What keeps 37-year-old Justin Gatlin on the track?

Justin Gatlin has been to the Olympics. He’s been heralded as one of the fastest men on the planet. And he’s been banned for doping.

Now, he’s 37. So, after all he’s been through, why do his legs keep churning?

It’s all because of a conversation.

As Gatlin recalls, it took place around 2004 when he was back home on his parent’s couch talking with Paul Lawrence, a friend and teammate of his at Woodham High School in Florida. While the two sat there, Gatlin, then still young in his pro career, listened as Lawrence looked back on his own athletic career and regretted shutting it down so fast.

“To hear him say that, I felt like I had to take on that responsibility and keep on going for people like him,” Gatlin said during a news conference in Des Moines on Wednesday.

So, that’s what the sprinter has done over the years: He’s kept going, kept competing. The latest challenge for Gatlin will come this week when he competes in the 100 meters at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium.

“There have been times in my career where I’ve been so dialed-in and focused, and I realized when people told me, ‘Do you remember this?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I don’t,’ because I was so focused on everything,” he said. “Now, I can just be there and be like, ‘I’ll remember this. This was a great time.’ ”

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Gatlin is trying to soak up all the moments he has on the track. He acknowledges his days are numbered. All he has to do is look around the track and see who he’s competing with. Gatlin is no longer the one in his prime. He’s the grizzled veteran in a 100 field full of young talent in Des Moines this week.

And time is ticking.

Christian Coleman, who earned a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships, is just 23. Ronnie Baker, an indoor bronze medalist, is only 25. And then there’s Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion (and 2005 and 2017 world champion), who’s still going strong. He can thank Lawrence’s words of wisdom for keeping him going.

Justin Gatlin celebrates after winning in the men’s 100 during the IAAF Diamond League competition on July 12 in Monaco. (Photo: VALERY HACHE, AFP/Getty Images)

“I grew up with a lot of talented athletes through high school, through college,” Gatlin said. “And listening to some of them throughout the years — saying they wish they could have (done more) or they wish that they could have run a little longer or they wish they would have taken it more serious — it always resonated with me to make me feel, ‘OK, let me go and really get all I have (out of this),’ ” Gatlin said.

Being motivated to do it is one thing. Actually being able to do it is another. But Gatlin is still training with runners as young as 21. Gatlin has also managed to keep going strong by learning to be more patient.

Gatlin, who already has a spot in this year’s worlds, will run at least one round in the 100. If he feels well enough, he’ll keep going. If not, he’ll rest up.

“We have two more months to go until we get to the World Championships, so I’m just going to play it by ear and see exactly how I feel,” Gatlin said. “That’s going to be my strategy.”

Even though Gatlin is now the veteran of the group, he doesn’t feel that he’s running on empty. Age is but another number. The only time he said he notices that the number is getting higher is when he hears the music some of his training partners are jamming out to. Or when he has to check in with them to see if they’re feeling just as sore as he is.

“I use them more as a sounding board,” Gatlin explained. “Like, we come to practice the next day and I’m like, ‘You guys sore? I’m sore, you sore?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re sore.’ (So I’m like), ‘OK, it’s the workout, then, and not the age.’ ”

Nonetheless, his time is winding down. Gatlin said he was so focused on chasing wins in the past that he often didn’t embrace the monumental moments he was experiencing. But that’s changing as he’s reaching a still-indefinite end of his career.

“I really try not to set a date for myself, because I feel like that’s when I’ll be really focused on my time away from the sport,” he said. “And I need to focus on where I’m at right now.”

Even though Gatlin doesn’t want to look too far into the future, he does have his sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. And he’s focused on that message from a friend.

“I feel like it wasn’t just (Lawrence) talking,” Gatlin said. “I took on that responsibility.”

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