Alexi Pappas runs a 9-minute personal best in Houston

The Greek-American runner and filmmaker Alexi Pappas ran a nine-minute personal best today at the Chevron Houston Marathon. Her time of 2:34:26 was good enough for 10th place and less than a minute off the Greek national record of 2:33:40, set by Maria Polizou in 1998.

.@AlexiPappas set a PB of 2:34:26 at #HouMarathon, and she has a new film coming out in February. pic.twitter.com/szZg2g0kzy

— David Monti (@d9monti) January 19, 2020

This was only Pappas’s second marathon–her first was at Chicago in 2018, where she finished in 2:43:38. Pappas ran the 10,000m for Greece at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, setting a Greek national record of 31:36.16.

RELATED: Alexi Pappas’s movie Olympic Dreams premieres at SXSW

Pappas’s new film, Olympic Dreams, which played at last year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, is set to open in New York City on Valentine’s Day (February 14). The film, which was shot during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, also stars comedian Nick Kroll.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7gvk9dhiYQ/

Pappas has made several films, her previous best-known effort being Tracktown, which came out in 2016.

Pappas is not sure what is next for her in terms of her running. She was obviously hoping to run Olympic standard (2:29) today, but since approximately half of all marathoners who qualify for the Olympics may do so based on their world ranking (rather than by achieving standard), it remains to be seen whether this might be a possibility for Pappas. Certainly her performance today will boost her world ranking.