Jess McClain was out of the sport and now she's the fastest American ever in Boston

Was she banned? Why was she out of the sport?

She was not great at shorter distances as part of the Brooks Beasts and often injured.

But magically a few years later she’s great at the marathon!

And Coach D Roche in your back pocket...

Wow, I’m surprised, but also not *that* surprised? She was a powerhouse runner in HS (I believe qualified for nationals 4x)

She's been around running for a long time and has a lot of performances the last 10+ years. Not knocking her performance in any way, it was freaking awesome but this doesn't really jump out as an "out of the sport" story.

She entered 2024 having run 2:33 in the marathon in 2022 and 2:29 in 2023. Pretty much nothing in 2021. So that's not someone who you're thinking "oh she'll be America's best marathoners."