Jody Hawkins of Texas, winner of the masters national cross country title last month in San Diego, mothers a running family. How much into racing are she and husband Mark? Her stepson is named Coe, after Sebastian Coe. Jody turned 41 in mid-October and is a bit surprised she’s still competing. In a Q&A conducted by e-mail, Jody writes: “I really didn’t see myself still doing this at 40 when I was younger. I thought, surely I’ll move on. Clearly I have not moved on. I just don’t want to give it up. I could live without it if I truly felt that was the road God wanted me to follow, but I feel that this is where he wants me to be. I help people every day with this gift, I do not waste it or take it for granted. Every step, every mile is a blessing.”

Here’s our conversation:

Masterstrack.com: Where did you grow up?
Jody Hawkins: I grew up in a little town south of Dallas, called Blooming Grove, population 843.
What sports did you do as a kid?
I played everything in high school — basketball, volleyball, tennis, track, cross country, band, twirler, softball. You name it, I was doing it; that is the way small towns work.
I only ran track and cc during the season, which was short for us. We had four or five meets a season and then district. I had no clue about running, the words fartlek, tempo and long run were nonexistent to me or my coaches. I ran about 10-15 miles a week. I was the first Texas athlete boy/girl to ever win four state championships in one event and I still have the 2A State 3200 record of 10:50.8
What were your PRs as an open athlete?
2:08 800, 4:28 mile, 15:42 5K, 32:00 10K, 51:54 10-miler, 1:11.47 half-marathon.
Where did you go to college?
UT San Antonio, under coach Shawn Flanagan. I was a four-time NJCAA All American and a five-time time Division I All-American. My senior year I was the only athlete to dip under 33 minutes in the 10K with a 32:47, but I sprained my ankle a few weeks before NCAA’s and it cost me a shot at the title.
When did you start coaching at Centennial?
I’ve been coaching for 10 years, but this is my second year at Centennial. We have gone from a team that never made it out of District to a team that made it to State, so it was a fun year.
Coach any stars?
Footlocker Nationals qualifiers, no not yet, but I’m the kind of coach that doesn’t believe in beating them up young. The (weekly) mileage is moderate, 25-35 (for) girls and 35-50 (for) boys. With that they stay healthy, eager and improve. When they get to college and have a chance to grow as a distance athlete, then I’m sure they will do amazing things. I just don’t want to hurt their future running possibilities so I work very hard to make it about them, not my success as their coach. If I do that, then everybody runs great and is eager for more. We had two 15-minute 5K guys this year and seven sub-17 5K guys, that kept us ranked Top 10 in Texas all CC season.
Tell me about your family — husband, kids, cats, dogs. Do they run?
We are a running family, that is for sure. I met my husband at a high-altitude training camp in Utah in 1991, I had just gotten engaged to an orthopedic surgeon and then bam, I ran into Mark and my heart found what it was looking for.
We were at the camp for a month and then moved back to San Antonio together; a year later we were married and now we are going on 16 years.
We have three boys, one named Coe (after Sebastian Coe), who is running for Pratt Community College; he is my stepson, but definitely all about running. Hunter is our next son; he will be 12 on Friday. We keep running low-key for him. At the beginning of the year he was coming to practice in the morning and running for 10-20 minutes and then we put him in a couple of fun runs, but one day he started to complain a little about this or that, so I just told him, “Hey, this isn’t important right now; just sleep in and we’ll pick it up again this summer.” Hunter is a beast and will be a great athlete at anything he picks up.
Skyler our baby is 10; he is the running rebel. He says he doesn’t want to run, yet he can go out and pop off sub-6:40 mile, no problem. Our hope is that he will try it in Junior High and fall in love with it, but if he doesn’t that is fine with us as long as he finds something to be passionate about; he is very talented in the artsy area of things, like design and actually won a design contest at 6. His shirt was sold across the U.S. for a major clothing company, and his name and picture was on the label. He also won $500, which was big time for him.
You once wrote on letsrun.com: “I have always put life first, not running. Don’t get me wrong I love it very much, but it does not define me.” Still, you have to sacrifice to be a national champion. How do you balance a job, motherhood and training?
You get one life; you have to do your best to get it right. I love to run, but if it ever got in the way of my family, I would stop. I have a great job, I train with the kids at 6:45 every morning. If for some reason I can’t train with them that morning I have a 1:30 conference period in the afternoon, so I train then.
On the weekends I do my long runs before my kids wake up, and if I race they are either sleeping or coming along to watch. My running takes very little time away from my family, so I don’t look at it as a sacrifice at all. Being a national champion is icing on the cake for sure. All the early mornings and hard runs can be tough, but I love it and would never even dream of not doing it.
The word sacrifice means that you have to give something up, but I don’t see it that way. Running is a part of me; it just feels right, I have no problem running early, running hard, or running long. It shouldn’t be called a sacrifice to do what you love; it should just be called a gift.
You set an indoor 3000 AR of 9:56.24 last year but seem to be torn between the roads and track. How often do compete on the track? And what are your track plans this season? Boston nationals or Spokane nationals on agenda?
Running track is tough for me for two reasons. My body doesn’t like it and I coach track myself so it is tough to find an open weekend that I can race.
Last year was my first indoor meet for many, many years. I think I ran one in 2004 and before that not since 1989. Racing the nationals was a blast for me, but I will not be able to race this year as we have a high school track meet. I’m hoping to race the summer nationals, but we will see. I coach in the summer too, so it would be purely off of base training with my boys team.
I love the roads the most, always have. That is why there is really no history of me racing track when I was fast. On the roads, they bring you in, treat you great, you meet really cool people from different parts of the U.S., and then also there was prize money as a younger athlete. Prize money is hard to come by as a master, but I’m way past the run for the money stage of my career. I just do it because I love it now.
Have you made any money as a masters road runner? Is prize money a factor in your race selection?
I have not made enough to consider myself a pro anymore. In my younger days, I made $20-45K a year easily, but most races don’t bring in the masters athlete and when they do the money is not very good at all. When I won the USA XC Nationals, I didn’t make a penny, but the race cost me about $1,000 in tickets, hotel, rental car, baby sitter and food. I love to race the bigger races so I try and get into a few of them a year. I’m going to team up with Susan Loken in the More Marathon relay in April. Tthat will be a blast.
You live in Texas but compete for SoCal Fleet Feet. What do you gain for representing a nonlocal club? Shoes? Massages?
I found SoCal by accident when I was trying to get into a different race. Mark Cleary, their coach, was the contact and he talked me into joining so I wouldn’t be by myself when I went to national or world masters championships. I don’t receive anything as a member of the team, but support from my teammates, which is really nice to have.
I notice that you qualified for three Olympic Trials but didn’t compete. What event were you in? What prevented your competing?
If I’m anything, I’m a realist. I know what I’m capable of doing and that way I’m not blindsided by my performances. Every once in a while I get a gift and race out of my head, but I can pretty much predict my race time beforehand within 15-20 seconds either way.
In 1988, I was just a junior in college and knew that I didn’t have a chance at making the final, so I didn’t go. In 1992, I was fast enough to make the final, but knew that I would no way make the team, so I got married. In 1996, I had a shot at the final and the team, but I got pregnant.
Hunter was a gift for me. My running came so easily for me. I felt like something was missing in my life. I prayed a lot about it and asked God to help me fill the hole. A month later, I had my first period ever without birth control and a month later I was pregnant with Hunter. Ten months after Hunter, we were pregnant with Skyler. I had gotten back into great shape and ran 1:12:38 after the birth of our second son, but then I got osteoporosis in 1999 and never regained my elite form again.
At cross-country nationals, you beat Heather Fuhr, an Ironman Triathlon legend. You told my friend Don Norcross: “When I heard the announcer say, ‘Fifteen-time Ironman champion,’ I thought, ‘Dang, those girls are tough, I better make a move.’ ” You were tougher, though. Did you have a chance to chat with Heather afterward? If so, what did you talk about?
I spoke with Heather briefly after the race; she was very nice. We went to war out there and the battle always brings its fighters instant respect for one another, a bond of such. We each shared a moment in time that will stay with us. I hope to get to know her a lot better in the future.
You’ve also been quoted as saying:”When I was younger, in my 30s, I used to wonder why people did masters.” Now how do you explain your involvement in masters?
I really didn’t see myself still doing this at 40 when I was younger. I thought, surely I’ll move on. Clearly I have not moved on. I just don’t want to give it up. I could live without it if I truly felt that was the road God wanted me to follow, but I feel that this is where he wants me to be. I help people every day with this gift, I do not waste it or take it for granted. Every step, every mile is a blessing.
What’s your best event, and what’s your ultimate goal for that event as a masters runner?
I don’t know if I have a best event. I really love the 10-mile races; it is a good mix between speed and pure strength. If that had been an Olympic event, I might have made the team. I ran a 51:54 once and knew I was having a great day when I passed my husband, who was a really good runner, at 8 miles. At the time, it was the third-fastest in the world by a woman, but it didn’t count toward any records as it was in Austin, pretty much the same course as the 3M half. Its finish was lower than its start, but boy are there some big, big hills in between.
I love to do hard 10-mile-long runs and when I go sub-6, then I know I’m ready to race. I have really started to enjoy the shorter races 3K-5K as it doesn’t take me as long to recover. I said I would never run another half-marathon after my 1:16.40 at 3M in Austin last year, but here I go again in April with the More’s. I’m just pretty open to anything. I just won’t do a marathon. My bones would not be able to recover from it, and that just isn’t worth the risk to me.
What have you learned in masters competition that you didn’t know as an open athlete?
I’ve learned that you have to take time to recover; otherwise you will just break down and have to stop your season early. If I race, it takes me a week before I can go hard again. When I was younger, I could race back-to-back races; that is a rarity for me now. I’ve always been a low-mileage athlete, and I believe that is one of the reasons I’m still around. I pretty much train just like I did when I was younger, one hard run, one long run and recover in between. I just race a lot less.
How long will you continue to run?
That is easy. Until I can’t!!!

Here’s Jody leading Heather midway through San Diego nationals: