://cdn.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Cain_Mary_Mayors_Cup_XC_2016_Lotsbom.jpg

She has a very normal, fit body for a regular person. Unfortunately, none of the top female runners (800 to marathon) have a body similar to hers -- they are all freaks of nature in their own way. She doesn't have that body, and never again will.

I don't understand the people here saying that talent doesn't go away. That's totally irrelevant here -- Talent may not go away, but teenage bodies do, and her teenage body is not coming back. She is very fit and very healthy looking, but she is in a sport where that's not the norm.

Raysism wrote:

Just read Chris Lotsam's article from the LRC front page, which included this photo:

https://cdn.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Cain_Mary_Mayors_Cup_XC_2016_Lotsbom.jpg

She has a very normal, fit body for a regular person. Unfortunately, none of the top female runners (800 to marathon) have a body similar to hers -- they are all freaks of nature in their own way. She doesn't have that body, and never again will.

I don't understand the people here saying that talent doesn't go away. That's totally irrelevant here -- Talent may not go away, but teenage bodies do, and her teenage body is not coming back. She is very fit and very healthy looking, but she is in a sport where that's not the norm.

Here is Lotsboms's story.

The initial photo they sent out with the story was incorrect. It showed Cain in a NOP jacket after the race - last year's race. They notified us of the error and we changed it out as shown above.

RRW says this year Cain was wearing a "plain black Nicke jacket with the swoosh - no skull."

OK, that makes sense. I was wondering why she looked so different in the post-race photo (as compared to the in-race photo that I linked to).

If the picture of Cain running in the race is from 2016 she appears to be less than fully fit. Could be the angle but she looks heavy in that picture.

Raysism wrote:

Just read Chris Lotsam's article from the LRC front page, which included this photo:

https://cdn.letsrun.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Cain_Mary_Mayors_Cup_XC_2016_Lotsbom.jpg

She has a very normal, fit body for a regular person. Unfortunately, none of the top female runners (800 to marathon) have a body similar to hers -- they are all freaks of nature in their own way. She doesn't have that body, and never again will.

I don't understand the people here saying that talent doesn't go away. That's totally irrelevant here -- Talent may not go away, but teenage bodies do, and her teenage body is not coming back. She is very fit and very healthy looking, but she is in a sport where that's not the norm.

Post of the year.

Illinoisphotographer wrote:

I wonder why she hasn't considered Wetmore.

I thought he only coached pros who ran for Colorado. Is that not right?