Anne Francis

Jess McClain just got 2nd at the NYC Marathon. In 2020, she walked away from professional running when it became "all about making the podiums and teams at all costs." Now, she becomes the first American to make the podium since 2018. Sometimes you have to let go to get the most out of yourself. McClain was a phenom, high school star, multiple time all-american in college, signed a pro contract. But it just wasn't working. "There was a point earlier in my career where it was all about making the podiums and teams at all costs. But I realized that was not the best approach...It's a fun-sucker when it's all about pace and you're focusing on splits every 200 meters." Jess found her way back to it doing it her own way working a full time job and staying busy. "I've lived the life of having running be my full-time job day in and day out. And personally, I just can't operate in the sport in a healthy way with that approach. I just need something else to focus on." The job gave her a safety net: "I knew at the end of the day I could blow up, but I would still have my job." She came back on her own terms and paved her own way to participating in the sport she loved and wrote her own definition of success. One with more perspective than we're sold online: "I realized, 'Ok, on this giant planet, running is a very, very small part of it...My friends and family love me because I'm Jess. And not because I'm an elite runner.' As silly as it sounds, my personal mission with running is just to keep it fun—to control what I can control and enjoy getting to the starting line. And I'm having a total blast." Now, she went toe to toe with the best marathoners on the planet, battled all the way to the finish. Too often, we paint the picture that there's only one way to the top. You've got to be obsessed, all-in, serious, no fun... That's not true. Yes, McClain works incredibly hard. But she's found a way to hold on to the love of the sport, to keep the fun that fuels her pursuit. There's a paradox when it comes to performance. You have to care deeply, but that care can become the thing that gets in the way. It starts to suffocate you, to take away the joy that made you fall in love with the pursuit in the first place. The best performers learn how to care deeply, but to hold it loose enough to keep the joy. To make it where it doesn't feel like do or die, but instead that they are free to explore their pursuit. T.S. Eliot once said, "teach us to care and to not care." He might as well have been talking about racing. Jess McClain just showed us that super power. Care deeply, but don't let it steal your joy. We are at our best, when we are doing what we love, together, with others by our side, and it being an expression of ourselves. Not a verdict on who we are.