She has no coach, no sponsor, and works as the executive director of a non-profit and a marketing consultant. And now, Jessica McClain is an alternate for the U.S. Olympic marathon team.
McClain, 31, placed fourth in today’s Running Shoes & Gear in 2:25:46, a personal best by nearly four minutes. And, she had a blast while doing it.
“I did not want the race to end. With two miles to go, I was just soaking it all in,” she said afterward. “When I realized I was fourth, there’s a lot of mixed emotions. But I’m as happy as I could be.”
McClain didn’t show up on many people’s pre-race prediction lists—or for much of the race broadcast. But the Phoenix-based athlete had a top-five finish in mind and knew she could compete in the heat.
“Every marathon that I’ve run—that’s all I can base my experience off of—but a lot of people come back to me each time,” she said. “I know I’m a good second-half-of-the-race runner, so I just tried to stay within myself.”
She came through the halfway point in 1:12:01, just under 5:30 pace, in 13th place—about 55 seconds back from the lead pack of about a dozen runners. But as that group broke apart after mile 18, she gradually gained ground on those who dropped off.
At mile 24, McClain was eighth; at mile 25, sixth. It wasn’t until about the final 800 meters that she passed Caroline Rotich. “I knew I was there; I just didn’t know fourth was in reach,” she said. “Had it been another 800 meters longer—who knows?”
Though she came in under the radar, McClain isn’t new to the sport. She started running at age 10 in Paradise Valley, Arizona, then competed at Stanford, where she was a specialist in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and earned All-American honors her senior year.
After finishing her master’s degree in 2015, she trained briefly with the Brooks Beasts, then stepped away from professional running. Her last pro race was the USATF 5K Road Championships in New York in November of 2019.
Master the Half half marathon in 2020, but COVID scuttled her plans. During the pandemic, she stayed busy with work and got married, changing her last name from Tonn to McClain.
But running was still a big part of her life, and she decided she wanted to run a marathon before her 30th birthday.
On little training, she won the Mesa Marathon in 2:33:35 in February 2022. But the event was not allowable as a Trials qualifier, because it was on a net downhill course. “I caught the marathon bug,” she said. “So I thought, why not? I’ve always wanted to run the Trials.”
She earned her qualifier by running 2:29:25 at Grandma’s Marathon in June 2023. Between then and today, she trained consistently with two training partners: Julia Griffey, who qualified for the Trials but didn’t start, and British runner Rosie Santos.
As the fourth-place finisher, McClain is an alternate to the marathon team, and will go to Paris to compete if one of the top three withdraws. She also takes home $25,000 in prize money.
“Our team’s gonna be a knockout,” she said. “I’ll just train my ass off for August and step up if I need to. But otherwise, I’m just going to cheer for those three.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify why McClain’s first marathon was not a Trials qualifier.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a course about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
