# Event Details - **Event Name**: This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 30 Apr, 2026 at 06:30 pm – Thu, 30 Apr, 2026 at 08:00 pm (-04:00) - **Event Description**: Cain will discuss her meteoric rise, the abuse she endured within Nike’s Oregon Project and her path to reclaiming her story.About this EventWhen Mary Cain took the running world by storm, she was only in high school. At 17, Cain competed in the 2013 World Championships, becoming the youngest female athlete ever to represent the United States for track and field. The middle distance prodigy was quickly achieving running record after running record which gained the attention of Nike’s then prestigious Oregon Project and famed coach Alberto Salazar. After turning pro and joining Nike, the running phenom’s career began a precipitous decline, which Cain later revealed was the result of an abusive system at the Oregon Project under a now disgraced Salazar. With a lawsuit settled with Nike, Cain now tells her story in a new memoir, “This Is Not About Running.” Join us for a conversation with Cain moderated by WBUR senior editor of arts & culture Dianna Bell. Copies of the book will be available to purchase from our bookstore partner Brookline Booksmith and Cain will sign following the conversation.About “This Is Not About Running”By one of the fastest runners of her generation, an affecting, brutally honest memoir of elite sports gone wrong — and a clear-eyed call for how parents, coaches and young athletes themselves can build a healthier youth sports culture.Few women have ever run 800 meters in under two minutes. Even fewer people have taken on running’s abusive training culture and won. Mary Cain has done both.She emerged as a running phenom at age 12, a straight-A student obsessed with Greco-Roman mythology and the freedom she felt when she ran fast. Like any middle-schooler, she just wanted to fit in, so she learned to run through the discomfort of hard training sessions, and the confusion of her coaches’ and teammates’ bullying. And she was overjoyed when, at 16, Alberto Salazar called to invite her to train with the famed Nike Oregon Project.Cain was poised to transform the sport, Salazar told her. She resolved to hold on to his favor, even as he insisted she lose weight and push through the pain of emerging injury. For years, she excelled, setting records against elite runners twice her age. The Olympics were in her sights.But off the track, Cain was crumbling. She snuck granola bars in the middle of the night and sank into a deep depression as injury after injury set in. Finally, she left the Oregon Project, telling herself she just needed a break. A chorus rang out across the running community: What happened to Mary Cain?Now, with her suit against Nike behind her, Cain is ready to share her side of the story — and to flip the script on abuse in youth sports. She draws on her diaries from this wrenching period of abuse to show, with clarity we rarely see, how young minds respond to the win-at-all-costs culture that pervades youth sports today. By turns raw, wry and impassioned, “This Is Not About Running” is a fierce memoir of the damage wrought when we prioritize competition over mental health.Ways To SaveWBUR’s Legacy Circle, Murrow Society, Sustainers and Members save $5.00 on tickets to this event. To apply the discount to your ticket purchase online, you’ll need to enter a promo code. You can get your code by emailing membership@wbur.org.Registrants may be contacted by CitySpace about this or future events. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289 - **Event Categories**: Sports, Workshops, Art, Contests, health-wellness - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 55.2, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Boston - **state**: MA - **country**: United States - **location**: WBUR CitySpace - **lat**: 42.3508575 - **long**: -71.11565709999999 - **full address**: WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/47423d40d9421df96cd9d8f01e218f9dd02b0e3fc747adff375c3e8c030e5236-rimg-w1200-h600-dce4dc3b-gmir.jpg?v=1765591974 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story being held? - **A:** This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story takes place on Thu, 30 Apr, 2026 at 06:30 pm to Thu, 30 Apr, 2026 at 08:00 pm at WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, United States. - **Q**: How much do tickets cost for This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story? - **A:** Tickets for This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story are priced at USD 55 per person. Here's a full breakdown of available ticket types:Ticket TypePriceAvailabilityBook bundleUSD 55 + USD 5 feeAvailableGeneralUSD 23 + USD 3 feeAvailableBU Faculty and StaffUSD 18 + USD 3 feeAvailableStudentUSD 13 + USD 3 feeAvailableSupport WBUR (donation; not an event ticket)FreeAvailable - **Q**: Who is organizing This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story? - **A:** This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story is organized by WBUR CitySpace. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "This Is Not About Running: running phenom Mary Cain tells her story", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events7/banners/47423d40d9421df96cd9d8f01e218f9dd02b0e3fc747adff375c3e8c030e5236-rimg-w1200-h600-dce4dc3b-gmir.jpg?v=1765591974", "startDate": "2026-04-30T18:30:00-04:00", "endDate": "2026-04-30T20:00:00-04:00", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "eventStatus": "https://schema.org/EventScheduled", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "WBUR CitySpace", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "890 Commonwealth Avenue", "postalCode": "02215", "addressLocality": "Boston", "addressRegion": "MA", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "42.3508575", "longitude": "-71.11565709999999" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Cain will discuss her meteoric rise, the abuse she endured within Nike’s Oregon Project and her path to reclaiming her story.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "2026-04-30T20:00:00-04:00", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "55.20", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "price": "55.20", "name": "Book bundle" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "price": "23.18", "name": "General" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "price": "17.85", "name": "BU Faculty and Staff" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "price": "12.51", "name": "Student" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2025-12-13", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2025-12-13", "url": "https://allevents.in/boston/this-is-not-about-running-running-phenom-mary-cain-tells-her-story/100001977555685289", "price": 0, "name": "Support WBUR (donation; not an event ticket)" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "WBUR CitySpace", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/wbur-cityspace/26739474" } ] } ] ```