The global running community lost its #1 ambassador yesterday with the death of Jeff Galloway, 80. He died in Pensacola, Florida, from complications of a recent stroke.
And I lost my favorite training partner. Jeff and I ran together every day for three years as college students at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) in the mid 1960s. Before Jeff, I had been mentored by my high school coach, John J. Kelley, twice an Olympic marathon runner and once a Boston Marathon winner (1957).
You could call me lucky for these early influences. But I will tell you: There is not a word big enough to express the gratitude I feel.
Four-time Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon winner Bill Rodgers also ran with Galloway at Wesleyan, and crossed paths with him many times in the last 50 years. “Jeff was like this powerful southern preacher of running,” he said. “I can’t think of another Olympic runner who downshifted the way Jeff did so he could reach so many average people.”
Galloway Told Runners To Be Captain Of Their Own Ships
Kelley was a mercurial genius. Galloway was more like a ship’s captain–steady, steady, steady. The first time I saw his running log, I was stunned.
It was unlike any other. I kept my weekly mileage totals in a thin mini-notebook. Jeff kept his in a literal captain’s log; it was hard covered and big as a coffee-table photo book.
This was a runner who took his workouts seriously, and believed they should be duly recorded.
Galloway’s intent and discipline eventually led to an Olympic team berth in 1972 and a marathon PR of 2:16:36.
This is not how he will be remembered, however. Tens of thousands of would-be runners in the U.S. and beyond heard Jeff speak at marathon clinics and small, retail runner gatherings. He had a simple message for them.
You don’t have to aim for the Olympics or a Boston Marathon qualifying time. You can change your life, improving it dramatically, by adopting a run-walk-run approach for your fitness goals.
Don’t measure yourself against others. Just take a few strides forward from where you are today. The mental and physical benefits will soon be apparent to you.
The Joy Of 7-Hour Marathons
I met many Galloway runners, also called fans of “Jeffing,” at the Honolulu Marathon in December. He was supposed to be there to run a marathon in the 8th consecutive decade of his life. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury in a household accident, and couldn’t make the trip.
I have always supported midpack runners, as Jeff did, but truth to tell I hadn’t met a lot at the back of the midpack. In Honolulu, I did.
I spent marathon day mostly in bed with a cold, and was happy to be there. The day turned gray and rainy, with high winds. No fun for anyone.
That evening, feeling better, I went to a celebration party of Galloway runners who had traveled to Honolulu even when Jeff couldn’t. Many had finished in 7 hours, give or take 30 minutes. I expected to hear tales of misery.
That isn’t what I found. Almost all seemed pleased and excited with their day’s efforts. I was particularly struck by one woman in her 70s who had run the entire marathon with a Holter monitor due to her recent heart problems.
The monitor didn’t survive the wind and rain. The runner did. She just kept plugging along even after she realized her heart-protection device had shorted out.
Jeff had that kind of effect on people. He made them believers.
“Tell Yourself: ‘I Love The Hills’ ”
Even my wife. She attended one of Jeff’s Lake Tahoe retreats in 1990, five years before we were married, and complained about the steep climbs up the Lake Tahoe hills. “Cristina, you need to change your attitude about hills,” he intoned in his deep but calming southern drawl. “You have to tell yourself, ‘I love the hills.’ ”
A few years later, Jeff was becoming more committed to the run-walk-run program, and Cristina was losing fitness motivation with each passing year. At one meeting, he took the Gym Boss timing device off his wrist, and handed it to her. “You can use this to set your favorite run-walk intervals,” he said. “You’ll enjoy your running much more with walk breaks.”
He was right. “Jeff saved my running life with his run-walk-run program,” she notes today. “I’m still at it, because it really works, and helps me feel much better when I run.”
The Galloway Method, From China to Disney World
Chris Twiggs, the chief training officer at Galloway Training Programs, remembers a trip to Beijing, China, with Galloway. “Jeff was celebrated as a hero there,” Twiggs said. “All the runners wore shirts with Jeff’s face on them.”
Anyone who ever spoke with Jeff recalls the Galloway stare. He looked into your eyes so close and so direct that it was almost frightening. Twiggs saw something different.
“He was fully invested in every conversation. 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.”
This weekend Disney World is hosting the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend with an expected 20,000 participants. Galloway’s training programs have long been an instrumental part of Disney races. Many of this weekend’s runners are expected to wear green and blue ribbons to honor Jeff Galloway and his important role in their running.
Like Father, Like Son
In many ways, Jeff followed in his father’s footsteps. Elliott Galloway started a private school in Atlanta in the 1960s when he felt other schools weren’t getting the job done. (He also became a marathon runner with Jeff’s coaching.)
Jeff Galloway was an educator, too. He saw that the emphasis on elite runner performance and training wasn’t helpful to typical recreational runners. So he also started a new school.
Few if any have called it “The Galloway School of Running” but that’s essentially what it was.
And it graduated more healthy, happy runners than any other running program I have known.
There can be no greater legacy than this.
More on Jeff Galloway:
At 80, Jeff Galloway Is Still Preaching The Gospel Of Running
Recent Marathon Handbook article (December, 2025)
Jeff Galloway’s site, with training resources
Jeff Galloway’s Wikipedia page
Family statement on Facebook, and comments from friends and followers:
