Jess McClain Is Out To Prove She’s More than An Alternate

After coming fourth at both the marathon and the 10,000m U.S. Olympic Trials, then watching in Paris from the sidelines, Jess McClain has some unfinished business in New York

Jess McClain Is Out To Prove She's More than An Alternate 1
McClain finishing fourth at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (Photos: Derek Call/MH Illustration)

Some consider 2024 the year Jess McClain fell victim to a tough luck trifecta. After all, she finished fourth last February in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trialsโ€”the absolute pits.

In July, she retook fourth. This time in the Track Trials 10,000. Double whammy.

In August, she was unexpectedly called to the Paris Olympics to fill a possible โ€œalternateโ€ slot. Only she didnโ€™t get to compete and canโ€™t call herself an Olympian. Three strikes, and youโ€™re…

However, McClain doesnโ€™t see herself as a tough luck kidโ€”quite the opposite. The 32-year-old from Phoenix views 2024 as the year she learned to love running again and to compete at a higher level than ever before.

โ€œIโ€™m excited about my life, my work, and my running,โ€ she says. โ€œIโ€™m on a great path: happy, healthy, and running strong.โ€ That path will lead her to the New York City Marathon starting line on November 3.

Jess McClain Is Out To Prove She's More than An Alternate 2
McClain running in high school (Photos: Margot Kelly/MH Illustration)

McClain began running at 12. A few years later, as an Arizona high schooler, she qualified for four straight Footlocker High-School Cross-Country championships, a prestigious annual national championship race for high school cross-country runners in the United States.

At the time, she barely understood the significance of a Footlocker appearance, never mind four. โ€œI didnโ€™t know four Footlockers was a big deal until my senior year,โ€ she remembers.

During her four years at Stanford, she produced strong results but nothing sensational. After graduating in 2015 with a master’s in business administration, she signed a professional contract with Brooks and moved to Seattle. 

This period yielded more frustrations than rewards. She found the weather so gloomy it produced seasonal depression. She also suffered from injury every six months or so.

At the end of 2018, McClain returned to Phoenix’s sunny, warm climate, where she enjoyed family and working with her former high school coach, Jeff Messer. She felt she was returning to strong fitness in early 2020 when Covid clamped down on the running world. 

That had a significant effect. She put serious running aside, got married, took on a full-time job, and began to look at life from a new perspective.

As things settled down and developed a happy, well-balanced rhythm, McClain began to think about an old running goal. She wanted to complete a marathon before she turned 30. 

So, she did. In February 2022, McClain entered the Mesa AZ Marathon, undertrained and with modest expectations. She won the race in 2:33:35. Hmmm. What more could she achieve with time and proper training?

Jess McClain Is Out To Prove She's More than An Alternate 3
McClain after winning the U.S. 10K Championship (Photo Credit: Jess McClain Facebook/Jane Monti/MH Illustration)

The following June, without a sponsor, she placed fourth at Grandmaโ€™s Marathon in 2:29:24. It was a strong performance, but not one that catapulted her to a top contenders list for the early 2024 Marathon Trials. In fact, few would have ranked her among the top 10 U.S. females of 2023.

That didnโ€™t deter McClain. Training no more than 72 miles a week with friends and living a stable, sustainable life as a wife, job, dog owner, and marathon runner, she prepared for the Olympic Trials with great enthusiasm but no pressure.

When she arrived in Orlando, she noticed that many other Trials racers had tight, drawn faces โ€œlike they arenโ€™t enjoying this at all.โ€ She felt just the opposite: eager, energized, ready to go, nothing to lose, everything to gain.

Jess McClain Is Out To Prove She's More than An Alternate 4
Photo: Derek Call/MH Illustration

And thatโ€™s how she raced. While she didnโ€™t make the Olympic team, McClain exceeded everyoneโ€™s expectations. She finished with a 4-minute PR and was only 15 seconds behind Dakotah Lindwurm. Lindwurm went on to become the top U.S. finisher in Paris.

McClain says she feels happy, eager, and ready to go to New York this weekend. In September, she won her first USATF Championship, the road 10K title on Long Island. 

She knows improving her marathon PR on New Yorkโ€™s tough course won’t be easy, but that doesnโ€™t matter. Hereโ€™s what does matter. Sheโ€™s on a path that seems sustainable through 2028. She got a sideways taste of the Olympics this year in Paris. Now, sheโ€™s focused on the around-the-corner 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Below, McClain, who signed again with Brooks after the Marathon Trials but with no obligation to change her current life, responds to questions about her 2024, the New York City Marathon, and future goals.

Our Exclusive Interview With Jess McClain

MH: Your Paris situation, being called up as an alternate at the last moment, was so rare and unusual. Could you tell us a little about it?

JM: When I got the call on the Monday before the Sunday marathon, my first thought was, โ€œHoly crap, this is really happening.โ€ Secondly, I had this sinking feeling in my gut for what the other person must be going through. On the call, they didnโ€™t tell me anything about who the athlete was or what the circumstances were. I had to shoot them a follow-up text as I was booking my flight to see if I should be packing spikes or my road racing shoes. 

So I got out of Dodge on a Tuesday, landed on Wednesday in Paris, and ran the tough part of the marathon course that afternoon. The part with the steep hills we had all been hearing so much about.

After that, I just laid low out of respect for the other individual. I didnโ€™t want to tip off that she was in a difficult situation. Also, I had to do an emergency taper since I had trained quite hard the week before.


YouTube video

MH: What went wrong during your years in Seattle?

JH: Nothing. I donโ€™t ever look back and think, โ€œI wish I made a different decision.โ€ I learned so much. I had great teammates and have a lot of good memories. Ultimately, some of the things we did were maybe not right for me at that time: a big emphasis on lifting, the same with nutrition, and trying to keep up with some of the countryโ€™s fastest runners in the 1,500 and 5,000.

I didnโ€™t know how to communicate that I wasnโ€™t ready for it all. I got into a multiyear cycle of injuries every six months or so. At some point, I woke up and realized: โ€œHey, Iโ€™m doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results.โ€ I eventually decided it was time to do what was best for me. Thatโ€™s when I returned to Phoenix at the end of 2018.

MH: Youโ€™re one of several top U.S. women who seem to have improved dramatically after taking some time off from the sport. Keira Dโ€™amato is maybe the best example, but there are others as well. Have you thought about this?

JM: Thatโ€™s such a fascinating question. Iโ€™ve been really interested in hearing the stories of other women like Keira. I think itโ€™s all about perspective. When I had time away from serious running, I realized, โ€œOk, on this giant planet, running is a very, very small part of it.โ€ It seems so big when itโ€™s all youโ€™ve known. Remember, I started running when I was 12. I was good at it from the age of 12. 

My identity was very wrapped up in running. But when I disassociated from it a little bit, I started to realize, โ€œIโ€™m more than just a runner, the Stanford runner, the Brooks runner.โ€ I started to understand that my friends and family and everyone around me loves me because Iโ€™m Jess. And not because Iโ€™m an elite runner. 

This brought me so much perspective. It allowed me to fall back in love with running. I began to have the same feelings about running along the Phoenix canals and bike paths that I had as a teenager. And the next thing was, my competitive nature came back again. I wanted to see what I could do.

MH: The Marathon Trials always produce a surprise or two. How did you get the confidence to run like a contender?

JC: First, I give a lot of credit to my training partners in Phoenix. Iโ€™ve synced up with them over the last few years and just ended up doing what they were doing. I do coach myself now, but I leaned on them quite a bit. 

My approach was so basic: Just stay healthy. Back in 2022, when I was training for CIM, I got a sacral stress fracture two weeks before because I was overdoing things too much. I was running high mileage, and two high-intensity sessions, and a quality long run all while working full-time.

I resolved then that I was never going to let myself get to a starting line not healthy again. So for the Trials, I dialed back. I did one real quality session a week, and one quality long run, and never exceeded 72 miles in a week. 

Then I began to have this weird feeling that I would be in the mix in the Trials. Maybe very close to making the Olympic team.

That was new for me. I used to have a mental block pretty much my entire career that I didnโ€™t belong. The Trials was the first time where I thought, โ€œI can see myself maybe doing this.โ€  I felt like I had nothing to lose. I didn’t have a contract. I have my own job. I make my own money. I support myself. Like that’s not a stress anymore.

MH: Your choice of a fall marathon was a little curious. Many runners in your situation would have focused on a fast course like Berlin, Chicago, or Valencia. Why New York?

JM: I have so much fun competing in races; thatโ€™s what my whole year has been about. People in other races were going for fast times. Maybe I could have done them, maybe not. But for now, I want a few more marathons under my belt. 

Iโ€™ve run in New York quite a bit, and the New York Road Runners are just an amazing, hospitable team. Iโ€™ve also got friends and family in New York. Ultimately, I followed my gut. 

New York was the marathon that I knew would get me out of bed to train at 5 a.m. every morning. Iโ€™m excited about the hills. Iโ€™ve been training for them all year, and Iโ€™m ready to put my training to good use.


McClain faced a tough year that tested her resilience like never before. Instead of surrendering to disappointment, she returned with a renewed passion for running.

As she prepares for the New York City Marathon this Sunday, she embodies the spirit of a runner who transforms obstacles and challenges into motivation.

As race day approaches, the running community will watch her closely, eager to see how far she can go. McClain’s journey from tough luck to triumph is a powerful reminder that every setback can lead to a stronger comeback, and sheโ€™s ready for hers on the streets of New York.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Avatar photo

Amby Burfoot

Editor At Large

Amby Burfoot stands as a titan in the running world. Crowned the Boston Marathon champion in 1968, he became the first collegian to win this prestigious event and the first American to claim the title since John Kelley in 1957. As well as a stellar racing career, Amby channeled his passion for running into journalism. He joined Runnerโ€™s World magazine in 1978, rising to the position of Editor-in-Chief and then serving as its Editor-at-Large. As well as being the author of several books on running, he regularly contributes articles to the major publications, and curates his weekly Run Long, Run Healthy Newsletter.

Want To Save This Guide For Later?

Enter your email and we'll give it over to your inbox.