Maeve Waddell

My name is Maeve Waddell, and I am a Student at the University of Georgia. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, so Athens is just over an hour away from home.

I initially decided to go to UGA because of their track and field and cross country teams. Out of high school, it was important to me to compete in the NCAA, and Georgia's program was the best fit. I run distance events, so I train for distances of 1500 to 10,000-meter races.

Running has been a huge aspect of my life. I started because I wanted to stay fit for club soccer when I was a freshman in high school. Over time, I grew to love the sport, and it turned out I was a lot better at running than soccer. Throughout high school, I got better at the sport and eventually was recruited to join UGA's distance program. Most weeks, I run about 70 miles in 6 days, and a big thing I've had to learn is how to recover from practices and workouts. This means my sport influences almost all of the daily decisions in my life, like what I eat, how much sleep I get, and what I have to give up to stay healthy.

I love the sport, and so far, it has shaped my entire college experience!