CHRIS WODKE, TEAM CMT FOUNDER
Lots of people have seen pictures of me in my Team CMT uniform. I’ve been doing events since I founded the team in 2011. What many people may not know is I also wear another uniform, that of a member of the National Ski Patrol (NSP). I’ve been a member of a local patrol in Milwaukee for Wisconsin for 30 years. My job is to make sure customers are skiing safely and to take care of injured skiers. I love patrolling because it gets me outside in the winter and the people on my patrol are wonderful. I’ve made life-long friends.
I started skiing in college and like anything athletic it took me quite some time to become a proficient skier. I took up running, swimming, cycling and rowing to become a better and stronger skier. It was the start of my life as an athlete. It was a new experience for me since I was always the slowest runner at school and really clumsy. I tripped and fell a lot. I still do.
I founded Team CMT in 2011 to use my athletic events to raise awareness of CMT. We have over 200 athletes in 40 states and 7 countries. We have athletes doing events to raise awareness almost every weekend. It is so inspiring me to see their efforts and to hear their stories. I am so grateful for their efforts. They play a huge part in raising awareness of CMT. I am so proud of their efforts.
This year I got a chance to take our story to a whole new audience. The NSP has a partnership with Subaru. For a number of years, they’ve selected ambassador’s to represent their brand. This year there were 400 applicants for the 10 ambassador positions.
To be selected I had to submit a written application online. My story of being an athlete with CMT was a large part of my application. I said I would use the car and my platform to tell the CMT story to a whole new audience. I was selected as one of two storyteller ambassadors because of my CMT. I was told the committee was intrigued by my story because it is so unusual for someone with CMT to be a patroller. My job will be to drive my wonderful Subaru for the next year, take it to events and write about it on my blog. I will also do posts that will be appearing on run4cmt.com. Basically the same thing I’ve been doing for the last 9 years.
It isn’t just my story, because I will be telling the story of CMT as a representative of our community. This is just another larger venue.
I hope it inspires each and everyone with CMT to tell their stories in their own way. We each have a part to play in raising awareness and raising funds to find treatments and a cure for CMT. I hope you will follow me over the next year through my blog and find your own way to tell our CMT story.
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