Mary Cain: From Track Phenom to Medical Student, Finding Healing After Abuse
After surviving emotional abuse and a career-threatening injury under coach Alberto Salazar, Mary Cain is reclaiming her narrative and pursuing a career in medicine.
Hızlı Bakış
Former track star Mary Cain details her journey of healing from emotional abuse by coach Alberto Salazar and a rare vascular condition, as she transitions into medical school at Stanford.
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Mary Cain was a teenage track prodigy who joined the Nike Oregon Project under coach Alberto Salazar. She later alleged systemic emotional and physical abuse, which led to a major public controversy and the eventual banning of Salazar.
As someone who has lost touch with reality, I like to hold a firm grasp on it now, Mary Cain says while we walk through a palm-tree spotted campus in California.
She is telling me why she insisted she write her own memoir, This is Not About Running, without ceding the narrative to a ghostwriter. My story is so complicated … there are so many bad actors that I think it forces the reader to embrace nuance, and I don’t think you see that very often.
At 29, Mary Cain is a decade removed from her experience as the United States’ highest hope for a middle-distance track star. Cain set four different national high school records as a teen, and as a 17-year old made the world championships in the 1500m. She was recruited by Alberto Salazar, a famed running coach at Nike’s Oregon Project, who convinced her to go pro.
What followed was a hellish four years for Cain during which she says Salazar became emotionally abusive. Cain details a coach who was obsessed with her weight, isolated her from her parents, and ignored signs of suicidal ideation and disordered eating. Salazar has denied wrongdoing, and he and Nike settled a lawsuit brought by Cain in 2023.
Cain, now a second-year medical student, is focused on her studies and recovery. She describes the process of writing her memoir as part of her healing journey, specifically using cognitive processing therapy to reframe her past experiences and undo the self-hatred she developed.
In 2019, after the US Anti-Doping Agency banned Salazar for doping violations, Cain realized the extent of the deception she had been subjected to. She published an op-ed in the New York Times, which led to the disbanding of the Nike Oregon Project. Salazar was later given a lifetime ban by SafeSport.
Cain also struggled with a mysterious leg condition that caused numbness. After being dismissed by several doctors, she was diagnosed with popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (PAES) by Dr. Jason Lee at Stanford. The successful surgery allowed her to pursue her long-held dream of becoming a doctor. She is currently working on PAES research and preparing for her medical clerkships.
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Cain will publish research on PAES in the near future.
Muhtemel · Aylar içinde
Cain will continue her medical education at Stanford.
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Açık Sorular
- Will Mary Cain return to competitive running in the future?
- What specific medical specialty will Cain pursue?
