How Olympian Jeff Galloway is still running marathons at 80 as he trains for his 237th
Galloway, whose Run-Walk-Run method has helped countless people take up endurance running, reveals how he trains and what he eats
Jeff Galloway tends to be pretty low-key about birthdays, but on July 12 this year, things were decidedly different: the inspirational American Olympian runner turned 80.
“I guess this year, because it had a zero on the end, I got a lot of nice messages – a few thousand actually,” he laughs from his home in Florida, where he lives with his wife of 50 years, Barb, who shares his passion for running.
To say Galloway has had a positive impact on the take-up of competitive running would be an understatement.
He pioneered the Run-Walk-Run method in 1974 – known informally as “Jeffing” – a training style that involves strategic, small walk breaks to allow runners to manage fatigue and avoid injury. The method has made finishing a distance event accessible to almost everyone.
More than a million runners and walkers have read Galloway’s books, attended his retreats and running schools, or had online coaching.
Anyone can start endurance training with this method, whatever their age, Galloway believes. One of his proudest achievements was getting his then heavily overweight father, Elliott, into running using this method.