June 22, 2022 • 34 mins
Myles Wheeler, a former walk-on for The University of Oklahoma's Track & Field team, sits down and discusses his journey as a walk-on as a track and field athlete and his current journey in dental school!
Myles touches on:
- What events he had to run to make the team
- What a track walk-on is like
- The fulfillment being on the team gave him
- Balancing track & pre-dental
- Reading 25 books in 2021
Only a 30 minute run time here with Myles and he offered so much great perspective on his journey from track to dental school and the importance of taking advantage of being in your 20's!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Walkie Talkies is a presentation of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Hey, Yeah, what's up, beautiful people.
(00:25):
Welcome back to Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network,
featured on I Heart Radio. I'm your host, Noah Buano.
In this is episode of leven And just some quick
reminders to please go to the Apple podcast app and
scroll down on the show's page and find the button
where it says write a review and leave us some
stars and a little note on what you think of
the show. It would be very appreciated. Also, if you
(00:45):
enjoy what you are listening to here on Walkie Talkies Podcast,
to make sure you're subscribed and downloaded so you don't
miss any future episodes. And for today's guest, we have
a very nice switch up and we'll be interviewing a
former track and field walk on from the University of Oklahoma,
Miles Wheeler. Miles gives us the dynamic as a track
walk on and what it took to get on the
team and how he balanced his track schedule with his
(01:06):
undergrad degree in pre dental school. We get into all
those details as well as where Miles is currently at
now in dental school, as well as his love for
reading books and some tips that he has for people
who struggle to get into books. Really cool stuff. If
you've never heard those tips before, I personally had not,
so I enjoyed them. And lastly, we touch on how
the regimented schedule during his undergrad years helped prepare him
(01:26):
for the business of his life currently. It's really cool stuff,
really great switch up to get a walk on from
a different college sport that we have not heard from
on the show come on and offer their perspective and
the dynamic of that new sport. Miles has success and
hard work written all over him and you can hear
that throughout the episode, and that's what you can expect
to hear all the time when you come and listen
to our guests on Walkie Talkies Podcast. So with that
(01:49):
being said, let's get into my full conversation with former
track and field walk on from the University of Oklahoma,
Miles Wheeler. Okay, so you're a track and field walk
on at the Universe of Oklahoma. So why don't you
start off with just explaining the dynamic of what being
a track and field walk on is like you you'd
be informing a lot of us, a lot of listeners. UM,
(02:09):
because I'm sure it's vastly different from football, basketball, baseball.
So let's start off with what that dynamic is like. UM.
I think every school is really different. It's really up
to the coach to accept the walk ons. And it's
kind of you have so many different events within track
and field, so you can kind of look at, oh,
I need a couple more sprinters. I can take a
couple of walk on sprinters, or you need more throwers,
(02:30):
long distance runners, things like that. UM. So with so
many different coaches coaching different events, it's really up to
the coach to take in that walk on. UM. And
for me, whenever I walked onto the team, the head
coach he was over the men's sprints. So once I
got on campus, I went to his office and was like, Hey,
I'm looking to walk onto the team, and he's like, okay,
(02:51):
we have a practice on Tuesday. UM, I'm gonna have
you show up to the track. I'm gonna have you
run something. I don't know what what it's gonna be yet.
If you hit a certain time, you're on the team.
If not, you're not on the team. So it's just
you get that one running. Either make it or you don't.
I ended up in the time that I needed got
onto the team. UM. And it was weird too because
(03:13):
all of these scholarship athletes had already been on campus,
they had already been practicing for I think it was
probably like a week or two, So coming in as
a walk on, everybody else already knew each other. So
you just like show up to practice. Nobody knows who
you are. They already know the drills things like that,
so you're just like a newbie. Coaches like getting onto
you because like everybody else is with the program, You're
(03:33):
just like looking around trying to figure out what's going on,
you know, So what what was the what was the
run that you ended up having to run? Um? And
what what was the time that you needed to get
Did you know what time going into it or did
you just run it? Didn't you got at the time? UM.
So I wanted to be a four hundred runner UM.
So basically it was a broken four hundred, So it
(03:57):
was split up into a hundred thirty three, a hundred three,
and then finished with the hundred thirty four to get
four hundred. So you run the first hundred thirty three,
you get a thirty second break, you go back to
that cone, run another hundred thirty three, thirty second break,
and then finish off. So basically it's kind of shows
you what your four time would be, say when you're
(04:20):
in more optimal shape, because you're coming off of off season,
you're not hard training. Um So, I'm pretty sure the
time to beat was I think under forty eight seconds.
Um So I was in like the mid forty seven range.
So they they tallied up the three D and thirty
three and then you so you got to take a
break in between and then run the next hundred thirty
(04:43):
three as hard as you could go. I kind of
like that gives you a better chance, honestly. Um So,
once you got on the team, how many of you
walk on? Were there? Verse scholarship people who don't even
know how many people are on the track and field roster.
But maybe we just dumb it down to the two
events you ran, the two hundred four hundred. How many
people ran those two events and how many more were
(05:05):
walk ons? And how often did you get to run them?
I want to say there's probably about in between twelve
to fifteen of us and I would say four to
five we're walk on on the just depending on the
on the year, because I think my first year, UM,
it was just me and I think one or one
or two other people, and the next year we got
two more people. So it just depended on what the
(05:26):
russell was like and how many people coach wanted to
take on. And how does it work that you get
to compete in a meet. Obviously you're practicing and getting
you know, all the practice reption because anybody can run,
But how did it work where you were like, you know,
I don't know did they ranked I'm assuming the scholarship
players by time and so where did you lay on
(05:47):
that totem pole between like the twelve or fifteen of
you that ran the two D four hundred. Yeah, that
was definitely the hardest part coming onto the team, especially
with trap, because if guys are coming in on scholarship,
they came in faster than you that that's just like
kind of what you have to accept. Um. So when
it comes to making the travel list, it's really hard
(06:07):
because those scholarship aalthletes are going to get priority. Um.
But the way that coach kind of looked at it
was as you're doing reps in practice, so you're doing
we're doing like three hundreds that day and workouts and
you're beating some of the guys out on the reps.
It's like, hey, I'm gonna give you a chance this
week to show up to the meet. See what time
you can run. Uh. So you kind of really have
(06:29):
to show up in practice and really show coats that
you're up there with the other guys to be like, hey,
I can compete this weekend. UM. So definitely for walk ons,
you don't go to as many meets um, just because
you usually get beat out in practice, but whenever you
get those opportunities, UH, definitely take advantage of him. How
many how many meets do you think you competed in? Uh?
(06:50):
And did you do four years or your four year
walk on or did you join that? I actually did
because kind of with the pandemic, that's what kind of
mess things up. But I graduated a semester early, so
and then track is a spring sport, so I really
did I would say two and a half years because
of the pandemic hitting during my junior year, so I
(07:12):
only really got through indoor season. UM. But in terms
of how many meets, especially for walk on is the
biggest meets that you'll go to. Who are going to
be your home meets because you're not having to pay
for travel. It's like, hey, you can you can run
at this meet. UM. But other than that, I my
freshman year, I went to a lot more indoor meets
that season, I want to say, uh, maybe four or
(07:36):
five uh, and then three or four outdoor meets UM.
Sophomore year most of the home meets, maybe three or
four outdoor meets UM. And then my last year, I
actually during indoor season, we had our first home indoor
meet and I had torn my hamstring and as soon
as I got through recovery, COVID hit. So I was like,
(07:59):
that was that was my season? So I really was
at the end of your season or the end of
your career, end of the career. Yeah, exactly. Damn that
sucks man. So UM, it sounds like you've got a
decent amount. You know, I got to run a decent amount.
But what is like the what's the motivation behind taking
a role like that when you don't really you know,
(08:22):
get to travel, get to do the actual competition, but
you show up to practice every day in two separate
seasons because, like you said, track has the indoor season
and the outdoor season, so you you get to compete
for a lot of months out of the year, and
you're practicing even during the season and out of the season.
So what's that motivation too, I want to do that
(08:42):
if you don't even really get to compete at the
end of the day. Um, just even coming from high school,
it was just something that I just really loved and
it was like, uh, even coming into college now that
I'm in dental school, academics was the biggest thing for me.
So coming in I had a big academic scholarship bring tuition,
so it was like, Okay, I have my tuition covered,
(09:04):
but also still impassionate about track, so let me just
hop onto the team and just being with those teammates too.
You're coming out to like a big campus as a freshman,
it's nice to have like teammates as soon as you
get on camp because you already have a friends group
right away exactly. You're already getting in workouts like without
(09:25):
even really having to. You have to show up to practice,
you know, So so it wasn't as much like the
competition for you that was making you want to do it.
It was the you know, the immediate kind of bond
you'll form with some teammates and you're getting good workouts
and you're staying in shape, your your body, your mental
or probably um in tiptop shape. But did it affect
(09:46):
your mental at all? Was it like where and tear?
Where you were? Like, Man, I don't think I'm gonna
show up. I think I'm done with this. I'm not
getting anything out of this because obviously you're competing. You
want to, you know, and like you said, the scholarship
guys probably already had faster times than you, but it
took good bar to look at and be like, man,
I gotta run, you know, I gotta get three seconds
slower or faster on my four hundreds. So like that
(10:08):
competitive fire and you probably was there. But did it
ever wear and tear on your mental where you were
just like, man, you know, maybe I don't show up tomorrow,
I would say, really overall, I think being on the
track team help with mental health, um, just with like
the stresses of school. That was kind of my outlet,
like hey, I get to go to practice today, I
get a good workout in practices are obviously hard, but
(10:29):
when you're with your teammates, it's like everybody's hyping each
other up. Like practices can be fund some days. Um.
But there's also the frustrating side being a walk on
is it's frustrating because sometimes it was like three weeks
in a row, it's like I didn't get to go
to a meet, and it's like you're just sitting there training,
putting in all this work, uh, and you don't even
get to go. So that's that's tough sometimes. So during
(10:51):
those little time periods three weeks in a row you
don't get to go anywhere, where did you find some
reward for yourself? Like still happy to be doing this,
like you said, like it was a good getaway from school,
but you know your teammates and your your new friends
are going and traveling and running and you're stuck back
at campus and it's like what did you do to
occupy time? What did you do? You know? What were
(11:12):
those periods like? Or not? Actually let me let me
let me go back to. What I actually asked was
like what where where did you find the rewards for yourself? Exactly? Um,
I would say just being a predental student just with
like all the science courses. Sometimes not going was a
blessing in disguise because I was like, hey, I had
this test coming up. If I would have been at
this meat, I would have been having a study on
(11:33):
the bus, like traveling on the plane whatever. But sometimes
I out the full weekend of like really sitting study,
do well on the tests, and like now that I'm
here and I'm not running track anymore, it's like sometimes
I needed those weekends to really focus on academic. So
it kind of gave me the balance of I get
to do two things that I love and I'm not
having a put all of all of all the eggs
(11:54):
in in one basket. Yeah, and it's actually cool to
hearing you're kind of opposite. For aspective from some people
I talked to is like you were very much a
student first, athletes second. A lot of people, including myself,
love to identify as an athlete first and then a student,
and you know, like only that, but obviously a pre
dental major can't even imagine the course loads you were
(12:18):
coming through and what that entailed. So oh, I wanted
to go back to that. So you you said that
it actually helped your mental your mental health, because you know,
it was like a getaway from the school work. So
you're a student first, you're an athlete second. Was there
anything involving like the track stuff, you know, aside from
not being able to travel that maybe was relationship based
(12:40):
or opportunity based um that did kind of mess with
you or you know, it was always just a leisurely,
fun activity for you to go and do. Never any
like hardships coming out of it that caused you extra
stress on top of your pre dental stuff. Yeah. I
really don't think I had any extra stresses from from
track itself because it never really occupied too much of
(13:04):
my time, especially being a walk on compared to like
the scholarship at least they're going to every single week,
and it's like, I feel like that was more exhausting.
When you're constantly traveling, you're missing classes all the time,
things kind of add up. But with me, it was like, Okay,
you go to meet this week, you have a week off,
are you going to this meet? So it's just like
a balance in it. It was just a nice flow
(13:25):
between academics and tracks, so I never really hit a
point where it was like, oh man, this is too
much I do, like of late um with people I've
been interviewing to really focus on like the emotional and
the mental part, the mental health part of being a
walk on. And you would say that a lot of
the stresses and you know, maybe damages to your mental health.
(13:46):
We're probably just more school related than anything than yeah,
because you had I mean, I can't even imagine what
kind of science courses you had to take. You probably
had to take every single one in the books. Like
I couldn't even name them for you. Because the last
science course I took was Chemistry Honors my junior year
of high school. And I never had to take another one.
And not to make this about me, but it was
(14:08):
the worst grade I've ever got in a class. And
I was like, all right, well now I at least
know science is not for me as much as I
wish it was. It isn't okay everyone, quick break coming
up here. Great start to the episode, Miles. We'll talk
more about his discipline and time management that he learned
during his time in college right after the break, So
stay with us. We'll be right back and we're back
(14:29):
with Waki Tucky's podcast. Make sure you go ahead on
the Apple podcast app and leave us that review towards
the bottom of the show's page, and let's bring back
in our Oklahoma track and field walk on Miles Wheeler. Okay,
so you take these experiences your time. Altogether, you did
about two two and a half years or close to
three years, but they honestly double because you do two
seasons in one year. So it's like you you probably
(14:51):
got like six total track seasons. And so how did that,
you know, being a collegiate athlete and going through that
every day regimented grind, how did it help you in
your life with your own discipline and your own growth
with what you're doing now and also helps shape you
at that time to get into what you're doing now
with the pre dental school. UM. I think even now
(15:11):
being in dental school, just as busy as the schedule is,
like we're having classes from eight am to five, um,
just straight eight hour lectures, just sitting in there all
day UM. And compared to other people in undergrad said
they we weren't a college athlete, they're just a student.
Like when you're in college and you're a student, you
have a class for fifty minutes at this time, you
have like a two hour break you go to the
(15:32):
next class. But being in track and an athlete in college, um,
I really had to get time management and discipline down.
So now that I'm in dental school time management and discipline,
it's like, I know what it's like to be busy.
I can handle this schedule, So I think really aren't
stressing me out as much as like some of my
other classmates. Things like that. I really feel like I
(15:53):
have a good grasp on being able to manage things,
not get to stress, stay and check with my mental
health things like that. Yeah, And do you think a
lot of that is directly correlated from the track grind
or more of like the balance of track and school
in your undergrad it was probably like a little bit
of both, or was it one more than the other
that helped you? Really find that. I think it was
(16:15):
the balance. But then also that kind of taught me
even while I'm like super busy with school, I still
make a lot of a big effort to keep working
out because I found that being tracked being my outlet.
It was like you give yourself, say a two and
a half hour, three hour practice to work out, that
was kind of your outlet. Now you need to keep
(16:35):
up with that workout for an hour, hour and a
half maybe two hours, um, just to keep your mental
health and check. And you're sell in that same routine
that you're kind of were in and undergrad. Yeah, so
you think that you're you're mental health improves and it
keeps you kind of balanced and more grounded when you
are working out. I feel the same way. I think that,
like when I'm getting my workouts in, whether it's you know,
(16:58):
forty five minutes or I want to stand there for
ninety minutes, Like I leave the gym, and I think
I always even though I no matter how sore I am,
I always end up feeling great about the rest of
my day, like for the most part. Obviously some hiccups
can come about, but it always it gives me like
a ton of mental clarity. So you did it in college,
You've left college, you have an even busier schedule, and
(17:19):
you still find the time to implement that into her
every day exactly. It's just like completing the workout every day.
It's like, Okay, I did accompassed something today, even if
everything else went wrong, It's like you got that one
thing done right. Is that is that what you say
that that's your main Like, let me make sure I
at least do this one thing of make me feel
like I was at least I can say I was
(17:41):
productive for an hour if I don't get ship else done. UM. Okay,
So you're currently in dentist dentistry or dentist school dental school? Okay, great?
How much more left do you have until you were
on your own? And and then what do you have
planned once you at that? You want to like open
up your own or So I just finished my first
(18:04):
year of donal school, so I'll be starting my second
year in a month. Um. So dental school is a
total of four years, kind of the same as med
school UM, but with dental school, the first two years
are preclinical UM. So you're doing like a lot of
lab work, learning different dental procedures, a lot of lecture,
and then your third and fourth year you go to
clinic and you're just having patients um every single day.
(18:25):
So you can graduate as a dentist after the four years.
But personally for me, I want to do a pediatric dentistry,
so it would be an extra two to three year
residency UM. And then once I complete that, I want
to open my own pediatric clinic. That's awesome. So sure,
what right? Where are you originally from? I'm from the
(18:46):
Dallas area Farm Mound, Texas, UM. Now I'm in San Antonio.
What what made you want to do dental school over
you know, maybe some other type of doctor, Like, where
was the passion behind that? I think it was just
me going to the dentist as a kid. I just
had a really good pediatric dentist. She's like one of
(19:06):
the top ten in Dallas, the Dallas area UM, and
I just asked her to shadow and so I just
went in and shadowed one week. One week. Uh, just
got to see her work and I was like, man,
this is really interesting because I've always been interested in
healthcare and a lot of people choose a medical route
because that's just the most popular. Yeah, but I was like, hey,
let me check out dentistry. And there was even a
(19:28):
summer program at the dental school in Dallas that I
did one summer and I got to kind of get
mentored by current dental students, got to see what it
was like to be a dental student, things like that.
So just kind of getting that exposure really helped me
figure out that was a career for me. Listen, no
knock on you or any dentist, but like you got
(19:49):
you gotta have serious balls to wanted to like clean
people's teeth and mouth, Like I don't know, like what
does that ever come to the forefront of your mind?
Is like, because I've definitely gone down the list of
career paths where I'm like, do I want to perform
plastic surgery on people? Do I want to clean people's mouth?
Do I want to put braces in people's mouth? Like
(20:09):
you know, you you go through whatever that list is
when you're trying to figure out if that sounds like
something you want to do, and it's like, I don't
know if you had that same thought towards being a dentist,
but like, has that ever crossed your mind something like that? Yeah,
I think whenever you get the shadow and experience and
you're just kind of sitting there and watching them do it,
if you're not disgusted by it and you're like, oh no,
(20:29):
this is actually pretty interesting, Like it's like, Okay, this
this is probably for me. I would say like another career,
say like a pediatrist looking at feet. If I was
sitting in there, I'd be like, nah, this is this
isn't for me. But when it comes to like teeth
in the mouth, I'm like, no, this doesn't bother me
at all. Like you're genuinely interested by like people's teeth
people's mouth, Like it's something that you look at and
(20:51):
you're like, I'd like to solve that problem or I'd
like to fix that issue. That's great. Yeah, if you
think you can be what you obviously wouldn't be putting
yourself through dental school if you didn't thin you could
you know, be passionate about it for the next forty years. Um.
So that's super cool because it's all about figuring out
what you want to do with life in life that's
gonna make you happy and fulfilled. Um So when when
(21:12):
do you think did you go into Oklahoma knowing like
you were a dental major right away or did you
switch anything up while you were there? Yeah? So I
did the dental summer program um after my sophomore year
of high school. And after that summer program I was like, yeah,
this is this is it. So after that I sold
you right away. That's great. Okay, last quick break, stay
(21:36):
with us to hear Miles perspective about being around top
one percent talent during his time at Oklahoma and how
he read twenty five books in two thousand one. Super
cool tips from him on that that I really enjoyed.
So stay put, We'll be right back, and we're back
with Lucky Tucky's podcast on the College Athletes Network. Let's
finish this episode strong and bring our guest Miles Wheeler
back into the show. All right, So, anything else on
(21:58):
the walk on experience that I might have missed, Like,
you know, you did get to run in a couple
of meets, Um, you didn't get to travel a whole
lot that weight on you a bit. You were more
student than athlete. The track stuff was more leisurely and fun.
Any regrets about the walk on journey, anything you maybe
would change, any you know, sort of weird mistreatment that
(22:22):
took place, like or was it all kind of just
what would you say? I think the only other comment
I would have about being a walk on is it's
just really cool just seeing like how talented some people are,
because it's like once once you get to the college,
I was like, man, these are the top one percent
from high school, Like these guys are really gifted out here.
So it's just cool to be able to practice with
(22:44):
those people, get to watch them at meats, and like,
I still keep up with them on like Instagram and Twitter,
and they just they just finished Nationals for track and uh,
a couple of my teammates top three and four hundred
hurdles fo high things like that. It's like, man, these
guys are really performing. Yeah, it is always like a
(23:04):
special thing being around big time talent like that. You're
you're in the Big twelve for track as well, like
Oklahoma's Big twelve for everything. Yeah, so you're around top tier.
You know, I can't even imagine what they're two d
four hundred times were. If I were you, I probably
would have been so frustrated, Like cool, I'm on the team,
but like these fucking guys are so much faster than me,
Like this sucks. Um, so I saw on your Instagram.
(23:29):
Well we'll kind of wrap it up with these couple
of questions. Um, I'm a big book reader myself, or
at least I try to be when I have the
right discipline, And I saw on your Instagram that you
read books in So before we wrap it up, I
want to ask, like, is that something you always did
in college? When did you kind of pick up your
love for reading, like to the point where you're able
to read, you know, twenty five books in a year. Yeah.
(23:51):
The funny thing is I hated reading like all through childhood,
all through college, like high school. Um. And then once
the pan make it and it was like, okay, I
can't go anywhere and do anything. Um. I think it
was like Black History Month and I was like, hey,
let me just go pick up a book on I
picked up on MLK and Malcolm x um, and once
(24:12):
I read that, I was like, hey, reading is kind
of interesting. So then I looked until like kind of
once I got into it, it was just like, okay,
I have a lot of free time on my hands, Like,
let me just keep reading books. And like the more
I kept reading, it was like I just love gaining knowledge,
especially from people's autobiographies that really show you the development
of a person. It's like, how did how did this
(24:34):
person become so big in society And being able to
just to see their development, it kind of inspires me
to just kind of be more patient with yourself. Um,
because you see you see the result of famous people
or people who have a lot of money things like that,
But you didn't see what they went through in their
twenties and their thirties and they finally got to the
(24:54):
point in their forties. But that's that's the spotlight that
they get, and that's what everyone focuses on. When you
really see the work and the time that you have
to put in to get yourself to become that person,
it's like, Okay, I have enough time. Let me put
in the practice, let me put in the discipline, all right.
And then also psychology books are very interesting as well. Um.
(25:15):
I would say my favorite book all time is Defining
Decade Um the authors Meg j And it talks about
how your twenties are like the defining decade of your
life and if you can really tackle a lot of
things in your twenties, your thirties and on will be
a lot easier. So definitely a book I recommend for people. Yeah,
(25:36):
that's great. I Um, I hated reading too, and sometimes
I question if I still hate it, you know, like
I was doing polls on Twitter, you know, during a
little bit after the pandemic about you know, how many
books have you read since March? And I got off
to a slow start when the pandemic started. But up
until like last I want to say this past August,
(25:58):
so August of twenty one, I had read like, you know,
almost thirty books in like an eighteen month span, and
I was like, holy shit, Like who am I? And
I had been doing like some some big buys at Barnes,
and oh boy, I'd walk out of there with like
fourteen books that I'm like, listen, I'm not going to
read all these in a month, but like they're all
(26:19):
books that at some point I'd like to get to.
And you know, sometimes I get in the ruts though,
of like, man, I haven't picked up a book in
two weeks. I've picked up a book in two months,
And like I think sometimes I because I always look
at it the same way as you do, as I
love picking up the knowledge that you can get from it,
Like I much rather spend my time enjoying reading something
(26:40):
out of a book than force feeding something random from
social media that is just you know, frying my brain
that I have done more than enough of since my adolescence.
And but the perspective that you can get from these
books and stuff like that, like you were saying with
the Defining Decade, I've actually heard of that book, and
I'll have to have that skip line from my rest
(27:01):
of the books because I'm gonna be twenty four, and
what the hell is the point of reading that book?
You know, six years into your twenties, so I might
as well prioritize it while I'm still in the um
early phases of my twenties. But you know, I just
I love when I like, especially like you talk to
people now when I hear that people read, because like
I don't feel like I come in contact with a
(27:22):
lot of people who are like avid readers, that like
have a specific genre or specific topics, and like even
if it's fiction, like fiction you can fiction books you
can get great stuff out of and just reading itself
is like such a great mental hobby. Um. And you know,
we talked about the mental health stuff like a little
bit earlier, like it always helped me clear my head
because it was like, you don't gotta worry about anything else,
(27:44):
just to pay the words on the pages. You absorb them,
you take the lessons from them, and you move on.
You get perspective, you get knowledge. Um. So I always
love that, But um, would you say you're looking more
for fiction? Non fiction informing of stuff like and follow
up to that would be, do you have to force
(28:05):
yourself to read? Or is it literally like I enjoy
reading so much, Like I'm about to sit down, and
however much time i have, however long, I feel like
I'm just gonna read. I would say for genres, psychology
and autobiographies are definitely my top two. Um. I just
love learning like how humans interact with each other, how
we think, um, how we can better process our emotions,
(28:27):
mental health, things like that. And then also just like
the lessons learned from people who got themselves to a
point where they're well known in society, um, kind of
what their journey was the lessons they learned because they
passed down so many lessons and they're so many. Yeah.
And then with reading, one of the tips that I
heard to kind of get myself more consistent to like
(28:48):
get to twenty five books in a year was once
you wake up in the morning and make your bed,
put a book on your pillow. So by the time
that you come back home after your day, your pillows
on your bed. So what you see it you're like, hey,
I need to read. Set a timer for ten minutes,
put your phone down and read until the timer stops.
And usually once I read for ten minutes, it's like, hey,
(29:09):
I don't want to put this book down. Yeah, let
me read for about twenty more minutes, and then you
end up reading a lot more and then you'll you'll
get the book done. So it's just if you can
put ten minutes in a day for a month, you're
going to get through probably a two book if you
do that every single day. Well, the last thing I
wanted to ask you about book reading is as an
avid reader, you gave some suggestions on books and a
(29:32):
book that you like in topics that you like to
read about. But what advice as someone who you know
loves to read, what you give to people who think
they want to read but I have too much resistance
to actually sit down and do it. Um, what do
you What do you say to people like that? Because
I've been in that position, and you know sometimes I
trickle back to that position. So what if any advice
(29:53):
you would say to people that think that feel that? Yeah? Um,
I think the best way to get into read mean
is to actually pick a topic that really interests you
because a lot of people can just recommend all these
books and you're like, oh, I've read this one. You
should read this, But if you don't really feel passionate
about it, you're you're gonna pick it up. You're gonna
read a couple of pages and you're like, ah, I'm good,
(30:14):
I don't really want to read this. So really look
up a book on a topic that you're really passionate
about or something you want to learn, and I feel
like the chances of you actually finishing the book are
going to be a lot higher. And try to find
something under two hundred pages so you don't feel overwhelmed
by the paper. Right, start off small, pick something you
think you'd be interested in, and go from there. I
completely agree. Um. For the people listening, I had some
(30:37):
mic trouble and we were talking off the record, and
Miles said something about um post college career. So I
want him to just restate that and then we'll wrap
What what what? What were you saying to me? I
was saying just from like books that I've read, videos
that I've seen, just from people who end up becoming successful.
(30:58):
A lot of times things start out really small for
you for about five to ten years, but the fact
that you're putting in that consistent work and the consistent effort.
At the end of those ten years, whenever the opportunities
open and like the success comes your way, you're like, wow,
I really feel glad that I put in the work
when no one really noticed me as much things were
(31:19):
uh not really coming my way, and when they finally
when they finally do, you're you're really gonna enjoy that reward. Yeah. Absolutely,
that's a great perspective and and all throughout the episode,
UM appreciate it here in your perspective, I wish the
episode could be longer. I mean, we could sit here
and talk about bullshit for twenty five minutes. But sometimes
the shorter episodes are the more special ones because nowadays
(31:42):
no offense to my particular listeners, but people don't really
have big time attention spans to get themselves through the
hour or hour and twenty minute episodes that I've dropped
or you know, an hour and twenty minutes of damn
near anything. So I think keeping us under something some
somewhere around that thirty minute mark will be cool. So
I appreciate you coming on the show and shining light
(32:03):
on some of the track and field walk on game
that I knew nothing about. I think it's always cool
to get a new sport on here and here about
that dynamic. Um. I also thought it was super cool
that you're more student. You were way more student than athlete,
and you had a bigger goal and those that athletic
part of your college journey was literally just for fun.
(32:24):
And that's what it literally should be. Is like, do
a college board play any sport. Make sure you're having
fun doing it, make sure you're happy while you're doing it.
There's so many people in an outside of college that
play a sport that don't even enjoy it half the time.
They like they started doing it because they were forced
to at a young age, and then they just kept
plugging along, plugging along, and then they finally quit and
they're like, wait, I didn't even really enjoy that. So
(32:46):
until he's nice to hear when someone uh enjoys, you know,
the sport that they're doing in the activities that they're
doing with you and dental school as well. So uh,
super cool stuff, man, And I'm glad we were able
to finally put the pieces together, you know we were.
I was hitting you out back in January and then
you you hit me with the yeah I can't, like, um,
I can't do this podcast, and I was like, damn it,
(33:09):
Like I really blew the I blew it on this one,
like and I didn't even think i'd ever hit you
back up, um, but I was looking around. I'm like,
I gotta get this fucking track. Guy on the show, like,
come come on. So I appreciate you coming on. Man.
It's definitely a good time. Appreciate it. Okay, that's a
rap for episode of Levin here on Walkie Tucky's podcast.
Really awesome stuff for Miles, and I'm glad we were
(33:29):
able to finally sit down and have this conversation. I
really love the tips on reading um and how he
goes about that. I definitely got to try the book
on my pillow thing. I think it would be very
beneficial for me and for probably all of us. UM.
You know, former walk On heading into dental school is
really big time. It's another prime example of all the
successful walk Ons that are out there and what us
(33:50):
walk On is really strive to do post playing careers,
always turning out to be something very special and ambitious.
To shout out two Miles for his extended grind to
achieve his goals and I would him nothing but the
best of luck. Please make sure you guys do leave
us that review towards the bottom of the Apple podcast page,
and also make sure you are subscribed to this show
so you get notified when new episodes dropped. We may
(34:11):
or may not have something enormous for next week's episode,
so stay tuned and thank you all for listening. I'll
talk to you all next week, and remember, come usup.
Cute Walkie Talkies Podcast has been a presentation of I
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
Walkie Talkies is a presentation of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Hey, Yeah, what's up, beautiful people.
(00:25):
Welcome back to Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network,
featured on I Heart Radio. I'm your host, Noah Buano.
In this is episode of leven And just some quick
reminders to please go to the Apple podcast app and
scroll down on the show's page and find the button
where it says write a review and leave us some
stars and a little note on what you think of
the show. It would be very appreciated. Also, if you
(00:45):
enjoy what you are listening to here on Walkie Talkies Podcast,
to make sure you're subscribed and downloaded so you don't
miss any future episodes. And for today's guest, we have
a very nice switch up and we'll be interviewing a
former track and field walk on from the University of Oklahoma,
Miles Wheeler. Miles gives us the dynamic as a track
walk on and what it took to get on the
team and how he balanced his track schedule with his
(01:06):
undergrad degree in pre dental school. We get into all
those details as well as where Miles is currently at
now in dental school, as well as his love for
reading books and some tips that he has for people
who struggle to get into books. Really cool stuff. If
you've never heard those tips before, I personally had not,
so I enjoyed them. And lastly, we touch on how
the regimented schedule during his undergrad years helped prepare him
(01:26):
for the business of his life currently. It's really cool stuff,
really great switch up to get a walk on from
a different college sport that we have not heard from
on the show come on and offer their perspective and
the dynamic of that new sport. Miles has success and
hard work written all over him and you can hear
that throughout the episode, and that's what you can expect
to hear all the time when you come and listen
to our guests on Walkie Talkies Podcast. So with that
(01:49):
being said, let's get into my full conversation with former
track and field walk on from the University of Oklahoma,
Miles Wheeler. Okay, so you're a track and field walk
on at the Universe of Oklahoma. So why don't you
start off with just explaining the dynamic of what being
a track and field walk on is like you you'd
be informing a lot of us, a lot of listeners. UM,
(02:09):
because I'm sure it's vastly different from football, basketball, baseball.
So let's start off with what that dynamic is like. UM.
I think every school is really different. It's really up
to the coach to accept the walk ons. And it's
kind of you have so many different events within track
and field, so you can kind of look at, oh,
I need a couple more sprinters. I can take a
couple of walk on sprinters, or you need more throwers,
(02:30):
long distance runners, things like that. UM. So with so
many different coaches coaching different events, it's really up to
the coach to take in that walk on. UM. And
for me, whenever I walked onto the team, the head
coach he was over the men's sprints. So once I
got on campus, I went to his office and was like, Hey,
I'm looking to walk onto the team, and he's like, okay,
(02:51):
we have a practice on Tuesday. UM, I'm gonna have
you show up to the track. I'm gonna have you
run something. I don't know what what it's gonna be yet.
If you hit a certain time, you're on the team.
If not, you're not on the team. So it's just
you get that one running. Either make it or you don't.
I ended up in the time that I needed got
onto the team. UM. And it was weird too because
(03:13):
all of these scholarship athletes had already been on campus,
they had already been practicing for I think it was
probably like a week or two, So coming in as
a walk on, everybody else already knew each other. So
you just like show up to practice. Nobody knows who
you are. They already know the drills things like that,
so you're just like a newbie. Coaches like getting onto
you because like everybody else is with the program, You're
(03:33):
just like looking around trying to figure out what's going on,
you know, So what what was the what was the
run that you ended up having to run? Um? And
what what was the time that you needed to get
Did you know what time going into it or did
you just run it? Didn't you got at the time? UM.
So I wanted to be a four hundred runner UM.
So basically it was a broken four hundred, So it
(03:57):
was split up into a hundred thirty three, a hundred three,
and then finished with the hundred thirty four to get
four hundred. So you run the first hundred thirty three,
you get a thirty second break, you go back to
that cone, run another hundred thirty three, thirty second break,
and then finish off. So basically it's kind of shows
you what your four time would be, say when you're
(04:20):
in more optimal shape, because you're coming off of off season,
you're not hard training. Um So, I'm pretty sure the
time to beat was I think under forty eight seconds.
Um So I was in like the mid forty seven range.
So they they tallied up the three D and thirty
three and then you so you got to take a
break in between and then run the next hundred thirty
(04:43):
three as hard as you could go. I kind of
like that gives you a better chance, honestly. Um So,
once you got on the team, how many of you
walk on? Were there? Verse scholarship people who don't even
know how many people are on the track and field roster.
But maybe we just dumb it down to the two
events you ran, the two hundred four hundred. How many
people ran those two events and how many more were
(05:05):
walk ons? And how often did you get to run them?
I want to say there's probably about in between twelve
to fifteen of us and I would say four to
five we're walk on on the just depending on the
on the year, because I think my first year, UM,
it was just me and I think one or one
or two other people, and the next year we got
two more people. So it just depended on what the
(05:26):
russell was like and how many people coach wanted to
take on. And how does it work that you get
to compete in a meet. Obviously you're practicing and getting
you know, all the practice reption because anybody can run,
But how did it work where you were like, you know,
I don't know did they ranked I'm assuming the scholarship
players by time and so where did you lay on
(05:47):
that totem pole between like the twelve or fifteen of
you that ran the two D four hundred. Yeah, that
was definitely the hardest part coming onto the team, especially
with trap, because if guys are coming in on scholarship,
they came in faster than you that that's just like
kind of what you have to accept. Um. So when
it comes to making the travel list, it's really hard
(06:07):
because those scholarship aalthletes are going to get priority. Um.
But the way that coach kind of looked at it
was as you're doing reps in practice, so you're doing
we're doing like three hundreds that day and workouts and
you're beating some of the guys out on the reps.
It's like, hey, I'm gonna give you a chance this
week to show up to the meet. See what time
you can run. Uh. So you kind of really have
(06:29):
to show up in practice and really show coats that
you're up there with the other guys to be like, hey,
I can compete this weekend. UM. So definitely for walk ons,
you don't go to as many meets um, just because
you usually get beat out in practice, but whenever you
get those opportunities, UH, definitely take advantage of him. How
many how many meets do you think you competed in? Uh?
(06:50):
And did you do four years or your four year
walk on or did you join that? I actually did
because kind of with the pandemic, that's what kind of
mess things up. But I graduated a semester early, so
and then track is a spring sport, so I really
did I would say two and a half years because
of the pandemic hitting during my junior year, so I
(07:12):
only really got through indoor season. UM. But in terms
of how many meets, especially for walk on is the
biggest meets that you'll go to. Who are going to
be your home meets because you're not having to pay
for travel. It's like, hey, you can you can run
at this meet. UM. But other than that, I my
freshman year, I went to a lot more indoor meets
that season, I want to say, uh, maybe four or
(07:36):
five uh, and then three or four outdoor meets UM.
Sophomore year most of the home meets, maybe three or
four outdoor meets UM. And then my last year, I
actually during indoor season, we had our first home indoor
meet and I had torn my hamstring and as soon
as I got through recovery, COVID hit. So I was like,
(07:59):
that was that was my season? So I really was
at the end of your season or the end of
your career, end of the career. Yeah, exactly. Damn that
sucks man. So UM, it sounds like you've got a
decent amount. You know, I got to run a decent amount.
But what is like the what's the motivation behind taking
a role like that when you don't really you know,
(08:22):
get to travel, get to do the actual competition, but
you show up to practice every day in two separate
seasons because, like you said, track has the indoor season
and the outdoor season, so you you get to compete
for a lot of months out of the year, and
you're practicing even during the season and out of the season.
So what's that motivation too, I want to do that
(08:42):
if you don't even really get to compete at the
end of the day. Um, just even coming from high school,
it was just something that I just really loved and
it was like, uh, even coming into college now that
I'm in dental school, academics was the biggest thing for me.
So coming in I had a big academic scholarship bring tuition,
so it was like, Okay, I have my tuition covered,
(09:04):
but also still impassionate about track, so let me just
hop onto the team and just being with those teammates too.
You're coming out to like a big campus as a freshman,
it's nice to have like teammates as soon as you
get on camp because you already have a friends group
right away exactly. You're already getting in workouts like without
(09:25):
even really having to. You have to show up to practice,
you know, So so it wasn't as much like the
competition for you that was making you want to do it.
It was the you know, the immediate kind of bond
you'll form with some teammates and you're getting good workouts
and you're staying in shape, your your body, your mental
or probably um in tiptop shape. But did it affect
(09:46):
your mental at all? Was it like where and tear?
Where you were? Like, Man, I don't think I'm gonna
show up. I think I'm done with this. I'm not
getting anything out of this because obviously you're competing. You
want to, you know, and like you said, the scholarship
guys probably already had faster times than you, but it
took good bar to look at and be like, man,
I gotta run, you know, I gotta get three seconds
slower or faster on my four hundreds. So like that
(10:08):
competitive fire and you probably was there. But did it
ever wear and tear on your mental where you were
just like, man, you know, maybe I don't show up tomorrow,
I would say, really overall, I think being on the
track team help with mental health, um, just with like
the stresses of school. That was kind of my outlet,
like hey, I get to go to practice today, I
get a good workout in practices are obviously hard, but
(10:29):
when you're with your teammates, it's like everybody's hyping each
other up. Like practices can be fund some days. Um.
But there's also the frustrating side being a walk on
is it's frustrating because sometimes it was like three weeks
in a row, it's like I didn't get to go
to a meet, and it's like you're just sitting there training,
putting in all this work, uh, and you don't even
get to go. So that's that's tough sometimes. So during
(10:51):
those little time periods three weeks in a row you
don't get to go anywhere, where did you find some
reward for yourself? Like still happy to be doing this,
like you said, like it was a good getaway from school,
but you know your teammates and your your new friends
are going and traveling and running and you're stuck back
at campus and it's like what did you do to
occupy time? What did you do? You know? What were
(11:12):
those periods like? Or not? Actually let me let me
let me go back to. What I actually asked was
like what where where did you find the rewards for yourself? Exactly? Um,
I would say just being a predental student just with
like all the science courses. Sometimes not going was a
blessing in disguise because I was like, hey, I had
this test coming up. If I would have been at
this meat, I would have been having a study on
(11:33):
the bus, like traveling on the plane whatever. But sometimes
I out the full weekend of like really sitting study,
do well on the tests, and like now that I'm
here and I'm not running track anymore, it's like sometimes
I needed those weekends to really focus on academic. So
it kind of gave me the balance of I get
to do two things that I love and I'm not
having a put all of all of all the eggs
(11:54):
in in one basket. Yeah, and it's actually cool to
hearing you're kind of opposite. For aspective from some people
I talked to is like you were very much a
student first, athletes second. A lot of people, including myself,
love to identify as an athlete first and then a student,
and you know, like only that, but obviously a pre
dental major can't even imagine the course loads you were
(12:18):
coming through and what that entailed. So oh, I wanted
to go back to that. So you you said that
it actually helped your mental your mental health, because you know,
it was like a getaway from the school work. So
you're a student first, you're an athlete second. Was there
anything involving like the track stuff, you know, aside from
not being able to travel that maybe was relationship based
(12:40):
or opportunity based um that did kind of mess with
you or you know, it was always just a leisurely,
fun activity for you to go and do. Never any
like hardships coming out of it that caused you extra
stress on top of your pre dental stuff. Yeah. I
really don't think I had any extra stresses from from
track itself because it never really occupied too much of
(13:04):
my time, especially being a walk on compared to like
the scholarship at least they're going to every single week,
and it's like, I feel like that was more exhausting.
When you're constantly traveling, you're missing classes all the time,
things kind of add up. But with me, it was like, Okay,
you go to meet this week, you have a week off,
are you going to this meet? So it's just like
a balance in it. It was just a nice flow
(13:25):
between academics and tracks, so I never really hit a
point where it was like, oh man, this is too
much I do, like of late um with people I've
been interviewing to really focus on like the emotional and
the mental part, the mental health part of being a
walk on. And you would say that a lot of
the stresses and you know, maybe damages to your mental health.
(13:46):
We're probably just more school related than anything than yeah,
because you had I mean, I can't even imagine what
kind of science courses you had to take. You probably
had to take every single one in the books. Like
I couldn't even name them for you. Because the last
science course I took was Chemistry Honors my junior year
of high school. And I never had to take another one.
And not to make this about me, but it was
(14:08):
the worst grade I've ever got in a class. And
I was like, all right, well now I at least
know science is not for me as much as I
wish it was. It isn't okay everyone, quick break coming
up here. Great start to the episode, Miles. We'll talk
more about his discipline and time management that he learned
during his time in college right after the break, So
stay with us. We'll be right back and we're back
(14:29):
with Waki Tucky's podcast. Make sure you go ahead on
the Apple podcast app and leave us that review towards
the bottom of the show's page, and let's bring back
in our Oklahoma track and field walk on Miles Wheeler. Okay,
so you take these experiences your time. Altogether, you did
about two two and a half years or close to
three years, but they honestly double because you do two
seasons in one year. So it's like you you probably
(14:51):
got like six total track seasons. And so how did that,
you know, being a collegiate athlete and going through that
every day regimented grind, how did it help you in
your life with your own discipline and your own growth
with what you're doing now and also helps shape you
at that time to get into what you're doing now
with the pre dental school. UM. I think even now
(15:11):
being in dental school, just as busy as the schedule is,
like we're having classes from eight am to five, um,
just straight eight hour lectures, just sitting in there all
day UM. And compared to other people in undergrad said
they we weren't a college athlete, they're just a student.
Like when you're in college and you're a student, you
have a class for fifty minutes at this time, you
have like a two hour break you go to the
(15:32):
next class. But being in track and an athlete in college, um,
I really had to get time management and discipline down.
So now that I'm in dental school time management and discipline,
it's like, I know what it's like to be busy.
I can handle this schedule, So I think really aren't
stressing me out as much as like some of my
other classmates. Things like that. I really feel like I
(15:53):
have a good grasp on being able to manage things,
not get to stress, stay and check with my mental
health things like that. Yeah, And do you think a
lot of that is directly correlated from the track grind
or more of like the balance of track and school
in your undergrad it was probably like a little bit
of both, or was it one more than the other
that helped you? Really find that. I think it was
(16:15):
the balance. But then also that kind of taught me
even while I'm like super busy with school, I still
make a lot of a big effort to keep working
out because I found that being tracked being my outlet.
It was like you give yourself, say a two and
a half hour, three hour practice to work out, that
was kind of your outlet. Now you need to keep
(16:35):
up with that workout for an hour, hour and a
half maybe two hours, um, just to keep your mental
health and check. And you're sell in that same routine
that you're kind of were in and undergrad. Yeah, so
you think that you're you're mental health improves and it
keeps you kind of balanced and more grounded when you
are working out. I feel the same way. I think that,
like when I'm getting my workouts in, whether it's you know,
(16:58):
forty five minutes or I want to stand there for
ninety minutes, Like I leave the gym, and I think
I always even though I no matter how sore I am,
I always end up feeling great about the rest of
my day, like for the most part. Obviously some hiccups
can come about, but it always it gives me like
a ton of mental clarity. So you did it in college,
You've left college, you have an even busier schedule, and
(17:19):
you still find the time to implement that into her
every day exactly. It's just like completing the workout every day.
It's like, Okay, I did accompassed something today, even if
everything else went wrong, It's like you got that one
thing done right. Is that is that what you say
that that's your main Like, let me make sure I
at least do this one thing of make me feel
like I was at least I can say I was
(17:41):
productive for an hour if I don't get ship else done. UM. Okay,
So you're currently in dentist dentistry or dentist school dental school? Okay, great?
How much more left do you have until you were
on your own? And and then what do you have
planned once you at that? You want to like open
up your own or So I just finished my first
(18:04):
year of donal school, so I'll be starting my second
year in a month. Um. So dental school is a
total of four years, kind of the same as med
school UM, but with dental school, the first two years
are preclinical UM. So you're doing like a lot of
lab work, learning different dental procedures, a lot of lecture,
and then your third and fourth year you go to
clinic and you're just having patients um every single day.
(18:25):
So you can graduate as a dentist after the four years.
But personally for me, I want to do a pediatric dentistry,
so it would be an extra two to three year
residency UM. And then once I complete that, I want
to open my own pediatric clinic. That's awesome. So sure,
what right? Where are you originally from? I'm from the
(18:46):
Dallas area Farm Mound, Texas, UM. Now I'm in San Antonio.
What what made you want to do dental school over
you know, maybe some other type of doctor, Like, where
was the passion behind that? I think it was just
me going to the dentist as a kid. I just
had a really good pediatric dentist. She's like one of
(19:06):
the top ten in Dallas, the Dallas area UM, and
I just asked her to shadow and so I just
went in and shadowed one week. One week. Uh, just
got to see her work and I was like, man,
this is really interesting because I've always been interested in
healthcare and a lot of people choose a medical route
because that's just the most popular. Yeah, but I was like, hey,
let me check out dentistry. And there was even a
(19:28):
summer program at the dental school in Dallas that I
did one summer and I got to kind of get
mentored by current dental students, got to see what it
was like to be a dental student, things like that.
So just kind of getting that exposure really helped me
figure out that was a career for me. Listen, no
knock on you or any dentist, but like you got
(19:49):
you gotta have serious balls to wanted to like clean
people's teeth and mouth, Like I don't know, like what
does that ever come to the forefront of your mind?
Is like, because I've definitely gone down the list of
career paths where I'm like, do I want to perform
plastic surgery on people? Do I want to clean people's mouth?
Do I want to put braces in people's mouth? Like
(20:09):
you know, you you go through whatever that list is
when you're trying to figure out if that sounds like
something you want to do, and it's like, I don't
know if you had that same thought towards being a dentist,
but like, has that ever crossed your mind something like that? Yeah,
I think whenever you get the shadow and experience and
you're just kind of sitting there and watching them do it,
if you're not disgusted by it and you're like, oh no,
(20:29):
this is actually pretty interesting, Like it's like, Okay, this
this is probably for me. I would say like another career,
say like a pediatrist looking at feet. If I was
sitting in there, I'd be like, nah, this is this
isn't for me. But when it comes to like teeth
in the mouth, I'm like, no, this doesn't bother me
at all. Like you're genuinely interested by like people's teeth
people's mouth, Like it's something that you look at and
(20:51):
you're like, I'd like to solve that problem or I'd
like to fix that issue. That's great. Yeah, if you
think you can be what you obviously wouldn't be putting
yourself through dental school if you didn't thin you could
you know, be passionate about it for the next forty years. Um.
So that's super cool because it's all about figuring out
what you want to do with life in life that's
gonna make you happy and fulfilled. Um So when when
(21:12):
do you think did you go into Oklahoma knowing like
you were a dental major right away or did you
switch anything up while you were there? Yeah? So I
did the dental summer program um after my sophomore year
of high school. And after that summer program I was like, yeah,
this is this is it. So after that I sold
you right away. That's great. Okay, last quick break, stay
(21:36):
with us to hear Miles perspective about being around top
one percent talent during his time at Oklahoma and how
he read twenty five books in two thousand one. Super
cool tips from him on that that I really enjoyed.
So stay put, We'll be right back, and we're back
with Lucky Tucky's podcast on the College Athletes Network. Let's
finish this episode strong and bring our guest Miles Wheeler
back into the show. All right, So, anything else on
(21:58):
the walk on experience that I might have missed, Like,
you know, you did get to run in a couple
of meets, Um, you didn't get to travel a whole
lot that weight on you a bit. You were more
student than athlete. The track stuff was more leisurely and fun.
Any regrets about the walk on journey, anything you maybe
would change, any you know, sort of weird mistreatment that
(22:22):
took place, like or was it all kind of just
what would you say? I think the only other comment
I would have about being a walk on is it's
just really cool just seeing like how talented some people are,
because it's like once once you get to the college,
I was like, man, these are the top one percent
from high school, Like these guys are really gifted out here.
So it's just cool to be able to practice with
(22:44):
those people, get to watch them at meats, and like,
I still keep up with them on like Instagram and Twitter,
and they just they just finished Nationals for track and uh,
a couple of my teammates top three and four hundred
hurdles fo high things like that. It's like, man, these
guys are really performing. Yeah, it is always like a
(23:04):
special thing being around big time talent like that. You're
you're in the Big twelve for track as well, like
Oklahoma's Big twelve for everything. Yeah, so you're around top tier.
You know, I can't even imagine what they're two d
four hundred times were. If I were you, I probably
would have been so frustrated, Like cool, I'm on the team,
but like these fucking guys are so much faster than me,
Like this sucks. Um, so I saw on your Instagram.
(23:29):
Well we'll kind of wrap it up with these couple
of questions. Um, I'm a big book reader myself, or
at least I try to be when I have the
right discipline, And I saw on your Instagram that you
read books in So before we wrap it up, I
want to ask, like, is that something you always did
in college? When did you kind of pick up your
love for reading, like to the point where you're able
to read, you know, twenty five books in a year. Yeah.
(23:51):
The funny thing is I hated reading like all through childhood,
all through college, like high school. Um. And then once
the pan make it and it was like, okay, I
can't go anywhere and do anything. Um. I think it
was like Black History Month and I was like, hey,
let me just go pick up a book on I
picked up on MLK and Malcolm x um, and once
(24:12):
I read that, I was like, hey, reading is kind
of interesting. So then I looked until like kind of
once I got into it, it was just like, okay,
I have a lot of free time on my hands, Like,
let me just keep reading books. And like the more
I kept reading, it was like I just love gaining knowledge,
especially from people's autobiographies that really show you the development
of a person. It's like, how did how did this
(24:34):
person become so big in society And being able to
just to see their development, it kind of inspires me
to just kind of be more patient with yourself. Um,
because you see you see the result of famous people
or people who have a lot of money things like that,
But you didn't see what they went through in their
twenties and their thirties and they finally got to the
(24:54):
point in their forties. But that's that's the spotlight that
they get, and that's what everyone focuses on. When you
really see the work and the time that you have
to put in to get yourself to become that person,
it's like, Okay, I have enough time. Let me put
in the practice, let me put in the discipline, all right.
And then also psychology books are very interesting as well. Um.
(25:15):
I would say my favorite book all time is Defining
Decade Um the authors Meg j And it talks about
how your twenties are like the defining decade of your
life and if you can really tackle a lot of
things in your twenties, your thirties and on will be
a lot easier. So definitely a book I recommend for people. Yeah,
(25:36):
that's great. I Um, I hated reading too, and sometimes
I question if I still hate it, you know, like
I was doing polls on Twitter, you know, during a
little bit after the pandemic about you know, how many
books have you read since March? And I got off
to a slow start when the pandemic started. But up
until like last I want to say this past August,
(25:58):
so August of twenty one, I had read like, you know,
almost thirty books in like an eighteen month span, and
I was like, holy shit, Like who am I? And
I had been doing like some some big buys at Barnes,
and oh boy, I'd walk out of there with like
fourteen books that I'm like, listen, I'm not going to
read all these in a month, but like they're all
(26:19):
books that at some point I'd like to get to.
And you know, sometimes I get in the ruts though,
of like, man, I haven't picked up a book in
two weeks. I've picked up a book in two months,
And like I think sometimes I because I always look
at it the same way as you do, as I
love picking up the knowledge that you can get from it,
Like I much rather spend my time enjoying reading something
(26:40):
out of a book than force feeding something random from
social media that is just you know, frying my brain
that I have done more than enough of since my adolescence.
And but the perspective that you can get from these
books and stuff like that, like you were saying with
the Defining Decade, I've actually heard of that book, and
I'll have to have that skip line from my rest
(27:01):
of the books because I'm gonna be twenty four, and
what the hell is the point of reading that book?
You know, six years into your twenties, so I might
as well prioritize it while I'm still in the um
early phases of my twenties. But you know, I just
I love when I like, especially like you talk to
people now when I hear that people read, because like
I don't feel like I come in contact with a
(27:22):
lot of people who are like avid readers, that like
have a specific genre or specific topics, and like even
if it's fiction, like fiction you can fiction books you
can get great stuff out of and just reading itself
is like such a great mental hobby. Um. And you know,
we talked about the mental health stuff like a little
bit earlier, like it always helped me clear my head
because it was like, you don't gotta worry about anything else,
(27:44):
just to pay the words on the pages. You absorb them,
you take the lessons from them, and you move on.
You get perspective, you get knowledge. Um. So I always
love that, But um, would you say you're looking more
for fiction? Non fiction informing of stuff like and follow
up to that would be, do you have to force
(28:05):
yourself to read? Or is it literally like I enjoy
reading so much, Like I'm about to sit down, and
however much time i have, however long, I feel like
I'm just gonna read. I would say for genres, psychology
and autobiographies are definitely my top two. Um. I just
love learning like how humans interact with each other, how
we think, um, how we can better process our emotions,
(28:27):
mental health, things like that. And then also just like
the lessons learned from people who got themselves to a
point where they're well known in society, um, kind of
what their journey was the lessons they learned because they
passed down so many lessons and they're so many. Yeah.
And then with reading, one of the tips that I
heard to kind of get myself more consistent to like
(28:48):
get to twenty five books in a year was once
you wake up in the morning and make your bed,
put a book on your pillow. So by the time
that you come back home after your day, your pillows
on your bed. So what you see it you're like, hey,
I need to read. Set a timer for ten minutes,
put your phone down and read until the timer stops.
And usually once I read for ten minutes, it's like, hey,
(29:09):
I don't want to put this book down. Yeah, let
me read for about twenty more minutes, and then you
end up reading a lot more and then you'll you'll
get the book done. So it's just if you can
put ten minutes in a day for a month, you're
going to get through probably a two book if you
do that every single day. Well, the last thing I
wanted to ask you about book reading is as an
avid reader, you gave some suggestions on books and a
(29:32):
book that you like in topics that you like to
read about. But what advice as someone who you know
loves to read, what you give to people who think
they want to read but I have too much resistance
to actually sit down and do it. Um, what do
you What do you say to people like that? Because
I've been in that position, and you know sometimes I
trickle back to that position. So what if any advice
(29:53):
you would say to people that think that feel that? Yeah? Um,
I think the best way to get into read mean
is to actually pick a topic that really interests you
because a lot of people can just recommend all these
books and you're like, oh, I've read this one. You
should read this, But if you don't really feel passionate
about it, you're you're gonna pick it up. You're gonna
read a couple of pages and you're like, ah, I'm good,
(30:14):
I don't really want to read this. So really look
up a book on a topic that you're really passionate
about or something you want to learn, and I feel
like the chances of you actually finishing the book are
going to be a lot higher. And try to find
something under two hundred pages so you don't feel overwhelmed
by the paper. Right, start off small, pick something you
think you'd be interested in, and go from there. I
completely agree. Um. For the people listening, I had some
(30:37):
mic trouble and we were talking off the record, and
Miles said something about um post college career. So I
want him to just restate that and then we'll wrap
What what what? What were you saying to me? I
was saying just from like books that I've read, videos
that I've seen, just from people who end up becoming successful.
(30:58):
A lot of times things start out really small for
you for about five to ten years, but the fact
that you're putting in that consistent work and the consistent effort.
At the end of those ten years, whenever the opportunities
open and like the success comes your way, you're like, wow,
I really feel glad that I put in the work
when no one really noticed me as much things were
(31:19):
uh not really coming my way, and when they finally
when they finally do, you're you're really gonna enjoy that reward. Yeah. Absolutely,
that's a great perspective and and all throughout the episode,
UM appreciate it here in your perspective, I wish the
episode could be longer. I mean, we could sit here
and talk about bullshit for twenty five minutes. But sometimes
the shorter episodes are the more special ones because nowadays
(31:42):
no offense to my particular listeners, but people don't really
have big time attention spans to get themselves through the
hour or hour and twenty minute episodes that I've dropped
or you know, an hour and twenty minutes of damn
near anything. So I think keeping us under something some
somewhere around that thirty minute mark will be cool. So
I appreciate you coming on the show and shining light
(32:03):
on some of the track and field walk on game
that I knew nothing about. I think it's always cool
to get a new sport on here and here about
that dynamic. Um. I also thought it was super cool
that you're more student. You were way more student than athlete,
and you had a bigger goal and those that athletic
part of your college journey was literally just for fun.
(32:24):
And that's what it literally should be. Is like, do
a college board play any sport. Make sure you're having
fun doing it, make sure you're happy while you're doing it.
There's so many people in an outside of college that
play a sport that don't even enjoy it half the time.
They like they started doing it because they were forced
to at a young age, and then they just kept
plugging along, plugging along, and then they finally quit and
they're like, wait, I didn't even really enjoy that. So
(32:46):
until he's nice to hear when someone uh enjoys, you know,
the sport that they're doing in the activities that they're
doing with you and dental school as well. So uh,
super cool stuff, man, And I'm glad we were able
to finally put the pieces together, you know we were.
I was hitting you out back in January and then
you you hit me with the yeah I can't, like, um,
I can't do this podcast, and I was like, damn it,
(33:09):
Like I really blew the I blew it on this one,
like and I didn't even think i'd ever hit you
back up, um, but I was looking around. I'm like,
I gotta get this fucking track. Guy on the show, like,
come come on. So I appreciate you coming on. Man.
It's definitely a good time. Appreciate it. Okay, that's a
rap for episode of Levin here on Walkie Tucky's podcast.
Really awesome stuff for Miles, and I'm glad we were
(33:29):
able to finally sit down and have this conversation. I
really love the tips on reading um and how he
goes about that. I definitely got to try the book
on my pillow thing. I think it would be very
beneficial for me and for probably all of us. UM.
You know, former walk On heading into dental school is
really big time. It's another prime example of all the
successful walk Ons that are out there and what us
(33:50):
walk On is really strive to do post playing careers,
always turning out to be something very special and ambitious.
To shout out two Miles for his extended grind to
achieve his goals and I would him nothing but the
best of luck. Please make sure you guys do leave
us that review towards the bottom of the Apple podcast page,
and also make sure you are subscribed to this show
so you get notified when new episodes dropped. We may
(34:11):
or may not have something enormous for next week's episode,
so stay tuned and thank you all for listening. I'll
talk to you all next week, and remember, come usup.
Cute Walkie Talkies Podcast has been a presentation of I
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network.
Host
Noah Buono
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