a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

[kuha]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Bullshit. She's 16 years old and this has obviously been in the works for a while. When I was 16 (not too long ago) and I wanted to do something stupid, my parents would have said no.

So, you are saying bullshit to: "it is her life and her/their decision as to what to do"? Sorry, but it actually IS her life and her/their decision as to what to do. What you and your parents might have done umpteen years ago doesn't matter here.

And I say that while emphasizing that I think the decision here is completely nuts. But they've made it and will live with it.

[Marlow]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

But they've made it and will live with it.

Kids who display great athletic prowess at an early age (through HS) are more narcotic than heroin to MANY parents. Otherwise sensible people become raving lunatics in their delusion of what their child can do in the short term and long. I have seen far too many parents go completely off the deep end when trying to 'enable' their kids to be a star.

[NormZylstra]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

I have seen far too many parents go completely off the deep end when trying to 'enable' their kids to be a star.

30% of our team does this.

[Master Po]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Agree with pretty much all that's been stated on this thread so far re Alana Hadley. A bit more information on her stats through this stage of her career as a HS student:

She made Footlocker Nationals in 2011 as a frosh; finished 34th. I know we've seen some great performances by frosh in that meet, but in 2011, there were only two in that grade year, Hadley & Makeena Morley (finished 9th). In Spring of 2012, still her HS frosh year, she was apparently done with HS competition (though I don't know if she ran HS track that year), as she ran the 34:59.38 aaronk mentioned. That was at Sea Ray Relays. It was not a big race -- only 8 finishers, but all collegiate, iirc (but not top-level, of course). Second place was 36:39, so even though it was not a big race, Hadley as a 9th grader in a collegiate environment won by 1 minute 40 seconds, which suggests to me that she probably had a faster time in her, had anyone been around to chase a bit or run with through the entire race. She also ran a 16:51 5k (also mentioned by aaronk, I think) that Spring. I think this was a road race. So, all of that at least suggested some potential.

In her soph year of HS (Fall 2012), she seems to really be done with HS competition, because she was racing some open/collegiate XC races, and doing OK in them. Spring of this year, which would have been her soph year of HS track had she participated, she moved up to the marathon -- that was her 2:58 at Cleveland Marathon. And now, in her HS junior year, on to the 2:41:56, as we know.

And even though what she's doing of course is not big news (at least in my view) beyond the news item of her making the US Junior a-t list in the marathon, I will be curious to see what she (and/or her father/coach) chooses to race in Spring 2014. She will turn 17 in early 2014, and will be 2 years away from her big goal, which I understand to be the 2016 OT marathon. Those 2014 Spring racing choices will perhaps tell me more about whether she/he/they have a clue beyond this accomplishment about how she might develop further, now that she has achieved this OT qualifier goal, and now that they apparently are committed to this trajectory.

[kuha]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

in 2011, there were only two in that grade year, Hadley & Makeena Morley (finished 9th).

As a footnote here, Morley just demolished the all-class course record for the Montana state X-C meet. It had been 16:50 (Zoe Nelson) and she did 16:35, winning by a rather impressive 2-1/2 minutes. So her HS career is progressing quite nicely.

[bambam]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Kids who display great athletic prowess at an early age (through HS) are more narcotic than heroin to MANY parents. Otherwise sensible people become raving lunatics in their delusion of what their child can do in the short term and long. I have seen far too many parents go completely off the deep end when trying to 'enable' their kids to be a star.

In our orthopaedic office, where we see many young kids with sports injuries, the standard move by our medical assistants, who see the patients first, is to come out after talking to the parents and the kid, and then, usually rolling her eyes, comment, "This kid dislocated his shoulder ... oh, yeah, and he's a pro prospect." They all are - to the parents.

[jazzcyclist]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Kids who display great athletic prowess at an early age (through HS) are more narcotic than heroin to MANY parents. Otherwise sensible people become raving lunatics in their delusion of what their child can do in the short term and long. I have seen far too many parents go completely off the deep end when trying to 'enable' their kids to be a star.

This reminds me of a story involving my uncle. 19 years ago, my uncle asked my dad to come to a high school football game with him to see my cousin play. My cousin, who was in 10th grade at the time, had really impressed my uncle, who himself played football at Grambling during their glory days and was a football coach at another high school, but he didn't trust himself to be objective, and wanted another set of eyes to see what he was seeing. My uncle made no comments during the game, but when the game was over he asked my dad to give him a brutally honest opinion. My dad told him that he saw a man amongst boys who would no doubt play on Sundays one day. 19 years later, that 10th grader is still playing on Sundays. The moral of the story is for parents to always get someone else to judge your kid's talent.

[TN1965]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Here is Mark Hadley's response to the critics.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read. ... 211&page=7

Some of the other runners he coaches.

http://www.elitemarathoning.com/trialsproject.html

And here is a Runner's World article on Hadley and De Reuck.

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runne ... hon-trials

[Marlow]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

The dad is saying all the right things, and I get that at 16, his daughter thinks she knows what she wants, but accepting prize money now, which guarantees she can't run for a college (and receive a scholarship - which she WOULD have gotten), is not prudent. Just because she doesn't think she wants to run in college now, doesn't mean she won't change her mind. I can also live with her 100 miles a week (Lindgren did more) at age 16, but just because her body is OK with it now, doesn't mean it won't reject it in the near future. Putting all her eggs in the road-running basket NOW . . . I'm still not buying it . . . but as the dad says, they're going into this with their eyes open, so it's their call.

[aaronk]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

Here is Mark Hadley's response to the critics.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read. ... 211&page=7

Some of the other runners he coaches.

http://www.elitemarathoning.com/trialsproject.html

And here is a Runner's World article on Hadley and De Reuck.

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runne ... hon-trials

Interesting...especially the "open letter" from Mr Hadley and the list of his athletes.
But being partial to TRACK (over road or XC) races, I still believe she/he are making a mistake in not having her race on the track.
No, not in college or high school. (Too late for that!!)
But to run some elite meets (Stanford, Oxy, Mt SAC, Penn....Raleigh Relays (near her home)).
She's forfeiting her speed by focusing solely on 13.1 and 26.2 distances.
An occasional mile, 5000 or 10000 would help, not hinder her progress toward her goals.

After all, some VERY serious (and excellent) American female marathoners ALSO race on the track.....Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, Amy Hastings, to name three.

[Dutra5]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

I don't think parents should be permitting children to make a decision to remove a future option for them which could involve as much money and chance as eligibility for collegiate athletics provide no matter how much the child was in agreement or part of the decision.

Children often don't verbalize what they mean and also can be easily swayed into what a parent might want them to do. So I would not look at this situation as well thought out. A well thought out answer would have been to allow the girl to compete in whatever events she wishes currently and keep her collegiate eligibility.

[gh]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

After reading dad's explanation on letsrun I'm far less critical. Still think it's the wrong way to go, but my spidey-sense about pushy parents not doing right by their kids isn't going off the way it was before.

And no, now that she's running for money (and has been since earlier in the year), we won't consider any of her marks for high school lists.

[kuha]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

After reading dad's explanation on letsrun I'm far less critical. Still think it's the wrong way to go, but my spidey-sense about pushy parents not doing right by their kids isn't going off the way it was before.

Yes. Still think its nuts, but its their decision and as considered as any such decision probably could be.

[tandfman]

Re: a NON-Mary Cain Mary Cain thread

A nice blog by Alana Hadley, with lots of photos, is now linked in the front page headline section.