by Mary Cain
First published 2026
Mary Cain fell in love with running at twelve, a straight-A student who found freedom in speed and escape in Greco-Roman myths. She learned to endure harsh training and bullying from coaches and teammates, desperate to belong. At sixteen, Alberto Salazar invited her to join Nike's Oregon Project, promising she would transform the sport. Cain clung to his approval even as he demanded weight loss and pushed her through mounting injuries. She set records against older elite runners while the Olympics beckoned. But success came at a brutal cost. Cain began sneaking granola bars at night, battling depression as her body broke down. When she finally left the program, the running world wondered what happened to their rising star. Drawing from her own diaries, Cain exposes how the win-at-all-costs mentality in youth sports can destroy young minds and bodies, offering a raw account of abuse disguised as excellence.
Genres: biography, abuse, autobiography, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, memoir
Setting: Oregon, Nike
Period: 16th-century
336 pages · Hardcover · Mariner Books
Content warnings: abuse, depression, mental-illness