Alexi Pappas Making Her Return to the Track in San Diego

By Adam Kopet

Alexi Pappas announced her return to the track Thursday on Instagram. She will be lining up to race the Pacific Pursuit 10K, a 10,000-meter race hosted by the Roots Running Project at UC San Diego.

On Feb. 17 at UC San Diego, get ready for some Fast 10k Times!
Featuring:@IBuiltTheArk@Steph_Rothstein@reidbuchanan22@AllieKieffer@reedfisch@AliceWright01@greenshortskid@AlexiPappas & more at #PacificPursuit10k
More info at https://t.co/ISo4nl90a9https://t.co/Qi0UEIfsIW

— Roots Running Proj. (@Roots_Running) January 10, 2019

This will be Pappas' first race on the track since she competed at the 2016 Olympics in the 10,000 meters for Greece. According to the IAAF, she has competed in three road races since then, including the 2018 Chicago Marathon, where she finished 28th in 2:43:38. During that span, Pappas has been busy making movies, including the recently completed Olympic Dreams.

The Roots Running Project announced Friday that the Pacific Pursuit 10K has been moved from its originally scheduled Sunday to Monday morning.

UPDATE: #PacificPursuit10k start moved to Monday, Feb 18th at 10am to avoid the rain and heavy winds in the forecast for Sunday night. pic.twitter.com/cZYxqTsgvy

— Roots Running Proj. (@Roots_Running) February 15, 2019

One of the stated goals of the event is to help athletes meet the IAAF World Outdoor Championships and the Olympic standards. Sunday's weather report in San Diego is reportedly calling for strong winds that would make reaching those standards more difficult.

Also scheduled to compete in the event are Stephanie Bruce, Allie Kieffer, Alice Wright, Ann Marie Blaney and Olivia Pratt. The men's race features Noah Droddy, Reid Buchanan, Reed Fischer and Ian La Mere.