Every morning, junior Matt Mizereck pulls out his iPod and listens to Rocky Balboa's “Keep Moving Forward” speech. The recording helps Mizereck fight through his recovery.
Being injured was difficult for Mizereck. He had never missed a race during high school or college before a stress fracture knocked him out for the duration of last spring's indoor track season.
Mizereck rolled an ankle during summer workouts, costing him another two weeks of training.
“Distance running is a tough sport and illness and injury are going to happen from time to time,” coach Paul Spangler said. “It’s important that when those things happen that the athlete I guess stays positive, in a sense.”
Unfortunately, Mizereck struggled to deal with the mental aspect of recovery.
“[I’d] never had to deal with it before, so I didn’t know how much it actually took to get back and how long it takes and how much work and effort you had to put into it,” he said.
Mizereck found support and motivation from his friends, family and teammates, as well as another unlikely source: YouTube videos.
“I listen to a lot of inspirational things on YouTube,” Mizereck said. “Just kind of something to psyche myself out.”
The Rocky speech, highlighting the struggles every athlete faces on the road to success, has become a favorite.
“[The world’s] a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it,” Balboa says. “It [isn’t] about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
The inspiration and hard work have helped Mizereck return to a level that has positioned him as a top-five scorer late in the season. He has finished fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth on the team in his performances this season.
The team must finish in the top two at the Regional Championships on Friday at 9:15 a.m. in Tallahassee to move on to National Championships.
“This is where my team needs me the most now, so I’m really happy that I’m feeling as good as I am and that I’ll be able to really contribute this time,” he said.
