Follow Greely senior Matt Woolverton this fall as he talks about his struggles with injuries, and his battle to overcome them for one healthy season
I joined cross country my freshman year with the intentions of something laid back to do after school. As I looked at the practice for the first day I couldn’t help but hear the glass shatter in my head. The sport I joined to hang out with friends and have a good time wound up being more difficult than ever expected.
I was never a big fan of running before high school. The most I ever really ran at one time was the mile in gym class. I never understood why people ran. All it was was extra work. Though I struggled with running, I loved my team. Whether it was soccer before practice or carpooling to Friendly’s after a meet, I loved being a member. I look back at my favorite seasons of track and cross country and all the best seasons were better because of a good team. People make running fun. Racing each other to the finish in the last repeat of the day or goofing around during stretching, having friends by your side can make the difference between success and failure. I was given the nickname “The Wolf” early in my freshman year and that made such a difference. Hearing the signature howls from the Greely boys helped push me to be better.
I kept with running by joining track, as a sprinter. Within weeks I had injured my IT Band. I’ve been told you can’t tear an IT Band so I still don’t really know what the doctors were talking about, but either way I was too injured to race. I’ve learned (from personal experience) that the IT Band interacts with many of our muscles in legs. I blame running with IT Band problems for a history of injuries. Obviously there are other factors but that in my opinion was the most major. I saw multiple doctors with the same unfortunate outcome. Each told me to sit and wait for recovery; running through it would only make things worse. Being the overly confident athlete while having that invincible feeling that goes along with my lack of maturity, I thought it would be fine. I would stretch a little extra prior to the race and I’ll be good to go.
After a week I re-injured my already injured IT band and wound up seeing a glimpse of what my track career was going to turn out to be. I was benched for close to the entire season and while my friends and peers raced to victory I was on the bench forced to support rather than utilize my fixation for the sport.
After three years I am still in the same position as I was back then: injured, benched, and unable to advance. Though any decent doctor would say running through injuries is the wrong choice, it’s the
right choice for me. After years of injuries that prevent me from advancing I’ve gotten to the point of running injured as a last ditch effort to find some sort of success. Without running I can’t get through a week without losing it.
With a hamstring injury that just won’t shake my high school cross country career looks to have passed it’s peak. Rather than hill repeats and time trials I am in the position to stretch, time or critique rookie form. Not what I want to be doing during my senior season.
I now prepare for the future with the hopes of making a full recovery to be prepared for indoor track. Though States seems out of the question with my lack of preparation and ability, a PR sounds pretty nice right now. I hope any of you injured athletes out there continue to push through the pain and keep on hauling. No matter how bad you may have it there is always someone slower, more injured, or less motivated than you. Though finding them is the hard part, beating them is when all of the struggle becomes worth it.
I’ve never had the success or talent I’ve wanted. After years of injuries I’ve learned to accept a failure to advance. However it always irks me to see athletes with so much talent throw it away due to a lack of interest in putting in the work. Don’t waste the talent you’ve been given. Utilize it. Take advantage of every race and every practice. After all my injuries I truly can’t explain the feeling I get when I’m told I can’t run. The more I get injured the more I appreciate the sport as a whole. You all should too.
No regrets, Matt Woolverton