Last weekend, Alexi Pappas ran her first 10,000-meter race at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California. She also set her first Olympic “A” Standard time, crossing the line in 16th in 32 minutes, 2.22 seconds.
She beat the standard by just under 13 seconds.
“I’ve never felt more myself in a race,” Pappas said.
Including her stellar performance on the track in Palo Alto, the former University of Oregon three-time All-American has had a loaded schedule for the first half of 2015, and she’s coming up on a special role at this year’s Prefontaine Classic.
Pappas, who now runs for Nike OTC Elite, completed 8-kilometer and 15-kilometer road races this March as distance preparation for the 10,000 meters. The 25-year-old told Chris Chavez of The Sporting News earlier in March that she received support from distance-running icons Shalane Flanagan, Deena Kastor and her OTC Elite teammate Sally Kipyego in her pursuit of an Olympic qualifying time on the track.
Up next first for Pappas: the women’s 1,500-meter race at the Oregon Twilight meet.
Following Friday’s race, Pappas plans to casually compete in 5,000-meter races “here and there” until the Prefontaine Classic in three weeks.
At the Prefontaine, her role will switch from racer to pacer during the women’s 5,000 meters: She is set to pace Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba during her pursuit of a world outdoor record.
“I’m only running the first three laps or so of the race,” Pappas said. “But she is very talented. It should be fun.”
Dibaba’s older sister, Tirunesh, currently holds the event’s record of 14:11.15.
“Typically we don’t accommodate pacing requests,” Prefontaine Classic meet director Tom Jordan said at TrackTown Tuesday. “But when they ask to go for a world record, we provide it.”
