Alexi Pappas, a Greek-American Olympic distance runner, completed the 44th race of the London Marathon on October 2 as a lead runner.
She and her partner, Lisa Thompson, a visually impaired runner, also completed the 2022 Boston Marathon together.
Thompson hit the jackpot when she teamed up with Pappas, who recently published a memoir and dedicates her post-Olympic career to helping runners and all athletes overcome challenges, especially mental health issues.
“Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain and Other Big Ideas” is a wonderfully written series of essays about Pappas’s life experiences, from when she was a little girl and lost her mother to suicide, through her teenage and college years and her Olympic race. experiences.
When Pappas was training for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, his coach Ian Dobson gave him some key advice. On a day when she couldn’t reach the training speeds she thought she should, he explained to her what he called the Rule of Thirds.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK)
“I thought my slow training meant I was failing. But then Coach Ian gave me the best advice I’ve ever received: it’s called the rule of thirds. When you’re chasing a big goal, you’re supposed to feel good a third of the time, good a third of the time, and bad a third of the time. If the ratio is low and you feel good all the time, then you’re not trying hard enough. Similarly, if you feel bad all the time, you may be fatigued and need to dial things back.”
This is not an original concept, but it provides concise and easy-to-remember inspiration.
His book is full of gems based on personal experiences. The title comes from a poem she wrote:
run like a brave
sleep like a baby
dream like crazy
replace can’t with maybe
From the mental gymnastics she uses to accept the pain that comes with running long distances to finding the focus needed to achieve big goals, her advice is based on real-life experiences. She writes about dropping out of track in high school because her coach wanted her to major. “The twist is that my forced retirement from racing in high school turned into an advantage in my later growth as an NCAA and then as a professional athlete. Without realizing it, I stopped training long enough for my body to go through puberty without the strain of overtraining.”
Losing her mother at a young age, Pappas was always on the lookout for female role models and through sports she met many of them. An NCAA sprinter at both Dartmouth and a fifth-year graduate student at Oregon, she became the Greek national record holder in the 10,000 meters with a personal best of 31:36 set at the 2016 Rio Olympics. to connect with positive mentors along the way provided much of his direction.
It was her post-Olympic struggles with depression and her determination to share how she learned to survive and thrive that led her to become a spokesperson for mental health.
“Asking for help is a superpower that anyone can have but only some people use. It is brave to ask for help. Asking for help is the first step in finding a mentor. Mentors can help us change our lives if we let them,” she wrote.
Asking for help is very difficult. For Pappas, it was just in time. In a video for the New York Times, Pappas describes his diagnosis:
“It was after the Olympics. She started with insomnia. I couldn’t turn my mind off. What was he going to do next? I was not prepared for this tremendous shock,” she said. “After the Olympics, I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression. And it almost cost me my life.”
His solution when he started experiencing symptoms of depression was to try harder.
Looking back, through therapy, he learned that he needed to savor what he had achieved: he needed to celebrate his personal best performance at the Olympics.
She has found her voice as a writer. She has a huge following on social media with Instagram being the most popular medium of hers. Papas is a poet, actress, screenwriter and director, and now enjoys her accomplishments as she continues to advocate for mental health care.
“Bravey” is an important read.
[email protected] • @joyceb10bassett • timesunion.com/author/joyce-bassett
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