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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Already a subscriber? Sign In
TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE
THE SUN IS rising from the east, and the waves of the Pacific crash below to the west.
LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY
BEFORE I FELL for running, I thought the hardest thing about the sport was the fast stuff: the speedwork, the sprints, and the intervals.
WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES
Those are just a few of the titles entered into my training log for the second run of a day.
FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON
I SIGNED UP for my first marathon while sobbing in the back of a rideshare, on my way to the airport to fly to my uncle's funeral.
FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT
AS AN ULTRARUNNER, I'm all too familiar with the saying that long-distance running is an \"eating contest with a running component.\"
AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME
I SAT IN the fertility doctor's office white walls, bare wooden desk, opaque window-alone.
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY
AT 15, DARLENE STUBBS WALKED AWAY FROM A POLYGAMOUS CULT-THEN DISCOVERED A NEW LIFE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH RUNNING.
RUNNING WITH HANK
How my daughter's rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.
WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.
I checked the pins on my bib, shimmied my spandex shorts into place, and teed up the stopwatch on my wrist.
A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep
Nike rocked the running world in 2018 when it released the Vaporfly 4%, claiming that the shoe could boost a runner's efficiency by that amount.
