Jim Law: the fastest senior citizen - 67-year-old sets senior record for sprinting

Ebony, Oct, 1993

67-year-old sets world senior record in 400-meter and 200-meter runs

Jim Law is on a tear - literally. A sprinter who has set several records, he sees no reason to slow down, even if he is a mere 67 years old.

While many in his generation are content to sit on the sidelines, smell the roses and contemplate their golden years, Law is hard at work pushing his body to run at an even faster clip.

"If I run three times a week, I feel good," he says. "If I don't, I feel bad. That's one thing that helps me keep on running because you feel better. You look better, you've got more zest for life, you have less stress - the combination of smart eating and exercise can do wonders. There's a lifestyle change."

Law is a changed man, but his words hardly describe the incredible transformation from an overweight, sedentary onlooker into the nation's fastest senior citizen.

Running in the 65-to-69 age group of the U.S. National Senior Sports Organization, Law has set outdoor world records in the 400-meter and the 200-meter runs. He also holds the American outdoor mark in the 100-and the 60-meter dashes. To put his feats in perspective, Law's best time in the 100 meters - 12.71 seconds - is less than three seconds short of the event's world record time of 9.92 seconds set by Olympian Carl Lewis.

The rigorous exercise has changed Law in other ways. He rarely complains about illness, even if he is bothered by a hamstring pull, sore Achilles tendons and a worn cartilage in his left knee. To most observers, he looks great for his age - or any age. One writer recently called him an "African-American Clark Kent," suggesting a sexagenarian Superman underneath the spectacles and form-fitting Lycra bodysuit.

Running in the fast lanes has made Law a celebrity among his peers. He currently tours the nation, telling groups of seniors that a proper diet and ample exercise are better options than slowing down and submitting to a debilitating aging process.

There's a perception out there that if you're old, you can't do anything," says Doug Corderman, president of the U.S. National Senior Sports Organization (USNSSO). "Jim is a wonderful role model and an elite athlete. But the truth is that everyone can improve. We can all live a higher quality of life."

A psychology professor at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N. C., Law took a long and winding road to the good life of fitness. He grew up in Baltimore and ran track in high school and college. His athleticism, however, gave way to the quest for a job and career, and Law soon fell into the sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits that plague many Americans.

"I was eating stuff that we weren't supposed to eat," he says. "I would call myself doing it [right] because I was eating more fish and fowl than red meat. But I would fry the fish, and I thought the skin was the best part of the fowl. I was fooling myself."

By his 59th birthday, Law had settled into an inactive, unhealthy lifestyle. The turning point came when he learned of an upcoming senior's sporting competition that included one of his favorite games - table tennis. He won the local event and traveled to the state meet in Raleigh, where he saw men who were 10 to 20 years older, and in much better shape, sprinting, hurling javelins and throwing discuses.

At that point, Law became hooked. Shortly after returning to Charlotte, he began a somewhat unorthodox route toward becoming an athlete.

He practiced faithfully, but he rarely "warmed up" his body by stretching and almost always trained by running sprints instead of building up his endurance through long and slow jogging.

There were other adjustments. "I was running and smoking at the same time," he recalls. "I was smoking cigarettes between races. The guys would see me and castigate me severely."

Law also ignored another safe-health practice by not seeing his physician until after he won his first 100- and 400-meter competitions. When he did visit the doctor for his physical, he found out that he was overweight, had a cholesterol level of 322 and may have had some blockages in his coronary arteries.

The visit prompted Law to pull out of the state meet, but it also caused him to change his eating habits. He replaced his old favorites with a macrobiotic diet of whole grains and vegetables.

The new lifestyle,he says, brought startling results. He began feeling better, gaining more energy with each sprint. He dropped both his weight and cholesterol level and now packs a fit 168 pounds on his 5-foot-10-inch frame.

He even persuaded his wife, Aurelia, to train with him. (She's now a state champion sprinter.) Their home contains a cross-country ski machine, a rowing machine, a stationary bike, a stair machine and a collection of weights.

Given his new lease on life, Law is determined not to let anything keep him - or anyone else interested in learning his secret of feeling good and prolonging life - out of the winner's circle.

"I want people out there doing things because they are going to feel better," he says. "I know that the talent is out there in the African-American community, and I want some of that talent displayed [in senior's competition], more than it is now."