Alberto Salazar Agrees to Coach a Teen Prodigy This summer, Mary Cain faced a difficult decision. She wanted to advance her successful running career, but she had outgrown her coaches at Bronxville High School. She also wanted to continue to live at home, not move elsewhere to work with a coach. Jed Jacobsohn for The New York Times Mary Cain competing in June. The following month, she set the American high school record of 4 minutes 11.01 seconds in the 1,500 meters. About a month ago, she and her mother prayed that Alberto Salazar, the marathon great who runs the Nike Oregon Project, would come to the rescue. Cain, a 16-year-old junior, had met Salazar briefly at the United States Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., in June, and she knew that Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, two of his protégés, had gone on to win medals at the London Games. At nearly the same time, Salazar had been watching a YouTube video of Cain's setting the American high school record of 4 minutes 11.01 seconds in the 1,500 meters at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in July. He noticed that Cain's biomechanics were off and, as a gesture, he phoned her to offer a few recommendations on how to fix the small flaws. "When he actually called, I can't tell you the level of excitement," Mary's father, Charlie, said in a telephone interview. Mary was very excited. It was quite literally an answer to a prayer. Thus began a partnership between Salazar, one of the country's top distance coaches, and Cain, perhaps the most gifted young female runner to come along since Mary Decker in the late 1970s. After several weeks of talks, Salazar agreed to advise Cain, but from a distance, because Cain did not want to move from her home outside New York City to a boarding school in Oregon. Salazar appointed a coach in the New York area to supervise Cain's daily workouts. To preserve Cain's N.C.A.A. eligibility, the Cains agreed to pay Salazar as well as all of the costs for Mary's travel and equipment. Those may be significant because Cain, no longer a member of her high school team, will run as an independent in races around the nation. Her first race under Salazar's tutelage is Saturday at the 5-kilometer Dash to the Finish Line in New York. The race, a day before the New York City Marathon, will feature some of the top American women distance runners, including Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, Lisa Uhl and Molly Huddle. Then Salazar will get to work trying to improve Cain's form. Salazar said he noticed that while Cain's legs move efficiently, she hunches forward and her arms swing across her body. To better propel her body forward, Salazar wants Cain to loosen her chest muscles and strengthen her back so her arms swing in front of her body. "There is no wasted motion in her legs," Salazar said. All we have to do is get her stronger from the belly button up. Altering a runner's form is easier when he or she is young, Salazar said. The additional flexibility and strength workouts, and running against stronger competition in national events, should allow Cain to improve on her already impressive running résumé, which includes a 2:03.34 in the 800 (a New York high school record), a 2:47.29 in the 1,000 and a 4:39.28 in the mile.