Top 86 Quotes & Sayings by Mary Cain
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Mary Cain.
Last updated on November 8, 2024.
Part of me wonders if I had worked with more female psychologists, nutritionists and even coaches, where I'd be today. I got caught in a system designed by and for men which destroys the bodies of young girls.
I guess I've always been the type of kid who looks to the stars.
Sometimes athletes are expected to lose weight over the course of the season. But usually they work with a professional nutritionist. There's not some arbitrary target that's trying to be reached. It's more go through the process - train hard, eat well.
In the U.S., track and field struggles and I am such a trackie. I love the sport. It's one of those things where if I could garner a little more attention for it or make it a little more exciting, I would love to do that.
Nobody goes into a sport saying, I want to be the fourth-best person. We all want to be No. 1.
I'm not one of those people who is scared, like, 'Ooooh, I'm going to burn out.'
I was only looking at a few schools and narrowed it down to the University of Oregon. Having a great choice made me more excited and I knew it would be a great opportunity.
The biggest thing that I've appreciated is that a lot of brands have stepped up and sent me stuff. As a professional runner, for many years I've been given Nike clothes. It's been kind of cool and fun to try something new and to do something that I haven't done in six years - train in non-Nike gear.
One of the things Coach Salazar always tells me is you're in just as good shape as anyone else and as long as you're in it with 400 meters to go, you can't give up.
It's good to have somebody who is there to see you day-to-day, even hop into some runs with you.
I feel like athletes lean into this indestructible character. But unless you're doing something really shady, no one nails every day of their life. You're always going to have rough patches.
For many years, the only thing I wanted in the world was the approval of Alberto Salazar. I still loved him. Alberto was like a father to me, or even like a god.
Always maintain confidence in yourself and confidence in your training.
I'm never one to shy away from competition or working hard.
Mary Decker's my idol.
My attitude is, especially in New York, we have some pretty brutal summers in terms of humidity. So for me, if you survive a summer of running in New York City, you get your runner badge!
At the end of the day, as long as you kind of focus on what you can do and what you can achieve and what's in front of you, that's all you can be doing and all you should be doing. Anything else is probably unhealthy.
There's always people that you can turn to and it's just about finding the right support system.
The best thing about getting hurt is that it makes you appreciate running so much more.
I think you have to be a leader to be a coach. I think you have to be somebody who is willing to stand up even when it's hard.
I joined Nike because I wanted to be the best female athlete ever.
When you're healthy, it's easy to stay healthy. But when you're hurt, it's easy to stay hurt.
I hope to be out there showing people that you can come back from really tough, awful times.
So in my sophomore year of high school, I ran in Barcelona for the World Junior Championships, and I set the national record for the girls' 1,500 meters in doing so.
And I know I will run for the rest of my life because the actual act and art and feeling of running I love, and I hope to compete on a high level.
I never let myself get psyched out. My motto is, 'Stay calm and carry on.'
In track and field, Nike is all-powerful. They control the top coaches, athletes, races, even the governing body.
I feel like in New York, we could of course open up more bike lanes, but I think it's even more important to create access for people to run, because I think it's more open to people of all socio-economic backgrounds. I think it's even more of an equalizer, in terms of sports.
In terms of just the number of people who run, New York is really unlike any other city. We have such a culture of people who would qualify themselves as runners, and then we have a whole host of people who maybe wouldn't consider themselves a part of that community, but who do actively run, whether it's for exercise or whatever reason they want.
I was lucky to have friends and family who were always supportive. It didn't matter to them how I raced.
I think for me, I've always come back to the fact that I feel most alive when I'm racing. That sounds very cliche, but for me the reason I feel that is because racing is that opportunity to really find your limit.
Running is such a mental sport.
What I have learned in this sport is that it's very easy to feel very alone.
I definitely look to people like Usain Bolt and Sanya Richards and especially Allyson Felix, being an American athlete who went pro right after high school. Of course I would like to replicate that career, but obviously as a 1500-meter runner.
One thing I struggle with is competing, being in a pack, running with a lot of bodies.
I love the sport of track and field. If I can be the person to make it a big thing in this country, that would be amazing.
I absolutely think I have the ability to be a world-class athlete and make a team. But even if I never make another world championship team or Olympic team, I think there are so many things I can say about the sport that can really excite me and bring me a lot of motivation in the day to day.
The emotional weight being lifted just let me run free and commit to it. I have almost been able to refind a joy for running.
Rather than force young girls to fend for themselves, we have to protect them.
I'm still the weirdo who enjoys taking organic chemistry.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun when you get cheers for being a little kid. But if I wanted to be babied, I would not have gone pro. I'm welcoming the idea that people will be thinking of me as Mary Cain the professional, not Mary Cain the high schooler.
Some runners have a constant progression, but mine was very stop and start because of injuries.
My competitors won't be thinking, 'Oh, she's only 18, let's go a little slower for her.'
Societal pressures can really force girls to look one specific way, when in reality there's not one way to be good.
I'm an epic nerd. My life is running and schoolwork and sleeping. And eating.
We live in a society in which female weight is both fetishized and also under so much scrutiny. And so trying to shame somebody into losing weight is just such, I mean, an emotionally, psychologically and mentally traumatizing way to coach somebody.
I don't think I could hack it in the 200m.
I tied so much of my self-worth - and trust me, if you're a runner, you understand this - to my performance.
I like that kind of weather. Constant drizzle. At the Olympic trials in 2012, my mom was, like, 'It's pouring rain out there, Mary. You shouldn't even notice it. You're Irish.'
Different people have different things that trigger them to realize their situation was not OK. In events like the #MeToo Movement, there are many cases where it took decades for someone to talk about their situation. That doesn't mean their stories aren't valid.
Latin AP was a struggle. There were a lot of people in class drawing pictures during that, but I took it seriously.
I guess my whole thing has always been that nobody knows you except for yourself and nobody knows your story except for you and the people who you care about.
It was definitely a hard decision to turn professional.
Ultimately, I decided to go pro because that is what makes the most amount of sense for me.
To be completely consumed by track, that might be a little bit out of my comfort zone. I kind of like having friends who are less tracky.
It took me so long to accept that a lot of the stuff I went through was really messed up. I did realize I was being invested in more as a product rather than as a person.
In so many ways, I just love athletics. It would be really hard for me to pivot outside of the sports world.
The life I live is the life I want to live.
I want to stay humble and not sound cocky. But at the same time I don't want to be the little high schooler.
I'm an Armory girl. I've been racing here since eighth grade. Our relay won here my freshman year, but winning the Wanamaker Mile is even bigger. That's huge.
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