Good music can often make the difference between a rave run and a blown goal. That’s why we’re putting together 90-minute playlists each month chock-full of songs with enough of a beat to keep you moving. For even more tunes, check out our list of The Best Running Playlists to Power Every Pace and Distance.
Jess McClain learned during her first stint as a professional runner that too much of a good thing and singular focus can turn bad. The Arizona native ran competitively in high school, mostly racing 5K and 10K races, and later at Stanford University, where she became a seven-time NCAA Division I All-American. In 2015, however, she went pro, signed with Brooks, and that’s when things took a turn for the worse.
It’s really hard for me not to have other buckets to pour myself into.” Back in the 2010s, pros were mostly all about running, and not as much about side hustles and other hobbies. That all-or-nothing mindset led to repeated injuries and burnout, which forced McClain to part ways with her sponsor in 2018 and, at 26, move back to Phoenix with her parents. Over the next few years, McClain took a full-time marketing job and got married.
I’d been running competitively since I was 12, so I really didn’t know who I was or what I wanted outside of that. I needed self-discovery time to find out who Jess is when she’s not racing.” Just when she started considering a return to running, the pandemic shut down racing. But then, in 2022, right before her 30th birthday, McClain raced the Mesa Marathon, her first 26.2 miles, on a lark, training only six weeks before the big day, and finishing in 2:33:34.
She qualified for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, where she placed fourth. At the 2024 New York City Marathon and 2025 Boston Marathon, she scooped up top 10 placements. And at the 2026 Boston Marathon, McClain broke the American course record with a time of 2:20:49.
She returned to her sponsor, Brooks. This go-round feels different, she says. It took a minute to find my recipe, but I did.” Part of reclaiming her love of running came through music, something that’s been with her since her early days of running.
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