That Bronxville Girl

Bob Dylan cut a song in the late 80's called "Brownsville Girl".
A long song, but there wasn't much to it, IMO.
But this one line might be the perfect intro to my little "editorial" about Queen Mary:

"Then she told us how times were tough and 'bout how she was thinkin' of bummin' a ride back to from where she started."

Mary Cain is from Bronxville (NY), not "Brownsville (TX)", but that sentiment Old Bobby sang years ago sort of fits.

If you haven't heard Mary has left Oregon to return to "where she started", then you're blind, deaf, and dumb!  (Or just don't care about Mary Cain!)
Yes, Ken Goe wrote that she left NOP--though is still a member of the group---to return home to Bronxville.
Now, why should this NOT be a story worthy of FIVE full pages (a few minutes ago, but growing FAST!!) of comments on Let's Run's MB?

1. School at Portland U is done, and kids ending their freshman year normally go home...even if "home" is 3000 miles away!
2. Her boyfriend  is still in NY, and kids her age usually want to be close to their S.O.'s.
3. She's always been close to her parents, and she missed them.

So what's the big deal then?
After all, others have left NOP (or other OR groups) recently--Dathan Ritzenhein and Kara Goucher, for example.
But Mary has been a "STAR" since her frosh year at Bronxville HS.
She's NEWS---no matter if it's good or bad!
So here's MY take on this sudden move.

It goes back to something Alberto Salazar said amidst the firestorm that was Mary's INdoor campaign of 2013.
She was destroying HSR's left and right, so he was asked what HE had done to make that happen.
I'll never forget his reply:

"I didn't make Mary.  She was already made (when I started working with her)."

He began coaching Cain because he saw a major talent who had a few flaws in her running form, which he felt he could correct..
And supposedly he did--especially with her arm swing & carriage.
But let's look at a timeline of her "progress" with NOP.

1. She's shattering Class records in her Freshman and Sophomore years, INdoors and OUTdoors, culminating in her obliterating Jordan Hasay's great 4:14.50 in the Barcelona WJC.
2. Salazar calls her, and they hook up as athlete and coach, though during her Senior  year in Bronxville, she lives there and trains under John Henwood's guidance.  (Henwood is Salazar's East Coast assistant!)
3. Her 2013 season is absolutely PHENOMENAL, as she breaks TEN HSR's within 5 months time!  She even makes the final at the Moscow WC's!!
4. She decides to turn Pro and move to Portland to start college at the University of Portland.  She even announces she has a boyfriend named Benito.
5. While she runs okay INdoors in 2015--though FAR from her 2013 standards!--she's obviously having problems, which only seem worse in her 3 OUTdoor races.

So WHAT happened?

Go back to what Salazar said, that I quoted above.
"I didn't make her.  She was already made."

That's IT!!

Whatever her HS coach---whose name I don't even know!--did got her to that point.
It wasn't Salazar's "magic", or the correction of her running form flaws.
She broke all those records using her years of experience WITH HER HIGH SCHOOL COACH----not Salazar (or Henwood).
She had built a momentum in her first 2 years of HS (BEFORE Salazar called her!) that carried over to her 2013 Junior year!
It's like if you become a success in ANY sport under one coach---then a new coach is hired, but the momentum the athlete already has in high gear is credited to the new coach---when he/she had almost nothing to do with it!
Salazar didn't "make" Mary Cain---she was already "made".

The main gist I get from reading all 5 pages of Let's Run's (& T&FN's lesser amount of) comments is this:

1.  Most feel it's a weight problem.  She's changing from a girl to a woman, and her woman's body has slowed her down.  She's gained maybe 10 pounds.
2. She's homesick, and misses Benito.
3. The Salazar (and NOP) way of doing things is too intense.  She's a loose fun happy girl, and couldn't handle/didn't mesh with....NOP's and (especially!!) Salazar's intensity.

I've been highly critical of Alberto for a long time.
(Read my "Open Letter to Alberto Salazar" post from right after the USATF INdoor fiasco of 2014!)
His personality grinds on me.
But it's not just his personality.
It's his training methods.

At first, I was stupified watching (on Flotrack) the post-race workouts he had his charges do last year (2014) during INdoors.
Remember?

AFTER they broke some record or other, Salazar took them  to another track (from Boston U to Harvard, I believe!)  and do a workout.

For Galen Rupp--who had just broken an AR in the 2 Mile--he had him do FIVE 1 Milers, with the last one in 4:01.
For Cain--who had just broken a 1000 or Mile record--he had her do a 3 mile tempo at 5:30 per mile, then do four 800's in 2:20, then four 400's, all at 60 or faster--last one in 57!.

(Jordan Hasay, Treniere Moser, and Cam Levins did similar workouts!)

Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall knowing (or hearing of) ANYone who did anything post-race but jog (cool down).
Not even elite Professional athletes!

Until Salazar started advertising HIS methods!

They were fun to watch, but I now see them as ONE of the reasons why (possibly!) Mary left NOP.

In recent years---maybe ALWAYS!!--we've seen or heard stories of other teen girl prodigies (and even a BOY prodigy or two!) who just suddenly disappear from everyone's radar.
Then you begin wondering....Where ARE they?

In this blog, I had a post a year or so ago asking where 3 girls were---Wesley Frazier, Cayla Hatton, and Natosha Rogers.
Each had phenomenal success in either HS or College---then basically disappeared!!

There have been many others.
Whatever happened to Brianna Jackucewicz, whose 16:43.02 INdoor 5000 came as a SEVENTH grader?
That's just one example.

Injury?
Burnout?
Too many body changes?
Eating disorders?
Boyfriend, pregnancy, a new life away from running?

There are lots of reasons why a young girl---or ANYone!!---suddenly is not the same athlete as she/he once was.
I don't know what happened to Mary.
Until (and unless) SHE herself decides to "come clean" about her decision to leave NOP, we can only speculate.

But there HAVE been success stories of young athletes who have succeeded DESPITE their bodily changes, DESPITE whatever's happening in their social life, DESPITE moving far from home to a totally new environment!

Let us hope and pray that this outstanding young athlete---and PERSON!!!---is able to find her way back.
And she doesn't need Salazar's help!
After all, she was "already made"!!