Jess McClain: A Breakthrough at the Boston Marathon | Episode 9

Jess McClain discusses finishing seventh at the 2025 Boston Marathon, where she ran 2:22:43, was the top American woman, and PRed by 3:03. She discussed hiring David Roche as her coach, as well as some of the training and fueling changes she made leading up to the race. 

Jess lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and runs professionally for Brooks. But she also has a full life outside of running. She discussed her work with foster youth and rescue dogs, and how she balances that with her training.

See chapter markers for more episode details.

And if this episode left you wondering about U.S.'s selection procedures for the World Championships marathon, you can read about them here: https://www.flipsnack.com/USATF/2025-world-athletics-championships-marathon-selection-procedures/full-view.html 

The Road to Tokyo rankings are here, and you can sort by event and country. https://worldathletics.org/stats-zone/road-to/7190593?eventId=10229534&country=USA 

Jess McClain on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesstonn/

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:38 How she fits running into her day
• 2:45 Working with foster youth and rescue dogs
• 6:59 Balancing pro running and her other work
• 8:06 Whether she might take a step back from her work
• 10:02 On being overwhelmed heading into the NYC Marathon
• 11:44 What she did differently in the days before Boston
• 12:26 On previewing the Boston Marathon course
• 14:13 How she approached the race
• 15:20 How she changed her fueling strategy in Boston
• 18:16 How her training has changed in working with David Roche
• 20:00 A brief mention of her upcoming racing plans
• 20:25 The rest of her Boston Marathon experience
• 23:22 How encouraging Sara Hall was along the way
• 23:54 Passing Annie Frisbie
• 25:57 What she thinks her best event is
• 27:08 How she works with her coach remotely
• 29:34 Who she trains with
• 31:35 Future marathon plans
• 33:02 How she looks back on her Olympic alternate experience
• 34:54 Outro