How does a 17-year-old celebrate making their first United States national team headed to a world championship?

“Eat a burger! Maybe some ice cream!”

That was Mary Cain’s first craving after becoming the youngest member of the team headed to Moscow in August. She finished second in the women’s 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:28.76. Fellow training partner Treniere Moser took the victory in 4:28.62.

It was a tactical final, to say the least. The first lap of the 1,500-meter run went out in 84.7 seconds. It was very reminiscent to the opening lap of Cain’s indoor mile victory, which crossed the 409-meter mark in 85.26.

The only difference between her win in Albuquerque and her race in Des Moines was that she sat in the back of the pack for most of the race. With 400-meters to go, the New York native made her move to the front of the pack and would stay there until her legs started “to feel like lard” with less than 50-meters to go.

“I’m one of the fastest people in the field with pure 800-meter speed,” Cain said.



Just 24 hours before the race, Cain let all her fear out in a phone call with her mother that brought her to tears.

“I was scared as I should be. Emotion and fear, that’s all important.” Cain said. “All week I’ve been telling myself – I know this is rather cliche – the only thing to fear is fear itself. Once I’m on that line, no matter what happens, I’m going to do the best I can and the fear is going to go away. It’s really a matter of controlling that fear.”

One way she controlled that fear was bringing her stuffed yellow Duck named Puddles (coincidentally, the same name as Oregon Duck mascot). Since Ducks are her favorite animal, she has a much larger one at home named Puff.

“I used to bring my little duck-duck with me three years ago in Eugene,” Cain said. “I thought I’d scare off the team carrying around a Pillow Pet, so now I just carry around (Puddles).”

Hello world! Meet Puddles aka Mary Cain's best friend! #USAOutdoors pic.twitter.com/cBJQlpsVFO

— Christopher Chavez (@Chris_J_Chavez) June 22, 2013

Allyson Felix may be one of those teammates about to meet Cain’s stuffed friend. Felix was the last high school runner to make the national team in 2003. Who was the last athlete before that? Jon Mulkeen has your answer.

@AyakoOikawa @Flotrack @RunBlogRun The last one before her was maybe 400m hurdler Leslie Maxie who competed at 1984 Olympics.

— Statman Jon (@Statman_Jon) June 20, 2013

When Cain was preparing to run at the 2011 World Junior Championship, she saw Felix walk away with flowers in Barcelona. Now they are teammates.

“I’ve been dreaming of this moment all week, but having it come true is amazing.”

Cain currently holds the world’s 16th fastest time with her 4:04.62 at the Oxy HP Meet. Moser’s 4:02.85 from the Prefontaine Classic is the 10th fastest. Both are still entered to race in the women’s 5,000-meter run on Sunday, but will most likely scratch before the 3:22 start time.

The #Cainsanity continues.