Story by Zach Scott, Staff Writer
Former Racer sprinter Alexis Love is a household name to those who have followed Murray State’s track and field team. She was an All-American with the Racers, 9x Pepsi Athlete of the Year, qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials, and now she’s an author.
Love published her first book, “Running for My Life: The Diary of Alexis Love” on February 14, 2018. Love knew from a young age that she was passionate about writing.
“I’ve been journaling since I was really young,” Love said. “For as long as I can remember I had a diary.”
The book chronicles Love’s life – from her childhood, to choosing a college, travelling the world with the Olympic team, up until her life now, where she is residing in Louisville, Kentucky.
When Love decided she wanted to write a book, she didn’t even have a computer to write it up.
“I woke up on morning, went to Walmart and bought a $100 computer so I could start typing all of my journals out,” Love said.
It was a long process, but just like her trying track career, Love stayed motivated and was determined to write her life story.
“I would wake up early every morning and type for two hours for about three months,” Love said.
Influential figures like Head Coach Adam Kiesler, who was a track assistant coach during Love’s tenure with the Racers,along with Love’s other coach Jenny Severns, inspired her to write about the college portion of the book.
“They taught me the importance of hard work and dedication,” Love said. “When you have a coach that believes in you, there is no limit to what you can do.”
Kiesler had plenty of memories with Love, but one that stuck out to him was the 2010-11 season, her junior year.
“Her junior year we had a lot of time together, indoor and outdoor nationals and the Olympic trials,” Kiesler said.
There are girls on the track team this year that Kiesler said remind him of Love when it came to her work ethic and performance.
“Tamdra [Lawrence] just tied Alexis’ personal record in the 60-meter dash and JB [Jabruena Brimlett] is a national-caliber hurdler,” Kiesler said.
Former Olympic sprinter Alexis Love broke numerous records during her time at Murray State.
Love struggled the most with gathering her memories and putting them from her journals to her computer.
“Typing and actually putting all of my journals into chronological order was by far the hardest part,” Love said. “There were so many journals under my bed I had to go through.”
Once she finished the rough draft, Love said the best part about the entire process was getting back an edited version of her story.
“When the editor sent me the rough draft and I was able to see how everything worked out, it was as if you were watching a movie and you could see your life lay out in front of you,” Love said.
Love originally planned to name the book “From Then to Now: The Story of Alexis Love” before she decided to change it to the books current title. The book has been a success so far, selling out on Amazon at one point. Barnes and Noble has even added the book to its catalog and other major sales channels as well.
Overall, Love enjoyed the process, and she has already planned on writing another book. Until then, she has her sights set on an even loftier goal: the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
