Clayton Young Has Set Out to Break the American Marathon Record. This Is the 38-Song Playlist Powering His (Very Fast) Training Runs.
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.
For eight years now, Clayton Young has listened to the same song before every race. That song? “In the Blood” from John Mayer’s 2017 album The Search for Everything. What’s become a longstanding tradition for the professional marathoner, however, started accidentally.
“In 2019, in the NCAA, before every race, we would drain our legs, which means we’d all lie on the ground and prop our legs up,” he says. “I just played [“In the Blood”] once, and it became a tradition. Every race from there on out, I’d play that song and the whole team would prop their legs up. To this day, before every race, I listen—blood equals endurance, so there’s some good parallels there.” It’s now accompanied him through two sets of Olympic Trials, the Boston, New York, and Chicago Marathons, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he finished ninth.
In the lead-up to the 2026 Chicago Marathon, where he aims to break the American marathon record (currently held by Conner Mantz at 2:04:43), Young agreed to guest-DJ Runner’s World’s playlist. The two-plus-hour curated lineup includes everything from Sam Smith and Justin Timberlake to the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold and a Panic! at the Disco cover of Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown.”
“Because the marathon is so long, it’s all about chill music going in—I like keeping vibes incredibly low,” Young says, citing John Mayer as the perfect solution. But he’s just as quick to point out that his general taste is much more eclectic. “I was really lucky as a child because I grew up with a family that listened to so much different music—I’m all over the map.”
Young recently had to skip a Weezer concert due to his training schedule, but did make it to see Forrest Frank, a Christian rapper. He loves Ben Folds, Bob Marley, Eminem, and Enya, and regularly listens to ABBA, heavy metal, and music in Spanish. “I love listening to Shakira and Maná,” he says. “Growing up, my dad played a lot of Spanish music. Herb Alpert. It’s all over.”
Music of all kinds has such a strong effect on the Utahn that he only listens to it while doing specific workouts. “To me, music is like a performance-enhancing drug,” he says. “So I don’t use music too often by myself—unless I’m long-running by myself—because I will run too fast.”
When you’re trying to break the U.S. marathon record and trim a minute off your own PR—which Young set at the 2026 Boston Marathon in 2:05:41—running too fast is the goal. And since elite runners can’t race with headphones on, Young will try to grab energy from any spectators along the route who want to blast some tunes. “Anybody playing music on the course gets me in the zone,” he says. In fact, in 2023, his wife Ashley rode around the Chicago Marathon course with a portable speaker, playing his favorite songs at nine different points. “That just shows how much music pumps me up,” he says.
Less than two weeks out from his big push for the American marathon record, Young is feeling confident despite a recent flare-up of a hamstring injury. He’s currently getting all logistical preparations out of the way, so that he can focus when the race arrives on October 11. Those final days before the starting gun will include “visualization sessions, mental prep, journaling, reflecting on my workout, and creating a race plan.” On race day, when Young is up bright and early, he’ll try to clear his mind of all the logistical clutter—it will just be him, lying down with his legs in the air, listening to John Mayer.
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