Jeff Galloway didn’t care if you finished in two hours or seven. He just wanted you to finish. That philosophy — radical in elite running circles, life-changing for millions of everyday athletes — is what runners across the world have been reflecting on since Galloway’s death on February 25 in Pensacola, Florida. He was 80, and he died from complications of a stroke.
Within hours of the news breaking, social media filled with tributes. Not from professional athletes or coaches — though they came too — but from regular people. People who once thought they could never run a marathon. People who were still running well into their 60s and 70s because of a book, a clinic, or a brief conversation with a man who had time for everyone.
“His philosophy changed my life and made running more enjoyable,” wrote Brett Lee Smith. “Rest in peace, sir.”
A Method That Reached Millions
Galloway, a 1972 Olympic 10,000-meter runner and former American record holder at 10 miles, spent the second half of his life doing something rare for an elite athlete: he turned his back on the podium and walked toward the back of the pack.
His run-walk-run method — structured intervals of running and walking that reduce injury risk and allow runners of all abilities to cover distances they never thought possible — became one of the most adopted training approaches in recreational running history. Followers call it “Jeffing.” Hundreds of thousands of runners have used it to complete their first marathon.
“You don’t have to aim for the Olympics or a Boston Marathon qualifying time,” Galloway would tell crowds at clinics and expos across the country. “You can change your life, improving it dramatically, by adopting a run-walk-run approach for your fitness goals.”
The comments pouring in this week show just how many people took that message to heart.
“I’d Never Have Been Able to Run”
Leslie J Moss put it simply: “Jeff was amazing. He could make you feel like you could do anything you set your mind to. I’d never have been able to run if he hadn’t been there.”
Nan Benally wrote that Galloway “helped me train for my first marathon at the age of 50. He will be missed.”
Craig Statchuk, 67, described adopting the method after five decades of traditional running. “I have never looked back,” he wrote. “You helped more people than you will ever know.”
Chaz Chaz, 61, credited Galloway with improving his running to the point where he now does 45-minute run intervals with just one minute of walking. “Thank you, Jeff,” he wrote.
The comments came from across the globe. Laurent Calin described discovering Galloway as a virtual coach bundled with his first Garmin watch. Monique van Thuijl wrote simply from the Netherlands: “Idem” — the same. Even that single word said something about how wide the reach was.
The Man Behind the Method
What sets the tributes apart from typical memorial posts is how personal they are. Galloway wasn’t just a name on a book cover to most of these people. He was someone they met at a race expo, a training camp, or a marathon clinic — and who remembered them.
Robin Gale St Clare recalled meeting him in the 1990s at a running camp and using his book to train for her first Boston qualifier in 1998. “11 Boston Marathons later,” she wrote, “I still RWR.”
Craig Romano credited Galloway’s books and writings with helping him earn a Boston qualifier back in 1990. Michelle Alarie thanked him for helping her run her first Boston Marathon.
Patricia Kingsbury Simpson shared that Galloway personally ran with her during a training program. “I guess he thought I was the most pathetic person in the group,” she wrote, adding that he encouraged her every step of the way.
Howard W. Abell, who worked with Galloway on a race in Louisville more than 20 years ago, described what many echoed: “He was always about helping others — never about himself.”
Mark W. King recalled a chance encounter while volunteering at a marathon in Fresno. He was driving a shuttle van and struck up a conversation with a man outside a hotel, not knowing who he was. The man, who turned out to be Galloway, gave him encouragement about his own running. “He didn’t tell me who he was,” King wrote.
What His Peers Said
Four-time Boston and New York City Marathon winner Bill Rodgers ran alongside Galloway at Wesleyan University in the 1960s and watched him change direction when most elite runners never would. “Jeff was like this powerful southern preacher of running,” Rodgers said. “I can’t think of another Olympic runner who downshifted the way Jeff did so he could reach so many average people.”
Chris Twiggs, chief training officer at Galloway Training Programs, traveled with Galloway to Beijing, where Chinese runners wore shirts with his face printed on them. But Twiggs said it was the one-on-one moments that defined him most. “He was fully invested in every conversation,” Twiggs said. “He would spend as much time as possible with every individual, looking straight in their eyes and deep in their soul, listening, and letting them know he believed in them.”
Richard Penney, commenting on the Marathon Handbook Facebook post, captured what Galloway himself had said in various forms over the years: “I heard him say he enjoyed watching middle of the pack runners cross the finish line more than seeing an elite winner cross in first place.”
A Legacy Still Moving Forward
This weekend, Disney World hosted its annual Princess Half Marathon Weekend, expected to draw around 20,000 participants. Galloway’s training programs have long been woven into Disney’s race weekends, and many runners wore green and blue ribbons in his honor.
The tributes did not come only from those who ran fast or far. Greg Nichols wrote about completing Big Sur Marathon with Galloway using the run-walk method. Danny Keith McWilliams did training runs with him in Atlanta. John Demers called himself one of the “jeffing fools at runDisney” — and wrote it with obvious pride.
Larry Zalewski, whose comment captured the feeling better than most, wrote: “A huge influence on not only my running but my life. And every runner knows that running is life.”
Jeff Galloway is survived by his wife Barbara, and by the tens of thousands of runners who will head out this weekend — some running, some walking, some doing both — because he told them they could. If you’re looking for ways to stay motivated in your own training, perhaps the best place to start is with the example he set.
