Many people do not know that running can be a thing of perfection. From how someone strides to how they turn a corner, everything is practiced. Running in gym class and running at a cross country meet may seem the same, but for the athletes running at a meet, it takes more than just running to win. This is how it is for cross country runner Gracie Mateja.

Mateja has been running cross country since her freshman year of high school. She started as a young freshman on the JV cross country team and worked her way up to Varsity at her sophomore year for a meet. Now as a junior, she ran on Varsity but her season was cut short due to an ankle injury.

“I started running late,” Mateja said. “But overall I have gotten better than I ever thought I would have.”

Staying healthy is a big part in any sport. If an athlete is injured they cannot perform at their best and often times miss games or meets. For Mateja, she sprained her ankle during the offseason training. Things for Mateja did not get much better when the season came around; she came back before her ankle fully healed and ended up breaking her ankle in her first meet back.

“I feel like all of my hard work went to waste,” Mateja said. “I tried so hard to get back and it all just washed away.”

After a long, stressful recovery Mateja finally got to run again.

“I was excited but nervous at the same time,” Mateja said. “I was afraid that I was going to get injured again.”

Teammates at times can seem like relatives. Athletes can often find themselves spending more time with their teammates than with their family members; but that is what makes sports great.

“My favorite part about running is the bond my teammates and I all make,” Mateja said. “It makes everything that we do together more enjoyable.”

A big part of running cross country is not only being good at running, but also being smart. There are certain tactics and methods that runners use to get an advantage in a race. One method runners use is to pace themselves until the final stretch. This means to stay in a race and at the final stretch use all the energy you have left.

“It is hard to win a race if you don’t pace yourself,” Mateja said. “It’s probably the most important part of a race.”

Next running season, Mateja is hoping to stay healthy and break her personal running record.