Jeff Galloway, the much-loved mentor of many American runners, who became a formative figure in the running movement by his tireless promotion of the sport and its life benefits, died on Wednesday at the age of 80 from complications from a stroke and brain bleeding, Runner’s World has learned.
As a runner of limited talent and limitless dedication, Galloway embodied the idealism of the amateur first running boom in the 1960s and 1970s. After becoming what he called an “unlikely Olympian,” he applied his teaching skills to his love of running, and for more than 50 years he was ingeniously inventive in finding ways to recruit, inspire, and educate runners. He was a pioneer of the run/walk method, also known as the “Galloway Method” or “Jeffing,” which instructed runners to add walking intervals into their runs.
Galloway founded running stores, running groups, running camps, and running travel. He was involved in creating important races, he was one of the sport’s most sought after speakers, he wrote and marketed its best-selling training book, and he continued to adapt by moving into social media, podcasts, and race promotion.
With this record of innovation and his unequaled reach into the running community, Galloway was probably the most influential single contributor to the evolving running movement in America. Yet he never lost his modesty, his accessibility, or his generous impulse to teach. Many of his followers and clients came to regard him as a personal friend.
Born John F. Galloway (called Jeff), in Raleigh, North Carolina, he was the son of a naval officer, which made for a disrupted childhood. By 1958, in eighth grade, he had attended 14 schools and was, by his own account, an overweight kid with no sports experience who was struggling academically. Trying cross-country, he found that running could be “a boost to my spirit and brain,” and “bestow a sense of hope,” and he discovered the sport’s supportive group dynamics. It took more than two years for him to show any talent, although at Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, he did eventually run a 4:28 mile and win a state high school 2-mile championship (9:48 at age 17).
Running helped him improve academically, and he went on to Wesleyan University in Connecticut. The lack of a high-pressure track program there brought unexpected bonuses—the friendships of Amby Burfoot and Bill Rodgers as cross-country teammates, opportunity to train indoors at Yale with Frank Shorter, and the freedom to compete on weekends in New England’s extensive choice of road races. “I loved running road races,” Galloway said, and that experience helped him become All-American, improving on the track to a 4:12 mile, and 14:10 for 3 miles.
