Rangers Lead the Way

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

 

Incase you came into my posts recently I have attached the link to my first post. In my opinion it is important to understanding what I have to say http://me.milesplit.com/articles/133730-rangers-lead-the-way- a-blog-by-matt-woolverton#.VDQcE0s9VuY

I don’t know how I got to this point.

Wait for recovery, run, injure, repeat. That’s how my four years have played out. I don’t feel like I’ve truly ever had a season of running where I didn’t have to worry about recovering or preventing an injury. It’s frustrating.

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. For years I’ve put on a good face an acted as if all of this was something I was fine with working through. For four years I’ve coped and It’s been a struggle to say the least.

I’m still shocked that I am still here. At this point I just want closure. Closure from the sport that continuously beat me down. If I quit now the sport as a whole has the last laugh so to speak. I love the sport, I really do. That being said I look forward to putting all of this behind me.

Running for all these years has been difficult, more difficult than I’d ever let on. Running through pain was just a daily task for me. I felt like garbage whenever I’d be benched. it’s always been one of the worst feelings I’ve felt. Even today being the photographer rather than racing is heartbreaking.

However, all this being said, I don’t think I would’ve wanted my career to play out any differently.

I have to pat myself on the back for what I’ve managed to do with all of this. Track Captain my Junior year, Varsity Letter Recipient, and I’m even a Milesplit blogger. I’ve gotten all of this even without ever competing, qualifying, or even being a reserve for States.

I hope, I really hope people who are like me have been reading this. People who haven’t been given anything easy, people who have had to work for anything, everything they want. I hope that because to those people I want it to be known that though we may not be elite runners, though we may not be very fast. We still are able to work with what we have.

That also goes for everyone. Fast, slow it doesn’t matter. We all want more and we are all capable of getting more. It just comes down to how you much you want it.

For some that may be a difficult thing to realize. For others (like me) it’s not a problem. I want more, I enjoy striving for more. I don’t see myself obtaining what I want most in the little time I have left but I love the sport enough to go for it anyway.

I try to have fun with work and running pain as a whole. When I run I do what I can to keep a smile on my face throughout. I had a lot of scrutiny last year in particular because of my foolish behavior whenever I would pass the Greely team. A parent told me they thought I was dancing... Yeah I don’t know either. I would always howl along with the boys or directly as I passed them act like I was going much faster. The occasional Heisman pose and Bolt Lightning Bolt were also fairly common.

I got scrutiny because of the “effort” I put into the moves. One senior at the time actually came up to me and said something along the lines of how I had enough energy to do them while running a 5k. My answer to that will always be the same. If something is fun, energy is not a problem. I’ll be honest I don’t find 5k’s to be fun. They suck actually. What makes cross-country fun, and why I love it is because of the people and the goofyness we have the ability to put into it.

I’m not really a fan of being serious. In my opinion (within reason) being serious is a waste of time.

It is much more fun to find the raucous in the ridiculousness that surrounds us.

GXC has always been one of my favorites because we always seem to enjoy being ridiculous. My freshman year I was concerned when the GXC boys hit up the playground at Manchester. I thought it was childish of them.

That being said don’t worry, this past year, even while injured I totally hit up that playground. Sway Fun’s and Snow Cones is a tradition I am going to miss.

I encourage you all to try to enjoy what you’re doing more. I’ve found that the more fun I’ve had, the less work actually feels like work.

As always I would like to encourage all of you to track me down, I’d love to get to know any of you reading this, it will help me from feeling anxious that no one likes to continuously hear me complaining.

My goal in writing this blog is to help people who may be in a similar position as I am. If I am able to help one of you in any way, it is a success in my book. Even if you’re not injured or slow I still hope by reading these you are able to learn something, if anything from what I have to say.

I hope by sharing my story it will motivate you to keep pushing. Stress and frustration are overrated, don’t let them get to you.

No Regrets, -Matt Woolverton