Wearing a simple black kit, she was flanked by the likes of Emma Coburn, Jordan Hasay, and Emily Infeld. To many in the packed stands surrounding the 200-meter track that night, she was an unknown, just a local kid among some of the fastest milers in the world.
Taking her place in lane six, Cain traced a cross from her forehead to her chest and from one shoulder to the other, pitched forward, and froze. One foot at the line, the other half a stride back, her elbows bent, her brow furrowed.
At the gun, Cain launched forward with a long, determined stride. She tucked in behind the pacer, Sara Vaughn, who took her through the first 200 in 34 seconds. She knew maintaining the pace would be hard, but she’d earned the right to be there. She’d qualified for the pro heat with a 4:32. She was 16.
By the third lap, Cain had fallen to third place; by the fifth, she’d been swallowed up by the pack. As she jostled with the other runners at a blistering sub-4:30 clip, Cain remembered the advice of her coach: “You’re in as good a shape as everybody else, and as long as you’re in it with 400 meters to go, you can’t give up.”
This story is from the Issue 3, 2021 edition of Runner's World.
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This story is from the Issue 3, 2021 edition of Runner's World.
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