Cain and Tuohy Struggle at the Armory, Cain Gets Emotional When Talking About Her Biggest Regret at NOP

"Being a female high school distance phenom has to be one of the least enviable and loneliest positions at the top of sport."

Maybe part of the problem is that intended or not the people writing about the sport come off like major douchebags. Why even include that sentence? Yes a 17 old high school runner did not have her best race in a pro event, and still set the US No. 1.

I don't have a problem at all with Kara but what was Mary "whining" about? She spoke about her race directly and talked about some regrets with NOP she hadn't before. I enjoyed speaking to her.

My apologies. I wrote the article. Often we'll publish them with a full proof still coming but in this case at one point I published the wrong version as two versions were open in my browser and I published the wrong one. You may not have seen that version as there still was editing to be done regardless but my apologies.

If that was your reaction then I did not convey what I wanted. I was attempting to sympathize with them and thinking if you could pick being the top of any high school sport what would be one of the more difficult positions and I thought of high school distance running for girls, especially these two as they were so head and shoulders above everyone else at least for a while.

Then the unavoidable body changes are going to come which may be able to overcome but I was definitely not trying to be a douche. I was trying to give some perspective. Tuohy may be crushed at her performance and not want talk to the media but I think a lot of the rest of us can sympathize with the pressure she is under. One of the reasons Cain wanted to reach out to her was I think Cain felt very alone at the top.

As I said I did not know if it was intended or not, but to me it is just a silly doom and gloom narrative that we have imposed on the sport that makes reactions overly negative and pessimistic and adds to the pressure these athletes experience. Maybe Tuohy simply did not have her best race. Every time she has had a below standard race for three years it becomes the same theme.

That has to be a huge mental blow to Touhy.

I think the pressure is caused not from naysayers but from the overhypers. Cain and Tuohy were/are bombarded with information pertaining to going pro and winning huge races and making the Olympics and breaking every existing record. They buy into the hype even though much of it is out of reach. The realists try to point out the low percentage of women runners continuing to improve or breaking crazy records or making the Olympics. All of the hype makes it very difficult to face reality for the majority of young phenoms who end up just being good or even great but not the best.

Have seen no evidence at all that Tuohy has bought into hype as opposed to earning it. And this is just part of the dumb narrative, just setting up a strawman to knock down. Yes not every great high school runner wins a gold medal. Who knew?

Tuohy Fanny wrote:

I think the pressure is caused not from naysayers but from the overhypers. Cain and Tuohy were/are bombarded with information pertaining to going pro and winning huge races and making the Olympics and breaking every existing record. They buy into the hype even though much of it is out of reach. The realists try to point out the low percentage of women runners continuing to improve or breaking crazy records or making the Olympics. All of the hype makes it very difficult to face reality for the majority of young phenoms who end up just being good or even great but not the best.

You do realize Cain made a World Championship final as a high schooler, won senior titles as a high schooler, and signed pro contract that likely guaranteed her 7 figures? So that part wasn't hype at all but reality.

Making the Olympics and breaking every record didn't happen, but making the Olympics was very, very in the realm of possibility for her heading into 2016. But there is a big line from making Olympics and breaking every record. And I think there is a big gap from Cain to Tuohy in high school. Internationally Cain was way better.

astro wrote:

As I said I did not know if it was intended or not, but to me it is just a silly doom and gloom narrative that we have imposed on the sport that makes reactions overly negative and pessimistic and adds to the pressure these athletes experience. Maybe Tuohy simply did not have her best race. Every time she has had a below standard race for three years it becomes the same theme.

i think you are imposing the narrative. the coverage of these runners is the same coverage of any athlete in any sport that has a bad game. every time tom brady or whoever has a bad game it is pointed out.

Mary Cain, Me No Likey wrote:

Mary Cain is a douchebag!

And... since I didn't call her a fat douchebag, can my comment please stay?

Generally we're all for prominent athletes being under scrutiny and fans being fans of the sport. But why is there any reason to call her a doucheback on this thread? Just throwing slurs out with no explanation doesn't do anything positive and is not the general type of tone we want to have on LetsRun.com.

Sure people arnen't always anywhere close to civil on here. And granted someone might say "LeBron James is a d***" and no one thinks anything of it but I'm deleting your comment (but leaving up this reply) as it's the type of post that often won't get reported but I've got no problem deleting.

I thought Wejo's article was fine. Maybe I read a later, edited version - I didn't notice any errors. Nothing egregious, at least.

Posters criticizing these young ladies are pathetic piles of crap. Running is hard. Training is hard. Improving is difficult. Career trajectories vary wildly. But they are still humans and worthy of being treated with respect, especially given their ages. If neither of them ever ran another step after today, they have still brought a great deal of excitement to the sport, which is almost undoubtedly more than any of the bitter critics can say.

astro wrote:

"Being a female high school distance phenom has to be one of the least enviable and loneliest positions at the top of sport."

Maybe part of the problem is that intended or not the people writing about the sport come off like major douchebags. Why even include that sentence? Yes a 17 old high school runner did not have her best race in a pro event, and still set the US No. 1.

Everyone had expectations.. The fans and even the runners themselves. When someone runs 31 seconds slower than the year before you can write that and it make sense.

ThreadKiller wrote:

astro wrote:

"Being a female high school distance phenom has to be one of the least enviable and loneliest positions at the top of sport."

Maybe part of the problem is that intended or not the people writing about the sport come off like major douchebags. Why even include that sentence? Yes a 17 old high school runner did not have her best race in a pro event, and still set the US No. 1.

Everyone had expectations.. The fans and even the runners themselves. When someone runs 31 seconds slower than the year before you can write that and it make sense.

its the new culture. pointing out something, or reporting on something in a truthful manner is now considered the same as insulting or degrading someone. pretty soon teachers are going to be fired for giving failing grades because it is not nice to tell someone they failed a test.

Nope. Factual would be she had a tough race and was slower in this race than last year. The narrative however is that every down race is immediately indicative of "body changes" and apparently a special type of high school runner's menopause. That narrative is pointless. Now if a runner has a string of bad races then its might be worth mentioning. But one comparatively disappointing race is...a comparatively disappointing race. LOL.

wejo wrote:

Mary Cain, Me No Likey wrote:

Mary Cain is a douchebag!

And... since I didn't call her a fat douchebag, can my comment please stay?

Generally we're all for prominent athletes being under scrutiny and fans being fans of the sport. But why is there any reason to call her a doucheback on this thread? Just throwing slurs out with no explanation doesn't do anything positive and is not the general type of tone we want to have on LetsRun.com.

Sure people arnen't always anywhere close to civil on here. And granted someone might say "LeBron James is a d***" and no one thinks anything of it but I'm deleting your comment (but leaving up this reply) as it's the type of post that often won't get reported but I've got no problem deleting.

Good onya she doesn't deserve that. Hopefully people will leave the young Tuohy alone.

astro wrote:

Nope. Factual would be she had a tough race and was slower in this race than last year. The narrative however is that every down race is immediately indicative of "body changes" and apparently a special type of high school runner's menopause. That narrative is pointless. Now if a runner has a string of bad races then its might be worth mentioning. But one comparatively disappointing race is...a comparatively disappointing race. LOL.

the narrative you speak of talks of body issues yet the quote you cite refers to being a female HS phenom... is not enviable.

the quote implies that most HS female phenoms do not reach their expected potential... it does not say the reason is because of body changes. once again as I clearly stated, it is you that are putting in a narrative. It is fact that most HS phenoms do not pan out. The quote does not give a reason because of it. You are inserting the reason.

They want to keep her running so she can continue to degrade the sport as a victim, just think about Rojo and Kara.

I don't see the need for people to resort to insults and personal invective just because of subpar performances. The reality is that once you are at the top of your game and take a hiatus or get sidetracked as with respect to Cain--it is very difficult to improve off of PRs let alone regain her old form. I also think have been wrongly and prematurely elevated to world class talents at times such as Salazar describing Cain as the next Michael Jordan of distance running. It is well known that there were major problems and questions about the NOP and several of their athletes, so it does not seem right to single out Cain as some type of whiner or drama queen. Be that as it may, having both Cain and Touhy participate in professional races, gives more visibility, attention, and spectators/fans to the sport in the US--something which distance running needs. Hopefully, they will both eventually perform at a high and elite level though there are no guarantees and a small proportion of potential talent ever reaches that apex.

Mary Cain, Me Still No Likey wrote:

I watched the interview and I think Mary Cain is a douchebag because she's overly dramatic when she speaks and clearly thinks she is smarter than she actually is. It's painful to listen to and watch her affectations and she should win a Razzie award for her performance. You can tell that she has been pampered her entire life and told that she is the best thing since sliced bread. She's a spoiled little brat that was never told no and that's why she couldn't hack it. She bandwagoned onto Salazar's demise and is trying to parlay that into a refresh of her "career." I despise attention wh***s and she qualifies as one. My opinion, yours may differ.

Better?

You sound like trash. LRC should have mandatory reg. If you don't like her or anyone else and want to name call, why should you be able to do it anonymously?

I'm going to let his point stand because he responded to my post asking for more. As for the registration Greg,you choose to post under Greg and I guess some people know your last name, but we'd never require people to post under their real names.

Anonymity and registration are two different things but I don't want to sidetrack this thread.