​Jess McClain ran the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 in the same necklace that she’s worn for the last two years.The pendant dangled over her chest as McClain surged uphill toward the Central Park finish line in what she called the coolest moment of her career.McClain, after 26 miles on the roads, summoned the energy to pass two-time New York City champ Hellen Obiri of Kenya by 41 hundredths of a second in the final strides.McClain finished second overall, marking the first podium for a U.S. female or male runner in New York City since Shalane Flanagan was third in her title defense in 2018.In the days after, the 34-year-old McClain reflected. Was it the race of her life to this point?”It’s got to be up there, I think so,” she said.Then she remembered Feb. 3, 2024.Of all the experiences that New York City could rival, it was actually the Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando — where McClain finished fourth, missing the three-woman team for Paris by 15 seconds.”Orlando, that was kind of like the catalyst for a lot,” she said. “I think that would be up there in terms of putting myself in it, self belief, all of that stuff. But I think in terms of what’s on paper and the result, yes, I’d probably say (New York City) was pretty much the pinnacle right there so far.”McClain was the top American finisher not only in New York City, but also in Boston, the nation’s premier spring marathon, in 2025 and 2026.It bodes well for the Olympic Trials on March 25, 2028, in St. Louis, where the top three women likely make the team for Los Angeles. McClain hopes for a different trials experience than her last three.Olumide “Olu” Olamigoke Jr./Brooks RunningMcClain caught the running bug in middle school. A soccer midfielder and “full-blown nerd,” she could beat the boys in her PE class mile.In 2016, her first full year as a pro after an All-America Stanford tenure, she developed extreme shin pain.She traveled to compete in the Rio Olympic Trials 5000m. But she scratched after warm-up with, as it turned out, a stress fracture in her tibia. She watched the race from the old Hayward Field stands.”I think I wanted to quit,” she said. “That was the first time I signed up for therapy. That’s just a testament to how attached to outcomes and results, performances I was. Because at that moment I just felt like a total failure. … My family was there, and I just felt like I’d completely let them down. I felt like I was letting my coach down, Brooks (my shoe sponsor) down. I had nothing else to pull me out of that.”McClain endured what she called a “multiyear cycle of injury,” as she told 1968 Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot. That included plantar fasciitis, bone spurs and a metatarsal fracture.Her best finish at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships over 2017, 2018 and 2019 was eighth. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she lost all motivation to compete.McClain, who before the pandemic moved from her professional training residence in Seattle back home to Ariz