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I'm on the move. But Running Shorts and I aren't going anywhere.

I have news.

Eddie Wooten

• 4 min read
I'm on the move. But Running Shorts and I aren't going anywhere.
This late-August double rainbow over Greensboro turned out to be a great sign, indeed.

I've reached a finish line.

Today marks the end of my career in a newsroom, one that has totaled 44 years and a week cumulatively.

I resigned several days ago as sports editor of the News & Record and Winston-Salem Journal. On Monday, I'll get set on a new starting line and go to work, remotely, as a marketing content specialist for FieldRoutes, a cloud software company.

While I'm on the move in one sense, readers of Running Shorts should be reassured that I'm also not going anywhere and that I look forward to continuing to tell your stories and to run with you here in the Triad. What began as a blog on the News & Record's site in 2009 shifted to become my own private venture in spring 2021, and I look forward to continuing to build RunningShorts.org in my free time.

These 44 years have given me so much for which to be grateful: For the people who helped foster my interest in writing and editing (including my parents, for sending me to college), for professors and editors who showed me the right way, for team leaders for taking a chance on me, for Hall of Fame teammates at every stop and, of course, for readers and customers.

And most certainly for my wife, Valerie, and sons Will and Joe, for tolerating night and weekend work that sometimes bled into vacations, for late dinners and for, too many times, me being there but not being there.

Joe, Valerie and Will. The boys have aged a little since this photo was taken.

While the sports fan achieved one goal professionally, becoming a sports editor in this state, it's the career twist that will continue to provide the most special connections and moments. Running Shorts evolved from a push by my editor, John Robinson, for News & Record staff members to blog about a topic about which they were passionate. I'm not sure how many people in town knew I was sports editor, but I've heard numerous times, "Oh yeah, you're the running guy" or "You do that running … thing" or even "Running Shorts."

And the beauty of all of that crystallized even in these final couple of days, when the sports fan and sports editor interviewed Des Linden and the running writer shared Lizzie Windsor's inspiring story of becoming an Ironman.

This was a good week.

To all of you reading and to the many who had a hand, thank you!

Eddie

P.S. I’ll leave you with a few career photos, first from yellowed clips ...

The Farmville Enterprise, 1977. You can't unsee this one.
The Farmville Enterprise, 1977.
The Daily Tar Heel, 1983.
Covering county government, agriculture and, for one day, boxing for the Wilson Daily Times in 1985.

... and now some of my extraordinary teammates.

I grew up reading their work then worked alongside them; I'm not sure how this photo fell into my possession. On the left, News & Observer sports columnist Joe Tiede. And the best of the lot of them at telling the stories about the men who turned left on Sunday afternoons, Gerald Martin. 
Working with the legends of the News & Observer's Sports pages. Starting with the back row, and I can't explain the photo crop: Paul Phillips, Tim Stevens, Bruce Phillips, Caulton Tudor and Eric Frederick. On the middle row, Tom Harris, Dane Huffman, Joe Tiede, Gerald Martin and the youngest guy on the staff. On the front row, Del Ossino, Bill Woodward, A.J. Carr and Gene Cherry.
Speaking of legends, I didn't get to work with Irwin Smallwood, a 42-year veteran of the Greensboro Daily News and the News & Record. But Irwin, who is a sharp 96 and is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, has offered both his counsel and his friendship.
From an early-2000s newspaper rack card for the News & Record Sports team. Front row, from left, Ed Hardin, Jeff Carlton, Bill Hass, Eli Pacheco, Angela Clare, Larry Keech, Tim Peeler, Robyn Taylor and Dustin Long. Back from, from left, Scott Michaux, Brad Kesler, Jim Young, Todd Graff, Bob Bevan, Craig Greenlee, Joe Sirera, Buddy Wright, Jay Reddick, Rob Daniels and Charlie Atkinson.
The News & Record Sports team in 2016. A good ballclub: Jeff Mills and Robyn Taylor in back, with Powell Latimer, Joe Sirera and Ed Hardin.
Remarkably, all but four of these award-winning News & Record pros, from this 2019 photo, are still serving readers in the Triad. From left, Ben Villarreal, Dawn Kane, Allen Johnson, Cindy Loman, Tim Rickard, Scott Hoffmann, Ed Hardin, Jessie Pounds, Joe Sirera, Nancy McLaughlin, Brant Wilkerson-New and Mike Kernels.
With a smaller, combined Sports team for the News & Record and Winston-Salem Journal. From the left, John Dell, Ethan Joyce and Joe Sirera.

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