Where I am now.
read matthew’s previous article here
Hey guys I'm back! About two years ago I posted my story about my improvement throughout high school and how I never gave up and how it got me to Emporia State University to run Cross Country and Track for the Hornets. Since then I have not forgotten about where I started and just kept my head up and kept working hard.
The adjustment from high school to college is a tough one. Let alone being a college athlete that makes it even tougher. My freshman year was a good year. I had my mom down in Wichita and unfortunately my dad was in Pennsylvania working for West Chester University. It was tough not having a parent or someone there to tell me to do my homework, or to go to bed early so on and so forth. However I would say that I still thrived.
Got good grades and ran well. In fact I was consistently the 3 or 4 runner for the team as a freshman. That consisted of times of 20:19 in the 6K, 27:25 in the 8K and 33:37 in the 10K for cross country. And I met my best friend in a senior named Cole. Once we got into indoor season it was a little tough. I had my first ever real injury which was a pinched nerve in my groin, that didn't allow me to finish the conference 5K. I'm not gonna sugar coat it, I was pretty down for a while. I thought that this would have a large affect on what my coaches thought of me. I thought that they would think I'm weak and that I'm not reliable. But it was actually the opposite. They supported me through my recovery and so did my teammates. In fact my first 5K of the outdoor season was a PR of 16:15. That is the time I would end up with by the end of the season. Not exactly what I wanted but I found my footing in the 10K. I ran a time of 33:12 and was pretty happy with how my freshman year had ended.
Now I am a sophomore and still writing the chapter and setting myself up for a great ending. My first 8K of the year the team and I ran at Missouri Southern for their stampede race. There I placed 40th overall out of about 300ish runners and was the number 1 on the team with a time of 26:01. A minute and twenty-four seconds faster than the year before! In the first meet of the year! The team gap 1 thru 5 was 39 seconds! Huge improvement from the year prior. Today we ran our 3rd 8K of the year and our last regular season race of the year and I ran a 25:18 which is another huge PR. Just as a sophomore.
What I'm trying to show to every runner out there young or old is never count yourself out and believe in yourself. I have possibly one of the biggest chips on my shoulder that anyone could have. In high school only two coaches really believed in me. My high school coach and my coach here at Emporia State who recruited me. He believed that I was a diamond in the rough and that he could help me blossom to my full potential which he has done so far. I give all the credit to my great coaches and my awesome teammates who support me everyday in practice, in classes and in general life. I couldn't ask for better friends. These guys are more than teammates and friends. They are family and I am so glad that I have these great people in my lives. Yes being a collegiate athlete can be busy, stressful, great, and did I mention stressful? But I wouldn't trade it for the world.
As I bring this to a close I hope that this has helped someone feel better about themselves and give them hope for what they can do in the future. And I just hope that anyone and everyone who reads this remembers to be blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of a team because it blows my mind that I have about 2 1/2 years to be a part of a team. So thank your coaches, your teammates and most importantly your family. Especially your parents they are your biggest fans and will always support you.
- Matthew Maki (@mnm15rs)
