A 90-Year-Old Grandma Named Dot Is Your New Half-Marathon Record Holder

This article was originally published on Women’s Running.

The Chicago Lifetime Half Marathon, held on September 24, 2023, had a lot of amazing contenders, but 90-year-old Dot Sowerby stood out among the crowd as she valiantly crossed the finish line with a time of 3:33:47, setting the new American women’s record for 90-94 age group.

The previous record was set by 94-year-old Harriette Thompson in 2017 at the Rock N’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon, clocking in at 3:42:56.

“I had looked up her time beforehand,” Sowerby says. “So I was aiming for that time in my practice runs and was confident I could get it.”

This isn’t the first time she’s made history. Just this past July, Sowerby competed in the USATF Masters Outdoor Championships in Greensboro and broke the 1,500 meter world record for women over 90, finishing at 11:30:62. This is a minute faster than the previous record held by Canadian Lenore Montgomery’s time, 12:34:67.

Who Is Dot Sowerby?

Sowerby was born in White Plains, New York, and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, when she was young. She always had an abundance of energy—and obviously still does to this day—that couldn’t be contained.

“I grew up with two brothers and was a tomboy,” she says. “So I was always running, jumping, and skipping. My brothers were athletes who played football and tennis—and when they played games with the neighborhood boys, they’d always get me to join.”

Though Sowerby played basketball and tennis in high school and college, women’s running wasn’t yet accepted at Hollins University where she attended.

“I wasn’t aware that this [running] was wrong, because it’s what everyone thought,” she says. “It didn’t seem unusual to me at the time.”

Sowerby began seriously running later in life in her late forties. “When I first started running  again, I would take the side streets so people wouldn’t see me,” she says. “Because I thought people would think a woman at my age running was odd.”

Her son, Jim Sowerby, remembers that when he was growing up, his mother was athletic.

“She taught me how to play basketball and tennis when I was a kid,” he says. “I remember being a somewhat confident 9 or 10-year-old running around on the beach one vacation, thinking I was pretty fast. Then she said, ‘Let’s draw a line in the sand and race’ and I thought I could beat her easily, but she blew by me. She just smiled with a little twinkle in her eye.”

When she was 50 and ready to sign up for her first race, the running space, it seems, wasn’t prepared for the speedy rocket Sowerby was. The race registration age range ended right at 50.

“I told the race organizers, ‘Next year, I’ll be older and you won’t even have my age group!’” She says. “And they said they never thought anyone ran after the age of 50. Since then, I’ve always been pushing the age category more and more.”

When she turned 70, Sowerby’s friends tried to get her to hang up her running shoes. Even though she’s checked with her doctor and has been given the green light, they were concerned about her health and used to tell her that running simply wasn’t something women their age did. Even her son, Jim Sowerby, was a little concerned initially.

“Mom usually runs shorted distances (sprints, 400m, 800m) in the Senior Olympics and the occasional 5K in the neighborhood,” he says. “So I was a little surprised, and a little worried, when she said that she might join my sister, brother-in-law, and I in running the Chicago Half Marathon nine months before the race.”

But his worries were alleviated as he saw her train consistently and watched her get stronger with every run.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t tell anyone I was going to try to do this long distance race in case I couldn’t make it, but she does the opposite – she tells everyone, contacts the race organizers, you name it,” Jim says. “She trained methodically, waking up early each week as she did longer runs in the dark around the retirement village. Running this half marathon as a really a new evolution, at 90, in her running repertoire.”

Daughter, Anne Samuels, says that her mother has always been active and she can barely keep up with her energy.

“She loves working toward a goal to keep her motivated,” Samuels says. “She has such a positive outlook on life and is always planning her next adventure. I want to follow in her footsteps and stay active and push myself to do more challenges.”

Granddaughter, Elizabeth Samuels, grew up watching Sowerby running, so to her, it was the norm. In middle school, Elizabeth and Sowerby ran the Greensboro Turkey Trot together and, since then, the entire family has been running the race for the last 15 years.

“Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is 90 because she acts like she is 70,” Elizabeth says. “It blows us away everyday that she can run in competitive races and crush the competition. I think I’m one of the only people who can say my grandmother ran a half marathon and is a record holder.”

Elizabeth gushes over her grandmother’s endless positivity.

“She never complains and always sees the best in any situation,” Elizabeth says. “Lots of people ask her after the race if she’s exhausted or if her legs hurt, and her response is always, ‘Not at all, I feel great!’ She is a great reminder that just because you get older, that doesn’t mean you can’t be physically fit.”

“I think she’s the best runner in the family,” Jim says. “My sister, brother-in-law, and I run partly becuase she sets a high bar and encourages us. My big fear in running the Chicago Half was whether I could, at 60, beat my 90-year-old mother.”

The Chicago Life Time Half Marathon

When Sowerby signed up for the Chicago Half, the race age groups ended at 70. After a few emails back and forth with the race organizers, a new age group 90-98 was established.

Though she didn’t have a coach for her training, she had lots of help from the fitness directors at her Greensboro retirement community, and her family was always swapping tips. Sowerby printed out a calendar with her mileage per day, and would increase how much she ran every other week.

“I do something every single day, whether it’s walking, running or swimming,” she says. “We have wonderful exercise classes in my retirement home, as well, so I just get in as much exercise as I can.”

She starts off her day at 6 A.M., taking a walk-run that ends at her own garden plot, where she grows fresh vegetables. Sowerby says she has a pre-breakfast snack of tomatoes and greens before heading inside for breakfast.

“I don’t like much meat, but I do try to eat a little bit of it everyday—chicken, fish, and I really like liver—but I mainly love raw vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower,” Sowerby says. “I try not to eat too many sweets and chips and stick to a sensible diet.”

Sowerby got in two 13-mile runs before the Chicago Half Marathon, then kept her exercise light for the weeks leading up to the race. For race day, she felt prepared and excited. Her granddaughter taped a sign to Sowerby’s back that read: I’m Dot and I’m 90 years old!” Racers all around her were thrilled to see her run, offering words of encouragement.

“At the last quarter mile, where I saw her, she was running at a good pace slightly up the hill to the finish,” Jim says. “She did a fist pump about 100 yards before the finish, and there were a number of people (many of them young people) still coming behind her. We were very proud.”

“After the race, I was just so exhilarated,” Sowerby says. “I didn’t feel tired, nothing hurt, and for that whole day, I wasn’t even sore or tired. The next day I was a little sore, but for the most part I was fine!”

Sowerby doesn’t do a lot of stretching, but she finds that starting out her runs at a slower pace allows her muscles to warm up nicely.

What’s Next for the 90-Year-Old Record-Holder?

Even though Sowerby smashed the record, she isn’t close to being done. She’s already prepping for a local Greensboro 10K in two weeks, a few more 5Ks after that, and then the Greensboro Turkey Trot 10K. She always has a goal, something to train for.

“I find that if I go a few weeks without training, I can sure tell the difference,” Sowerby says. “It’s so important for me to keep running.”

Sowerby’s upcoming 10K consists of several big hills, which the flat Chicago Half Marathon did not have. She’s been practicing running hills around her retirement community so she can be prepared.

Her endless enthusiasm and love for a challenge is contagious and whole-heartedly inspiring. Sowerby says her life mission is to motivate anyone to run, no matter their age.

“You’re never too old to start running,” she says. “If I can inspire someone that way, that’s what I want to do.”