Kerri Lovelace is living proof that age is just a number.
At the age of 40, the track and field athlete from Saskatoon set a new Canadian record time in the 50-metre sprinting event at the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
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In the 50-metre sprint, Lovelace clocked a time of 6.87 seconds. In the 60-metre sprint, her time was 7.96, which was the fourth-fastest time in the world.
The accomplishments are an incredible feat for Lovelace, who admits she quit track at 18 and didn’t start sprinting again until she was 38.
Listen to Kerri Lovelace talk about her track training:
“I did track all through high school and then kind of quit around the age of university, just to move on with career, family and kids,” Lovelace said.
“Fast forward 20 years and I found out about masters track and it was just an opportunity to get back into it. I never dreamed it would turn into the competitive level that I’m at.”
Lovelace said she decided to start track again because she still had a hunger for the sport and after finding out about the masters events, she decided to train full-time.
She admits getting back onto the track and in shape wasn’t easy.
“Was I ever humbled at how hard it is to get back into some kind of sprinting shape. It was very difficult, because your body is just so deconditioned for so many years, nothing comes easily.
“I was very humbled this year in learning how hard you have to work to improve your speed by a tenth of a second,” Lovelace said. “In real life, a tenth of a second means nothing but in track a tenth of a second is huge.
“It started very gradual. I started with six sprints at a time just on the treadmill, just to get moving again,” she added.
“Was I ever sore! I could not believe how sore my body was to progressing to now where it’s two a day workouts — a lot of time is gym sessions, track sessions, tempo sessions — so nothing happens overnight. It’s been a three year process and here we are.”
Given she has Canadian records and is one of the fastest people in her age category in the world, Lovelace admits she’s even shocked herself with what she’s been able to do.
“Definitely surprised. Super grateful and thankful I guess for being able to achieve that in Saskatchewan. Here I get to race against the university girls, because there isn’t a lot of competition in my age range,” Lovelace explained.
“That’s just been instrumental in kind of pulling me along, because when you have to chase these people who are half your age, you have to level up, you have to get to where they are at and that’s been game changer for me.”
Outside of training for track like a full-time athlete, Lovelace still has time to raise two teenage boys and work part-time as a message therapist. She’s also has other business aspirations and projects.
Lovelace is hopeful that by staying active, it will rub off on her kids as they get older and remind them the importance of staying in shape.
“I never wanted my kids to come home and see me just sitting on the couch and not doing anything and getting old and not moving,” Lovelace said.
“You also want them to see that age is just a number. It really doesn’t need to define what you’re capable of and if you work hard enough, you can still achieve your your goals.”
Lovelace said she won’t quit until she loses the love for the sport.
“I will do it until I lose the drive to train, because the training and the effort is really where my passion is. The competition is just fun. That’s kind of the reward at the end of this long journey,” she said.
“I have no timeline. The great part about individual sport is I’m not really going out to compete against other people – I’m going to try and better my time every time I hit that surface.”
Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in March.
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