Editor’s note: On Saturday, March 17, at the 2018 USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Landover, Maryland, 102-year old Julia Hawkins added another record to her young running career. Despite initially stepping over the line before the starting gun went off, Hawkins recovered and clocked a 24.79 in the 60-meter dash, becoming the oldest person in a national championship meet and setting an American record in the 100-plus age category. Watch the women’s 80-104 race below, courtesy of USATF-TV (and follow the rest of the event’s coverage here.) To learn more about Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins and her rise to running fame after turning 100 years old, check out the below feature from the November 2017 issue of Runner’s World.
Julia Hawkins is still grappling with her new nickname, “Hurricane.” The 101-year-old Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native earned the moniker last summer, when her speed and spunk on the track enthralled live spectators. “I like the fact that hurricanes are fast and that I was fast, but hurricanes do damage and I don’t want to do damage,” Hawkins says.
But she already has—to the record books. At the National Senior Olympic Games in Birmingham, Alabama, last June, she ran the 100-yard dash in 39.62, a mark recognized, for the first time, as a world record in the age group. A month later, at the USA Track & Field Masters Outdoor Championships in her hometown, she proved her speed wasn’t a fluke, clocking another record-breaking 40.12.
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The résumé is impressive for any runner, especially a centenarian. But Hawkins doesn’t draw on extensive experience during races. She only started running a year ago—at age 100. “I knew I could run because I’m always in the yard working, and when the phone rings, I go running inside to answer it,” says Hawkins. Here’s how she makes it work.
Get a good support system
Hawkins credits her four children—ages 64 to 71—for providing unrelenting moral support. But she also relies on track-side assistance. “I always need somebody to catch me at the end of races because I’m out of breath and exhausted,” she says.
Maintain realistic expectations
“At this age, you don’t get any better at what you are doing,” Hawkins says. “Each day, you are a little bit worse.” She doesn’t train much for her races (“I don’t want to waste too many 100-yard dashes, because I only have so many left”), but she does keep busy, spending significant time tending the backyard of the house that she and her late husband built in 1949. “I do a little running around each day—not a certain amount or time—but just to keep everything going.”
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Don’t stretch too much
Hawkins warms up for her races by simply standing in place and “jiggling up and down a little.” “Whatever it is I’ve got, I’ve got it already, and you don’t need much stretching—or at least I don’t,” she says.
Find a talisman
Shortly before her race in Birmingham, Hawkins opened a fortune cookie that prophesied: You will make a sudden rise in life. “I thought, Well, I’m going to this race…if I should win or do well, maybe that’s what it’s talking about,” she says. “That gave me a leg up.” She kept the slip of paper and often tucks it into her pocket for on-the-go good luck.
Jenny is a Boulder, Colorado-based health and fitness journalist. She’s been freelancing for Runner’s World since 2015 and especially loves to write human interest profiles, in-depth service pieces and stories that explore the intersection of exercise and mental health. Her work has also been published by SELF, Men’s Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler, among other outlets. When she’s not running or writing, Jenny enjoys coaching youth swimming, rereading Harry Potter, and buying too many houseplants.
