Story of...
...One Matthew Reed. Reed is currently race age 45. He was born in New Zealand, later moving to Australia, and finally the United States. Matty was on the 2008 United States Olympic team but retired from the sport when he hit his 40s.
After his retirement, Matty struggled with integrating into life that wasn’t triathlon. But from a young age, Matty loved to swim and run in New Zealand.
“I would go along and try and my brother was a couple years older than me and he was more competitive than what I was,” Matty said. “Me being the youngest I just kind of tagged along and followed him on that journey.”
Cross-country in New Zealand consisted of rain, mud, and hills on the cross-country courses.
“I loved running. I think from that young age I loved it, had a passion for it, and continued it through when we moved to Australia when I was 10,” Matty said. “When I was 14 I watched my brother do a triathlon and I thought that looked like a lot of fun. I did my first race around my 16th birthday and won my first race and totally caught the triathlon bug.”
For professional triathletes, it’s hard to make a living from the sport. Only the top athletes make enough to live comfortably. In his early 20s, Matty was one of those who lived race to race.
“I think the early days of that struggle made me a better athlete,” Matty said. “I feel like that kind of told me if I'm gonna make money at this point, I have to really just buckle down and do everything properly and eating and just consistent training.”
In his mid 20s, Matty started to pick up on consistency and earn a steady income.
“That was the hardest thing but what it taught me was consistency in whatever you do,” Matty said. “If you want to do something, you need to be consistent, you need to focus and you put 100% into what you're doing otherwise, you're not if you put a half assed effort in you're gonna get half assed result out.”
Matty put all his effort into the sport, earning him a spot with the top pros and making a name for himself.
“I feel like I've taken a lot out of the sport, just a confidence goes it's given me a give me a name,” Matty said. “Once you leave the sport, your name just kind of goes in history books and then you've got to create a new life for yourself.”
The first two years of retirement were especially hard for Matty. Trying to find a living that’s not triathlon and going through a divorce.
“Leaving the sport was hard because you know, you have this passion that you've had your whole life and I love training I love racing and competing and being popular and signing autographs and taking pictures with people,” Matty said. “When you finish it's gone. It's like you don't have that passion anymore. I didn't have the passion anymore because I wasn't good enough anymore. I wasn't fast enough to go to races and win races.”
After a contract with USAT not being renewed, and being let go from Project Podium, Matty looked toward the possibility of a firefighter career.
“For the last couple of years I haven't really wanted to do it, because maybe I should keep doing the triathlon thing,” Matty said. “I had my path as the firefighter, and that is a great path. And now that I'm back on that path and I now have that passion for the firefighter.”
Now Matty has found new consistency in the life of a firefighter.
“I just didn't plan for my future. I didn't set money aside, I just lived in the moment,” Matty said. “By the time I finished my career, I hadn't financially set myself up like I could have. I loved it and you get these sponsors, and you get checks in the mail, and you go out to the mailbox and you're like, ‘Oh, 20 grand’ put in the bank. And it's too easy.”
Matty is now looking towards that new passion as a firefighter in the next stages of his life.
“If I could become a firefighter I feel like, my life would be complete,” Matty said. “I had a great career as a triathlete and now moving into another great career as a firefighter. I'm 100% focused, from what I learned from triathlon, on becoming a firefighter.”
Yours Truly,
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