Introducing himself over the phone last week, Alexi Pappas adds, “I, um, ran a hundred miles like a day ago in Colorado.” Although what an Olympic runner may do with her weekend is not completely impossible, Pappas is still feeling the effects of it as she makes her way back to Los Angeles (with some assistance from her Uber driver up the stairs).
in this point in her life, Pappas, a Greek-American runner who represented Greece in the 10,000-meter race in the 2016 Olympics, is all about trying new things. Her running career has recently changed to include both ultramarathon competitions and serving as a guide for blind athletes competing in the Paralympics.
“First, I do have faith in myself. Regarding the appeal of ultra marathons, Pappas says, “I genuinely do feel that I can accomplish anything. I believe in my body. I think I’m strong. I consider myself an athlete. I think I enjoy new experiences. To be quite honest with you, I think what attracted me to it was the fact that I feel like I have a lot of responsibilities, am very busy, and look out for a lot of people. And while I enjoy serving as a coach and an example, there is something about ultrarunning that allows you to give yourself the gift of staying put. You have a single goal. You should be present. So, you’re just supposed to be making your way to the finish line while people cheer you on and you do the same for them? To receive nature, to let my body move, and to feel as though being there is my sole purpose feels like a fantastic gift, nevertheless.
The introspective weekend coincided with her launching her new book, “Bravey,” a young adult adaptation of her memoir “Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas,” which was published in 2021. Given that Pappas lost her mother to suicide when she was a young child and has since advocated for athletes’ mental health, the project holds a special place in her heart.
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In contrast to other autobiographies from her publisher, like those of Michelle Obama and Trevor Noah, Pappas says that she knew she wanted to make changes to her original book and include new content for the young adult version.
“The adult book is more of a memoir, and it felt important for me to reflect at this time in my life. It is not a journal. However, I believe that the young readers’ adaption focused much more on being approachable and educational to young people and less on questions like, “Who am I?” I tried to limit how I used my story to conveying lessons I wish I had known when I was that age, especially about mental health because I was so ignorant about it as a child, says Pappas.
She took the procedure “kind of similarly to the ultra marathons” and traveled to Joshua Tree for a retreat to get serious about it.
“I simply wrote what I had been considering in my life; since writing the previous volumes, I have significantly expanded. I knew there were things I had learnt and wanted to write about, regardless of who this book was for, she continues.
She contacted Maya Hawke, a friend, to talk about the new book, and Hawke ultimately wrote the preface.
“It’s extremely nice since her childhood struggles were really dissimilar from mine. However, our vibrations match. We both feel the same way about the world. Although things are difficult and we have fallen on bad times, “we are generally pretty curious, ambitious people who want to remain on our own terms,” adds Pappas.
In her current stage of her profession, she claims to feel “like Tarzan,” flying from one area to another. She works in Hollywood as well as writing and running, and when the strikes began, she was in the middle of pitching a program about running.
She describes her experience producing a TV show as “just feeling a lot like sports to me.” “My athletic career translated into the arts, because if you think about it, there’s a season, there are your best episodes, there are OK episodes, people come and go, and there’s a team.”
She has objectives and ambitions for her profession as she looks to the future, but she is insistent about leaving room for life to unfold.
“In my opinion, the best way to live is to write your life goals on a whiteboard and then look at them every day. Then I think those are crucial, and I have those, for instance, I want to maintain directing. The world presents you a whiteboard that is absolutely blank, but there is also that, she continues. Opportunities like this Colorado race are available. And I believe that having both is crucial.