RUN, EAT, DRINK, and Celebrate Jeff Galloway’s 80th birthday with us!
Jeff Galloway, famously known as "America's Coach" and Olympic athlete, is about to achieve something remarkable that no one else has done before – running marathons across eight decades of life. Now approaching his 80th birthday, Jeff shares his journey toward completing this historic milestone at the Honolulu Marathon this December.
Behind this extraordinary achievement lies a deeply personal story of resilience. Jeff candidly discusses his recovery from heart failure and a heart attack, revealing how he adapted his renowned Run-Walk-Run method to accommodate his new cardiac reality. Starting with just three seconds of running at a time post-heart attack, he's now able to complete 13-mile training runs by carefully balancing short running segments with strategic walking breaks. His approach isn't just about survival – it's about thriving within new limitations while maintaining the mental benefits that made him fall in love with running decades ago.
The Honolulu Marathon holds profound significance for Jeff beyond just being his eighth-decade marathon attempt. It's where he proposed to his wife Barbara nearly 50 years ago, where he stationed during his Navy service, and where he achieved one of his most memorable victories in 1974, defeating Olympic medalists Frank Shorter and Kenny Moore. Now, he's returning with a different goal – simply crossing the finish line while potentially setting a world record.
Throughout our conversation, Jeff shares fascinating insights about running's evolutionary importance, explaining how movement shaped human brain development and continues to activate neural circuits that improve our attitude, energy levels, and problem-solving abilities. "Running is what enabled our species to survive," he explains. "When we run, we grow more brain cells and activate the parts of the brain that give us a better attitude, more energy, and the ability to overcome challenges."
For those inspired by Jeff's journey, he's created an opportunity to join him in Hawaii through a special travel package that includes accommodations, pre and post-race celebrations, and his personal coaching. Whether you're a seasoned marathoner or curious beginner, Jeff's story reminds us all that the true power of running lies not in speed or distance, but in "staying in the game" through every decade of life.
Find out more and connect with Jeff at www.jeffgalloway.com.
THAT’S A WRAP!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Chris Twiggs, chief Training Officer for
Galloway Training, and you'relistening to the Run Eat Drink
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Run, eat, drink podcast.
We feature destination racesfrom across the country and
after the race, we take you on atour of the best local food and
beverage to celebrate.
So whether you are an eliterunner or a back of the packer
like us, you'll know the bestplaces to accomplish, explore
and indulge on your nextruncation.
(00:33):
Dana, on today's episode wewelcome back a friend of the
show, our coach, america's coachOlympian, jeff Galloway.
Welcome to our show.
Thanks for coming back on, jeff.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Well, Amy and Dana, I am very pleased to be part of
the show.
Let's get on with the show.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
We ought to give you credit for the show because
without you, without yourtraining program, there would
never have been a show.
No, or it would have been avery different show where we
talk about the mistakes we'vemade all the blunders we've made
in training for running.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
For sure.
Let me just editorialize hereand say that there are a lot of
podcasts that get into thattheme of all the mistakes that
I've made, that get into thattheme of all the mistakes that
I've made.
Unfortunately, I hear theresults of people who are
listening to those podcasts anddon't get any ways of getting
out of the mistakes.
(01:34):
What we're about is to givepeople solutions, proven
solutions, and I'm proud to bepart of that team.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You have customized coaching with Coach Twiggs.
You have coaching, and I havebeen privileged to be a part of
that and you have helped mecross many a finish line in the
upright position and withoutpuking also.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Which is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, we are against it.
I've heard you in several talksat Walt Disney World, as you
are their official trainingconsultant, talking about how
you are against it, how to avoidit, and I think people should
take your advice on that andmany other running related
topics.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, and that's another problem that runners can
have.
That is usually avoidable.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now we got you on the show.
What all have you been up tosince you were last on the show?
You've been a busy guy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, a lot of projects going on here and
basically I'm so pleased that myson, weston, has taken the
reins and CEO of GallowayProductions and he's doing a
great job.
He has produced one app and nowis producing a second app
(02:50):
that's going to be moreinclusive about programs and
things that people are lookingat, including corporate programs
and so forth.
So it's a series of big leaps.
It's a series of big leapswhich means that I have the
ability to keep my brainoperating as he feeds things to
me and gives me assignments todo, and I'm very pleased about
(03:15):
that.
But it's a very important timein running because there's so
much misinformation out thereand our goal, as is your goal in
the podcast, is to give peopleinformation that works, and we
know it works for hundreds ofthousands of people that we've
(03:38):
heard from and tabulated andthen put in our database on the
various things.
To be specific about things, Iam doing my regular exercise
every day, which includesgetting at least 15,000 steps a
day.
I am also involved in somewriting projects.
(04:03):
Involved in some writingprojects, I am working every
week on a book called CardiacComeback that tells about my
story in making that comebackafter heart failure and a heart
attack.
We have a number of retreatsthat have started back again
(04:25):
that we do on the panhandle ofFlorida and there'll be one each
year out in Lake Tahoe, andthese are just wonderful times.
They're so upbeat, people getso motivated by these and it's a
wonderful life.
Most important in my life is myfamily my wonderful wife
(04:46):
Barbara we will be celebratingour 50th next year my wonderful
children and grandchildren.
It's just a great time in lifefor all these neat things that
are going on.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
You have the love and support of your family while
supporting the corporate world,individual runners and people
who have had health-relatedchallenges.
You have come back from aheart-related challenge.
How are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I feel good practically every day.
I was talking to somebodyearlier this week and they asked
the same question.
My comeback from my gut and myheart is that generally in life
I feel as good as I've ever feltNow, like before my heart
(05:41):
attack.
There are days when I'm tired.
Other days I feel reallyexuberant all day long.
I love the opportunity to tellpeople how to get through these
challenges, as I've gone throughthem.
The greatest challenge now thatI face is when I run, which is
either every second or third day.
(06:03):
Running is tough.
There's damage from the AgentOrange that will never be taken
away.
It doesn't allow my heart topump adequate enough for me to
run the way I'd like to run, butthat's okay.
I can run Even very shortrunning segments.
Even when I was only runningthree seconds at a time when I
(06:23):
first started running back aftermy heart attack, I was still
getting all the mental benefitsthat I received from doing
whatever I used to do, and thathas remained true to this day.
So the running enhances themental effects of exercise the
(06:48):
mental effects of exercise, butI'm truly discovering the
benefits of walking and beingable to keep you from getting
too tired, to avoid injuries andexhaustion, and life is good.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
What's your current run-walk ratio?
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It varies from day to day.
One of the things about mysituation, because of the lack
of blood flow that comes out ofthe heart, is that if I push too
hard due to certain medicationsthat I'm on to keep me from
overdoing it, I will get alittle dizzy.
So I have to monitor my run,walk, run, based on a dizziness
(07:26):
that comes on.
What it usually means is I willstart out at five to seven
seconds of running and about 15seconds of walking, and I can
get up to as much as 15, 15,which is actually what I was
doing before my heart attack.
If that's not working, which itoften isn't, then I find a
(07:50):
lower amount, and I can alwaysfind a lower amount.
So it's really been a greatchallenge to allow me to advise
others who are going throughsimilar situations.
You have to realize that heartdisease is the number one killer
in our country and it's wayahead of second place, and a lot
(08:15):
of people don't know they haveit.
But once they're diagnosed orthey've had a heart attack, most
people give up on exercise,even though they know that it
probably would be good for them,but they don't have a clue as
to what they need to do so.
The book is going to be aboutgiving suggestions, and one of
(08:37):
the ones at the top of the listis listen to your doctor.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Listen to your doctor number one.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, I'm not going to tell you what your medical
situation is.
I'm going to tell you that ifyour doctor gives you the, okay,
what has worked for a lot ofpeople in that situation?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I love the fact that you embrace you really have done
this your entire life, at leastyour running life that I'm
aware of you.
You embrace the things thathave happened to you and you
incorporate them and you're soopen and willing to talk about
it.
A lot of people wouldn't bethat open and not just talk
about it like behind a paywall.
You'll talk about it anywhereand it's because you want people
(09:18):
to listen and hear the message.
And I, just when you mentionedheart disease is a leading cause
of death, I just did a quickGoogle search.
It says about 695,000 deathsannually, or one in every five
deaths in the US.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, it's a huge number.
Now, fortunately, that numberhas gone down over the years.
It used to be much greater thanthat.
But the bottom line is,exercise has been the primary
reason, along with medicationsthat have allowed for this
(09:58):
decline to happen.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, and that's that is something that you couldn't
have imagined, let's say, whenyou started your running journey
.
The medical advances areabsolutely incredible and
they're growing exponentially.
They're so much better in aquicker amount of time.
Now we're starting to see that,and when you talked about your
heart attack here on the showand you talked about the fact
that the extent of the blockageand what they had to do and that
(10:30):
they had, how they had to workyou on the table, it's amazing
to think how far we've come andwe're so grateful to be able to
have you on the show, and that'stestament to medicine.
Medicine's also a testament toyour fit level of fitness.
Yeah, fitness.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Fifteen years ago, I would not have survived.
They didn't have the technology, they didn't have the type of
defibrillation that I now haveon my chest, my ambulance in the
chest, that really regulatesthings quite well and we do have
that and space age stuff.
(11:04):
It's really exciting whatthey're doing with heart issues
and it gives people a chance fornot just life after a heart
attack but quality of life aftera heart attack?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, exactly.
And speaking of quality of life, after your heart-related
incident you have a high qualityof life such that you have a
big birthday coming up on July12th.
How old will?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
you be 80 years old.
Eight decades.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Eight decades.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's a great milestone.
And how are you planning tocelebrate that birthday?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Decades.
That's a great milestone, andhow are you planning to
celebrate that birthday?
As always, the most importantperson in my life is Barb, so
Barb and I will have a series ofthings that we're working on
right now.
It's not going to be in.
I'm not a big one on birthdayparties and I never have been,
(12:06):
so we're not inviting a lot ofpeople over or anything.
It's really about family, andso Barb and I are working on our
special ingredients for that,and it's going to be a wonderful
day.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And I think you.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
We've heard about some plans at the Honolulu
marathon, as maybe a delayedcelebration.
Can you talk about that?
Oh yeah, that, as a matter offact, barb says when anybody
asks aren't you going to have abig birthday party?
And she says what's going to bein Honolulu?
And there are a lot of reasonsfor this, and it's really not
based on the fact that Iactually won the Honolulu
Marathon in 1974, second year,and in the process it's the only
(12:57):
time that I beat my friendFrank Shorter and my Olympic
teammate Kenny Moore.
They were ones who finishedfirst and fourth in my Olympics,
the Munich Olympics.
It was really primarily basedon the fact that weekend, when
we're going to be in Honolulu,is the 50th anniversary of when
(13:22):
Barb and I got engaged there inHonolulu.
There's a lot of other thingsabout Honolulu that were very
significant in my life.
It was the site of my secondtour of duty in the Navy.
My first tour was as offVietnam for 18 months, 12 of
which were in the combat zone,but the bottom line in my second
(13:47):
tour is that I was assigned toa ship that was originally
designed to go into Hanoi Harborand sweep mines out of there.
I wasn't really looking forwardto that assignment, but when I
reported to the ship it was inthe shipyards and they were
having a series of problems thatnever went away during the time
(14:08):
period I was assigned there.
So what that meant was, for thefirst time in a year and a half
, I was able to get back intoregular running.
And I did.
And I, when I arrived there, Iknew I wanted to recreational
run for the rest of my life, butI had no idea that I might want
(14:30):
to really do the gut-wrenchingstuff you have to do to train
for the Olympics in two years alittle over two years, and I
just pieced it day by day anddeveloped an appreciation for so
much joy that you get fromevery run if you do it the right
way.
And I found my fitness comingback much quickly than I thought
(14:55):
and within six months I was inthe same shape that I had been
before.
I joined the Navy and actuallyset a record on one of the
courses out there that stillstands to this day we're talking
about from the 60s to now.
Now there's a caveat on thatAfter about 20 years of running
(15:19):
that race, they maintained theyturned the course around and
they don't run the course theway I ran it and set the record.
So my record will probablystand forever.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, isn't that wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
There you go.
You could be a record holderand also an Olympian, and it's
amazing that you mentioned allof those reasons why you chose
the Honolulu Marathon.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Well, it's not a bad place to go for a running event
either.
It's really.
It creates the whole friendlyatmosphere of coming together,
and I'm very excited about thewhole weekend and my running
part is going to be minimalbecause my main goal is to cross
(16:12):
that finish line.
That's it.
That is the goal for me and thereason, the main reason for
that is that I've got a chanceto set what could be a world
record, and that is the veryfirst person to have run a
marathon in eight decades oflife.
And it's all about staying inthe game.
(16:36):
So, I'm working now on during mylong training runs, which are
up to 13 miles now, and whatstrategy of running and walking
I'll be using, and it's going tobe mostly running, mostly
walking, rather, and becauseit's going to be hot and humid
there.
I have run that marathon fiveor six times and I know what
(16:59):
it's going to be like.
But I know that with walkingI've got complete control over
that whole heat aspect of it.
But it's a wonderful return todoing a marathon and that will
be five years after I ran mylast one, but it will be my
(17:19):
marathon for the 80-year-oldbracket.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Wow, that's fantastic .
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I tell you what and you know what?
Honolulu, I was browsing aroundtheir website.
There's no time limit, there'sno, they're going to sweep you
off the course, kind of thingthat's right, that's exactly
right.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And, telling the truth, I do not believe that I
will be able to stay at 16minutes per mile In the Disney
races.
I would get swept.
My heart just won't put it out.
And on the other hand, I knowthat if I try to challenge
(18:04):
myself to run faster, I couldinduce rhythm problems that
could compromise or kill me, andso I'm not going to push myself
to limits.
That's just something I don'tdo anymore.
You should avoid that let's not.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, yes, Much like puking on the race course, dying
on the race course.
We're against that 100%.
A little bit worse.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yes, 100%, but I think it was just.
It's well.
Stars have aligned so much forthis to be the perfect event for
you to set a world record andnot have to worry about pacers
or maintaining that kind of 16minute per mile or any minute
(18:49):
per mile pace, and so you don't.
That's gotta be mentally.
That's got to be a positivething for you not to have that
pressure.
I don't do you put thatpressure on yourself you put
that pressure on yourself.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I do now that I've had the cardiac issue, because
the fact is that it's intensityon endurance events that can
cause the catastrophic issues.
You know that intensity is gone, and so my plan is to run a
little bit every quarter of amile.
I'm going to run a little bitevery quarter of a mile
throughout the 26 miles and I'mgoing to tell stories in between
(19:32):
, and I've already got a longlist of stories.
Anybody who's willing to listencan come along.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
How wonderful would that be, yeah really, and I
think that this would be a greatmarathon for somebody who maybe
is doing the marathon for thefirst time.
I could be wrong.
What are your thoughts on that,jeff?
Is this a good one for a firsttime?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
The only caveat there is the weather issue, because
recently I've done a littlesurvey on it and recently the
temperature has gone up into the80s and the humidity has been
quite high also.
So for a beginner to get intothose situations you just have
(20:15):
to find people that have hadenough training in those
conditions and have been able tonot have problems with heat
issues.
Particularly troubling would bepeople entering from cold
weather climates like up innorthern Europe, northern Canada
(20:37):
, even going down into NewEngland and areas like that,
because it starts to get coolnormally up there in those areas
in September, october.
I know that in Alaska they gettheir first snowfall in late
August or early September andthey have a lot of cold weather
(21:01):
before December.
So that's the main caveat therehave a lot of cold weather
before December.
So that's the main caveat there.
Heat If you can handle thatheat and be willing to slow down
and or sit, walk or sit down ifyou start to overheat and cool
yourself off, then that would bea good one for first timers.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So it's the heat.
It's not necessarily a timelimit, because that is of no
consequence here in thisparticular race.
It's just the heat challenge.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Any other aspects of this race that runners might
want to train for?
Prepare for?
What's the terrain like?
What's the course like?
Is it something they should beconcerned with?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
It has a fairly long hill, about two and a half three
miles into it, which is DiamondHead.
You don't run to the top of thecrater but you do.
You run alongside and it is asignificant climb.
That is the better part of onemile up.
It just keeps going up.
It's not a steep hill, but it'sa long one up.
(22:10):
It's not a steep hill, but it'sa long one.
Now then you get out intobasically a rolling situation
with no real serious uphillslike that, but you do have ups
and downs.
It is not a flat course and youparticularly notice that on the
way back after you've made yourturn and you realize that it's
getting warmer, it's very humidand you have some uphills and
(22:34):
the uphills are very noticeableat that point.
But the reward is at the endwhen you get that downhill.
And I had a really goodexperience as a result of that
In 1975, I was trying to qualifyto get expenses paid to the
(22:55):
Olympic trials in 76 and I gotto the 25 mile mark in that race
with six minutes left toqualify.
That meant that I had to runfive minutes average for 1.2
miles to the finish when it washot and humid and I was very
(23:18):
tired, but I had that downhillcoming down Diamond Head, that
downhill coming down DiamondHead, and I just gave it
everything I had left and triedto keep those legs on moving and
let gravity pull me down and Igot to the finish.
And it was 30 minutes laterafter I finished they came over
(23:39):
to me and said do you darn right, I do.
I had to run under 220, and itwas 219, 59.8.
Wow, but I qualified.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh my, it's a squeaker, but hey, qualified's
qualified.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
You're right.
So the downhill definitelyhelped you on that one.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, it's downhill for about eight, tenths, eight
and a half tenths, and then it'sflat in Decapolone Park.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And there are some.
What I like about their websiteis they have like a Google
Earth, youtube recording of thecourse so you can see what parts
are by the water.
Recording of the course so youcan see what parts are by the
water, you can see what partsare maybe through that and you
get to see where the elevationis too.
So it's, yeah, I really likethat.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
And do a good job.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, and they do a good job.
And if you don't want to do thefull marathon, what I like is
on the Saturday they have thatone mile and then they also, on
Sunday, have that 10 K.
Right?
That's right, yeah, so it's.
I think it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You don't have to go out and do your full marathon.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
But when I got the email about you planning this
whole event this with TriumphSports Travel partnering with
them it's five nights at.
It's a trip that you can takewith Jeff Galloway Five nights
at the Hilton Hawaiian Village,a welcome reception to meet
(25:21):
fellow runners, a pre-racedinner and a post-race
celebration, a cultural activityin the spirit of Aloha race day
support and a bagged breakfastfor runners yeah.
Escort to cheer, zones forfamily and non-runners.
A complimentary 20-weekGalloway training program and
(25:42):
optional add-ons as you've got amaster class yeah, add-ons as
you've got a master class.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
yeah, gonna have a master class there and it's this
is it's very similar to thetrip that I helped out with
going to greece, in which we allthe people in the group stayed
at the same hotel.
Going to a race weekend issomewhat disjointed because
people are staying differentplaces and you don't have that
(26:10):
opportunity to be having coffeein the restaurant down there and
have somebody come up say let'schat, which I am really looking
forward to doing.
This is not going to be athousand people, it's going to
be very manageable group and weare really looking forward to
(26:32):
having people come from variousdecades of my eight decades.
I already know that we havemost of those decades
represented.
And it's really going to be afun time and a reunion time and
a chance for everybody to meetnew friends.
If you have not been to asituation where Galloway folks
(26:56):
are, then you don't know theenergy that is generated by that
.
The folks at Run Disney saythat our booth is the most
popular booth and it's notbecause of me.
People come by to ask questions, but it's such an energy source
for all of our good people tocome together.
(27:17):
They talk to one another,they're sharing experiences,
there's energy, there's hugeenergy, same as happens at all
of our retreats, and I'm lookingforward to that weekend a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The nicest people you'll ever meet are run walkers
that do the Galloway program.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
They're really good folks.
And I will say this there aretwo lines at any run Disney expo
there's two.
One is for the KT tape.
That's true, and the other oneis for Jeff.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
And that's the only time.
Lines form at the booths and wewill never try to compete with
KT tape.
They do what they do.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
But now, speaking of Disney and Run Disney it sounds
like you are right at it happensin what the second week in
December, 10th through the 15th,so that's perfectly aligned for
the last long dopey run.
So you're doing somethingspecial with that too.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It is perfectly aligned and we have that set up
in the schedule so that even ifyou're not doing dopey, you
could also just do the marathon.
How often do you say just dothe?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
marathon.
Do the marathon how?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
often do you say just do the marathon, Just Disney in
January.
A lot of people are saying that, but the fact is that this
could be a training run, becauseyou've got all the time in the
world that you need to finishHonolulu and therefore you've
already prepared yourself, andthere's so many other things
(28:50):
that we're going to be doingwalking wise that you can very
easily get in a long weekendthat weekend in Honolulu.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
A lot of amazing places.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
You've also got enough time to get back to the
mainland and recover from thatjet lag that you're going to
have.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Good one, Stated Dana , because that's really another
key element to dopey training orany time when you're running a
marathon and then trying torecover before the next one.
Good point.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah.
So you've done this raceweekend several times and you
know that our show is about therunning, but also about the food
and beverage exploring andindulging local food and
beverage.
Are people going to be able toget their carb loading pre-race
meal?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
in.
Oh my gosh, yeah, there are somany great places to eat there.
The only caution there is youreally need to make sure that
the day before at least, if not36 hours before, you're not
consuming something that'sradically different from what
(30:04):
you have had before.
It's best to experiment afterthe race and not before,
Although two, three days beforeis usually okay.
Just use your best judgment.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
So if you've never had Loco, Moco or Poi probably
wait till after the run.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, Honestly, I've tried Poi a number of
times.
It's not my favorite Really.
Some people really like it andof course it depends on how it's
prepared.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Honestly, I've tried poi a number of times.
It's not my favorite Really.
Some people really like it andof course it depends on how it's
prepared and then you could get.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
There's a spam like sushi.
Yeah, there's spam everywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That's true, that's true, that's correct, so you
would get some protein in thatway if you're.
But it's such a great lesson,just nothing new in the run up
to.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And we've learned that lesson the hard way.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Race day, that yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
So, jeff, you're 100% correct on that one.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Don't yes.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Don't so at this race weekend.
What's the post-race partysituation like there?
Do they have a runner's village?
How does it shake out?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I don't know the specs on that.
My team has been organizingthat.
I know that Sherry WittSherry's been involved in that.
Sherry actually went over toTokyo this year with Triumph so
she went through their wholeexperience and she came back to
(31:33):
us immediately and said I'vegone on a lot of these tours.
Nobody does it better.
Sherry tells it like it is andwe're finding that out in the
organization process.
But honestly, they may have thedetails of that but I don't
know it and that's above my paygrade.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
You shouldn't focus on the party before before you
have completed the race.
But I have actually beenlooking on the website and their
bling is almost like a goldmedal.
Almost an Olympic gold medal iswhat it looks like to me.
Jeff, is that right?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
you've had it.
Yes, it is really nice.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yes, yeah, and then do you also get a lay at the
finish?
I don't, or is the like?
It would be cool there if youhad that.
But and they do havephotography along the course so
you can capture.
If you're listening to jeffgalloway at that mile 23 and
you're listening to one of thestories in between the quarter
(32:35):
mile shuffle runs, that's itsounds like an amazing time for
any runner or run walker.
You say you're going tocelebrate eight decades with
this.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Okay, what that means is that I ran my first marathon
as a teenager, aha, and haverun more than one marathon in
each successive decade 20s, 30s,40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and now I
will have at least one in the80s to qualify.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
And so, in those eight decades of running one or
more marathon in each decade ofyour life what has running
taught you about life?
What's the big takeaway for you?
Speaker 3 (33:29):
about life.
What's the big takeaway for you?
It's continuing to stay in thegame, to keep the feet moving,
to keep yourself moving.
The whole aspect of moving iswhat enabled our species to
survive, because by continuouslymoving for thousands and
thousands of miles a year, ourancestors found food when others
, who didn't move as much,starved to death.
(33:51):
Leading cause of death amongour species has been starvation
the whole time, and the onesthat kept moving found food and
stayed alive.
But more than that and here'sthe most exciting part about
running it is believed by theanthropologists and the
(34:11):
evolutionary biologists thatstudy ancient man.
It is believed that our humanbrains developed.
They were sparked to develop andthen they developed due to
forward motion, because it iswell known that to this day,
once you start moving your feetand walking, you turn on your
(34:34):
human brain, because ourancestors had to solve a whole
lot of problems on every one ofthese treks to find food.
And the human brain is whatreally enabled our species to
rise above all of the challengesand then to set strategies that
would keep them away from thosechallenges.
(34:56):
And to this day, it's also beenshown that when we run, we
elevate all of those benefits inthe brain to a higher level, a
much higher level.
Grow more brain cells, activatethe parts of the brain that
(35:16):
give us a better attitude, moreenergy, the ability to recover
faster and the ability toovercome challenges.
Yeah, those are circuits in thebrain that are turned on to the
highest level when running.
And if you're out there, foryou have to be out there for 30
(35:36):
minutes.
That's what the scientists aresaying.
But if you are, then any amountof running that you do
regularly during those 30minutes is going to turn on
those circuits.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
It's going to turn on those circuits that can look
back on and say, yeah, that'sone that really mattered and
(36:15):
meant a great deal to me.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
There were a number of areas of my life and there
weren't many that were extremelyproblematic for me that I was
under tremendous stress.
I just didn't seem to have anyway out of the stress and it was
debilitating mentally to gothrough that and running was
(36:39):
always the antidote to that.
The stress did not go awaybecause when I came back to it I
had all of this stuff hangingon me, but the run allowed my
brain to cope with it, and notonly during the run but after
the run, and it was a copingmechanism.
For example, when I was inVietnam I had a senior officer
(37:03):
who was on me every few hoursfinding things that I did wrong,
the paperwork I would send inover and over again, and he
would sometimes spend over halfan hour just going over one
minutiae point that I missed andso forth, and it was so
(37:27):
amazingly debilitating mentallyactually the worst time but
running was that time that Icould really release all that.
Now, that said, most of my timein the first 18 months was when
we were at sea.
Time in the first 18 months waswhen we were at sea and my ship
(37:51):
was not a ship that allowed forany running, because we had
supplies and equipment all overthe place.
I didn't have the release thatI really wanted to, but the fact
is that the it showed me thatwhen I had the chance, I was
going to be able to release thisstuff and be able to go on.
(38:14):
Now, surprisingly, all of thesechallenges that my senior
officer gave me were designedfor a purpose.
He actually recommended me andwas what caused me to get the
second in command of my secondship.
(38:35):
In other words, he knew that inthat position I would be
undergoing high stresses fromthe commanding officer of my new
ship.
But he had such faith in methat he was going to hammer me
and see how I would respond tothat before he gave me the
recommendation.
(38:56):
And boy did he hammer me.
The fact is that not allchallenges have a resolution
like that, and I realize that.
But we do have a way of coping,and running is at the very like
that, and I realize that, butwe do have a way of coping, and
running is at the very leastthat and, of course, so much
more.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Now.
You have talked about so manywonderful things and I'm just
the just doing this interviewmakes me want to get out there
and get some run, walk Runningdone.
If the people in the RuncationNation want to find out more and
connect with you, how can they?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
We have an app and it's a good one.
It has a free download, freeRun, Walk Run timer.
It's on the App Store.
So just go to the App StoreJeff Galloway, Run, Walk Run.
It has the JG logo.
Yeah, Just look for JG, that'sthe logo icon there.
And also we have a whole lot ofstuff at je the app, because
(40:06):
it's distracting for people toget referred from the app over
to somewhere else.
The app and our Jeff Gallowayhub is getting more and more
comprehensive to be able tohandle that, so you can also
look at the hub too.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
We will link to that in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And you are.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
That's the logo.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
That's the JG logo right there.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
That's the logo Weston came up with that.
Oh, that's fantastic.
So we will link to that so thatpeople can find you.
And in these next few monthsyou still have, let's see, there
are a couple of Disney races,the Halloween half, I think, out
there in California, right, yes, and the Wine and Dine ahead of
(40:53):
your amazing week in Honolulu,absolutely.
So I imagine that you're goingto be a busy man with those
events.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I am, but those events are just so wonderful.
You talk about peopleovercoming challenges.
That's what I hear most in theline of people several thousand
throughout the weekend, everyone of the Disney events, and
they're telling me how they justnever thought they could run at
all and then they hit thischallenge in their life and
(41:26):
somehow they got started variousreasons and what it's done for
them and the amazing things thatrunning can help you do and
connect up.
We have these strengths insideof us All of us do but we very
seldom connect up with thingsthat can unleash them, and
(41:48):
running does that.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Running it does.
It unleashes so much.
We just very recently we talkedto Bart Yasso on the show about
his new book and he says theorganization, the things that he
writes about in his book abouttop runs that people should do
all across the world, he saysthe best ideas came after a run.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, so we, first of all, we want to say thank you
so much for being a friend ofour show and coming on the show
taking time.
Each time we ask you, you'vebeen so generous with your time,
so generous with your stories,motivation, inspiration.
(42:35):
We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
And the sheer wealth of knowledge that you bring is
amazing, as I'm in it to helpthe people out there who want to
improve the quality of theirlives, and you folks are on that
forward push to do that and Iwant to support you any way I
(43:01):
can.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
You've been like a father to us and a friend and
you've prepared us for some ofthe toughest events we've had in
life and in running.
And we are so lucky to know youand we cannot wait to
accomplish, explore and indulgewith you really soon.
(43:24):
Thank you, jeff, and happybirthday.
Happy birthday, jeff.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Thank you, jeff, and happy birthday.
Happy birthday, jeff.
Thank you.
I will, of course, always lookforward to the opportunity to
keep what you're doing going andmoving to the next level, so
don't hesitate, thank you Yay.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
All right, we are done.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Do you have time for bonus questions?
Speaker 3 (43:49):
I do.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Oh, okay, so this is a bonus segment for our patrons,
and the first question that Iwant to ask is if you could run
a race with anyone alive or nolonger with us doesn't matter,
regardless of pace, age, whowould that be?
Who would you want to run awhole race with, and why?
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Of course, I have to caveat that with the fact that I
have known so many wonderfulpeople at various decades of
life and in some of thosedecades we weren't really
matched up very well.
One highlight of my life wasrunning the Boston Marathon with
(44:32):
my father.
He was 75.
It was to be his last marathon.
He knew that because his doctordidn't want him running any
other marathons and it was hislast marathon and it was a
treasured moment to me in memory.
It's very difficult for me topick one person.
(44:55):
It would have been wonderful tohave run a marathon or any run
with Abebe Bikila.
I think he's really quite anamazing person.
It would have been wonderful tohave run with the winner of the
very first marathon in history,which was Spiros Louis in
(45:20):
Greece.
The winner of that firstmarathon in history, First
marathon in history.
And I just look forward tobeing able to run with my
grandchildren, If they will slowdown enough and walk enough.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I think they will.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
They're full of that childhood energy that I wish we
could bottle.
You're right.
Yes, If you could have anypost-race meal, sit down and
have a meal with any group ofpeople you know who would you
invite, what's your favoritepost-race meal you eat with them
and what would you talk about?
Speaker 3 (46:03):
That period of time, assuming you've recovered.
And, of course, if you do run,walk, run, you're likely to
recover within at least a fewhours.
So let's just say that it's theevening after a morning
marathon, which for me is goingto go from the morning into the
evening in Honolulu.
(46:25):
But let's just say that is thecase.
I would not have any heavyamounts of foods that have a lot
of fat in them.
It's good to have some proteinsources to rebuild, but you
don't want to have that have alot of saturated fat and a lot
(46:47):
of negative stuff and that notonly is not great for your
health but it just slugs youdown so that the next day you
feel like you're just having totrudge yourself around.
The high-fat stuff does that.
It's also not a great idea tohave a high-sugar snack period,
(47:10):
because that does a lot of othernegative things in a different
way, but having a balance in thenutrition, with some good
tasting carbohydrates that havesome protein with them and so
forth.
My snacks after a race areoften a small slab of salmon, a
(47:37):
baked potato, in which I willput olive oil on it and some
salt, and my profile is good inthe salt area.
I really don't have a lot ofsodium intake and I also don't
(47:57):
have high blood pressure, sothat's a plus.
I didn't have it before theheart attack.
I don't have high bloodpressure, so that's a plus.
Yeah, I didn't have it beforethe heart attack.
I don't have it now.
That's good, and that was one ofthe signs that caused the
experts to look into whatactually did cause my heart
attack, because I had no riskfactors, no family history,
great diet, great exercise.
Know, family history, greatdiet, great exercise.
(48:20):
And then it was discoveredabout the cases caseloads of,
based on Agent Orange, where Iwas located in Vietnam.
But the fact is that picksomething that you like to eat.
You can eat a little bit ofsome decadent foods at that
point and then chat and tellstories and celebrate one
(48:42):
another.
That's what it's about after anevent.
That is true.
That is true.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
If you had the chance to sit with one of your heroes
or mentors and have a cup ofcoffee and talk, who would be at
the top of that list?
Speaker 3 (49:00):
Bill Bowerman is way up there and so is George
Sheehan, two good friends andmentors of mine, my father right
up there with them.
Those three are ones that hitme right away.
I'll tell you who I really misson a regular basis, and that's
(49:20):
my friend, steve Prefontaine,and we just celebrated the 50th
anniversary of his trafficaccident where he lost his life.
I was up there for the memorialservice and he was a great
runner, but he was turning intoa great person and he and I were
actually working on projects toexpand running in the US and
(49:46):
sadly we never got to do any ofthat.
But he was someone I lovedrunning with.
We always had all types ofgreat ideas and great jokes
playing on one another.
It was a great time.
I really miss him because hewould be alive today, I'm sure,
doing great things.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
I'm sure you would both be doing great things
together as well.
So an icon and an inspirationin running yeah.
We asked you or we were jokingaround.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
We did race blunders and how this podcast could have
been a very different showwithout you.
However, I do subscribe to thebelief that that's how you get
experiences by making some ofthose blunders and learning, and
I'm guessing that over theyears, you have probably made a
(50:41):
blunder or two.
What would you say would be theultimate race blunder you ever
committed and that you wouldrecommend us not to do?
Speaker 3 (50:51):
The number one is overtraining, ooh.
And the number two is notincreasing your pace when you
feel really great in a race.
So the first one is illustratedby the year that I very well
(51:14):
could have won the BostonMarathon.
I befriended a good friend ofmine, john Anderson, who was on
my Olympic team.
This was the year after theOlympics, it was 1973.
He found me in the staging areaand said his training hadn't
been that great, so could hejust hold off on the pace by
(51:36):
running with me?
And I said, oh, you want to runwith the slowpoke, don't you?
And he said yeah, but in yourcase the slowpokes ended up at
the top of the heap and went toMunich in the marathon.
He tucked in behind me and weran.
He was right there as weentered the hills leading up to
(51:57):
Heartbreak Hill, and on thatHeartbreak Hill I started to
feel the fatigue that had beenproduced.
Eight days before I had gone outon a training run.
I was in probably the bestshape of my life.
I didn't take my watch becauseI felt that I might be pushing
myself, so I looked at the timein the kitchen where I left.
(52:21):
I ran a 16-mile run, just whatfelt like a really easy pace for
the first 10, 11 miles and thelast four miles I felt the
fatigue coming on, but I wasn'tpuffing and puffing.
It was still a really pleasantrun.
I got back, looked at thekitchen clock and I had averaged
(52:44):
five minutes a mile for 16miles.
So I tried to go into positiveself-talk for the rest of the
eight days, telling myself thatI'm sure I didn't overdo it,
that I was in great shape, I wasgoing to be able to do it.
But going up Heartbreak Hill,john passed me and kept on going
(53:10):
and I guess we were in about Idon't know eighth or ninth place
and he passed every one of themand I passed into fifth place.
But my legs were getting moreand more jelly.
So it was a big mistake.
It was a stupid mistake.
It was actually a rookiemistake and I made it after 15
(53:34):
years of running.
The other mistake was when Iwanted to qualify for Boston for
the last time, which was in2013 at Space Coast Marathon.
Oh, and I tried.
I thought I was starting mywatch at the start, but it
didn't.
I clicked the button, but itdidn't start.
(53:55):
I ran the first mile and then Imade sure that it started after
the first mile, but I went thewhole way not knowing what my
real time was because, I didn'tknow what that first mile was
and it was going very well tohead back towards the finish.
(54:18):
6.5 miles or so from the finishI spotted the pace group that I
should have been with in orderto qualify for Boston and I was
feeling great.
I was feeling unbelievably good.
So I ran a minute per milefaster than I had been running,
faster than I had been running,and I get up with the group,
(54:41):
talking with some of them, andthen I started feeling the same
jelly legs.
It kept going all the way tothe finish and I saw the pace
group go farther and fartherahead of me.
So I get up to one mile to goand I changed up my ratio from
(55:03):
30 run, 15 walk to 20 run and 10walk and I just did whatever I
could during that last mile.
And again, it took around 30minutes for them to get me my
time and I had to run under 410.
(55:25):
And I ran 409.56.
So I did have four seconds togo, Cutting it close, Wow.
Speaker 2 (55:36):
But you made it In spite of a rookie mistake.
Speaker 3 (55:38):
Yeah, wow, but you made it In spite of a rookie
mistake.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
Yeah, but that is a great piece of you adjusted on
the fly.
Your run, walk, run and you hadyour.
It's like you say you're themaster of your own ship, You're
the captain of your own ship,Yep.
So you adjusted and got to thefinish line and accomplished the
goal.
(55:57):
Now, at a finish line,typically they'll have DJs.
They might play some songs andthey might have some
announcements.
If you were to cross a finishline at a race and you would
have them play any song that youwould want them to play, what
(56:17):
would it be?
Oh my gosh, Wow Was it amotivational one, or is there
one that has meaning to you?
We asked Bart Yasso this samequestion and I was not expecting
him to say this, but I think itwas the New York City Marathon
(56:40):
where he was crossing the finishline to Caribbean Queen by
Billy Ocean in the 80s, and thatis what he said.
Speaker 3 (56:53):
What I found with music in my running career is
it's really based on how youfeel at that point.
So there are several songs thatcome to play here.
The most obvious to me isSpringsteen's Born to Run.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (57:11):
That's a real good one.
There are a number of Dylansongs that get me fired up like
a Rolling Stones is one of them,and another one is what Barb
and I had at our wedding.
We had that song at the weddingand it's Forever Young Again.
(57:33):
There are a bunch of other onesthat I'd really have to sit
down and just sort through.
Those are the ones that come tomind most, those are all great
choices, yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
And if you were to have a movie made of your life,
what do you think it might becalled?
And what do you think of afamous actor that might fit the
bill to play you in it?
Speaker 3 (58:01):
No, I've never thought about the cure.
That's really an overwhelmingthing, because there's so many
things that have happened to mein my life that I would like to
have displayed, simply becausethese things people tell me
inspire them.
Yes, and it would be adifficult process.
(58:22):
I will say this the Prefontainemovie.
Jared Leto played the rolethere.
Jared, I was on the set oh, six,seven times before the movie
came out, when they were filmingand various stages of filming,
(58:42):
and each time he would see mehanging out on the set and come
over in between his takes and hewould do a role play with me.
He said I'm going to dosomething that I've seen Pri and
Pictures do.
How would he react and howwould you react?
And he was into it.
He was really into that roleand he did an amazing job.
(59:05):
I have to tell you I got chillbumps every time I see that
movie Great movie.
And of course, later on, jarednow has won an Academy Award.
He's really good, yeah, but hesure did a great job with
Prefontaine and I would, ifanything ever happened like that
, I would just hope that itwould be somebody like as good
(59:28):
into it as he is with his parts.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
And all the methods and portraying that, the spirit
and the inspiration, yeah, great.
Speaker 1 (59:39):
So, jeff, we'll close it out with this what is a
quote that you live by inrunning and in life?
Speaker 3 (59:46):
You can do it and actually that might be a good
title of some type of a movie.
Speaker 1 (59:52):
Tag Jared Leto and all of our social media.
Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
We're totally going to tag him and say it's time for
you to play.
Another running icon andinspiration, america's coach
jeff galloway.
We can't thank you enough forspending some extra time with us
and we just love you and wishyou the happiest of birthdays
(01:00:17):
and you and your family, all thejoy in the world, because you
have brought so much joy andinspiration to us and to
everyone in the runningcommunity.
I know that you know you havean impact.
I just don't know if yourealize how big it is and how
much you mean to us.
How big it is and how much youmean to us.
Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
I sure appreciate that, and on this eve of July
4th, it's just.
Our country is amazing.
It's an amazing country.
We're under a lot of stressright now, but we have inside of
us a whole lot of good peoplethat want this democracy to
(01:01:02):
continue, and I am celebratingthat by running, which gives me
the most sense of freedom that Iwill get during the day.
It's when I'm out there running.
But as I want to help you allyou folks you, amy and Dana are
great people and I want tosupport your efforts, so let's
(01:01:26):
stay in touch.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Hopefully we can get you back on the show as we get
closer to I don't know, Wine andDine, maybe Something like that
.
We'll definitely be.
Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
He's helping me train for the 5k and the 10K that I
registered for.
Yeah, yeah Great.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Jeff, we will have links to everything in the show
notes.
Patrons, you've had some extratime here with Jeff Galloway.
Go check him out atJeffGallowaycom and all over the
socials.
We'll have links for everythingfor you.
But thank you for spending someextra time with us today, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Great to spend that time with y'all.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
You take care, here we go.
Hi, I'm Chris Twiggs, chief Training Officer for
Galloway Training, and you'relistening to the Run Eat Drink
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Run, eat, drink podcast.
We feature destination racesfrom across the country and
after the race, we take you on atour of the best local food and
beverage to celebrate.
So whether you are an eliterunner or a back of the packer
like us, you'll know the bestplaces to accomplish, explore
and indulge on your nextruncation.
(00:33):
Dana, on today's episode wewelcome back a friend of the
show, our coach, america's coachOlympian, jeff Galloway.
Welcome to our show.
Thanks for coming back on, jeff.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Well, Amy and Dana, I am very pleased to be part of
the show.
Let's get on with the show.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
We ought to give you credit for the show because
without you, without yourtraining program, there would
never have been a show.
No, or it would have been avery different show where we
talk about the mistakes we'vemade all the blunders we've made
in training for running.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
For sure.
Let me just editorialize hereand say that there are a lot of
podcasts that get into thattheme of all the mistakes that
I've made, that get into thattheme of all the mistakes that
I've made.
Unfortunately, I hear theresults of people who are
listening to those podcasts anddon't get any ways of getting
out of the mistakes.
(01:34):
What we're about is to givepeople solutions, proven
solutions, and I'm proud to bepart of that team.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
You have customized coaching with Coach Twiggs.
You have coaching, and I havebeen privileged to be a part of
that and you have helped mecross many a finish line in the
upright position and withoutpuking also.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Which is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, we are against it.
I've heard you in several talksat Walt Disney World, as you
are their official trainingconsultant, talking about how
you are against it, how to avoidit, and I think people should
take your advice on that andmany other running related
topics.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, and that's another problem that runners can
have.
That is usually avoidable.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now we got you on the show.
What all have you been up tosince you were last on the show?
You've been a busy guy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, a lot of projects going on here and
basically I'm so pleased that myson, weston, has taken the
reins and CEO of GallowayProductions and he's doing a
great job.
He has produced one app and nowis producing a second app
(02:50):
that's going to be moreinclusive about programs and
things that people are lookingat, including corporate programs
and so forth.
So it's a series of big leaps.
It's a series of big leapswhich means that I have the
ability to keep my brainoperating as he feeds things to
me and gives me assignments todo, and I'm very pleased about
(03:15):
that.
But it's a very important timein running because there's so
much misinformation out thereand our goal, as is your goal in
the podcast, is to give peopleinformation that works, and we
know it works for hundreds ofthousands of people that we've
(03:38):
heard from and tabulated andthen put in our database on the
various things.
To be specific about things, Iam doing my regular exercise
every day, which includesgetting at least 15,000 steps a
day.
I am also involved in somewriting projects.
(04:03):
Involved in some writingprojects, I am working every
week on a book called CardiacComeback that tells about my
story in making that comebackafter heart failure and a heart
attack.
We have a number of retreatsthat have started back again
(04:25):
that we do on the panhandle ofFlorida and there'll be one each
year out in Lake Tahoe, andthese are just wonderful times.
They're so upbeat, people getso motivated by these and it's a
wonderful life.
Most important in my life is myfamily my wonderful wife
(04:46):
Barbara we will be celebratingour 50th next year my wonderful
children and grandchildren.
It's just a great time in lifefor all these neat things that
are going on.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
You have the love and support of your family while
supporting the corporate world,individual runners and people
who have had health-relatedchallenges.
You have come back from aheart-related challenge.
How are you feeling?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
I feel good practically every day.
I was talking to somebodyearlier this week and they asked
the same question.
My comeback from my gut and myheart is that generally in life
I feel as good as I've ever feltNow, like before my heart
(05:41):
attack.
There are days when I'm tired.
Other days I feel reallyexuberant all day long.
I love the opportunity to tellpeople how to get through these
challenges, as I've gone throughthem.
The greatest challenge now thatI face is when I run, which is
either every second or third day.
(06:03):
Running is tough.
There's damage from the AgentOrange that will never be taken
away.
It doesn't allow my heart topump adequate enough for me to
run the way I'd like to run, butthat's okay.
I can run Even very shortrunning segments.
Even when I was only runningthree seconds at a time when I
(06:23):
first started running back aftermy heart attack, I was still
getting all the mental benefitsthat I received from doing
whatever I used to do, and thathas remained true to this day.
So the running enhances themental effects of exercise the
(06:48):
mental effects of exercise, butI'm truly discovering the
benefits of walking and beingable to keep you from getting
too tired, to avoid injuries andexhaustion, and life is good.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
What's your current run-walk ratio?
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It varies from day to day.
One of the things about mysituation, because of the lack
of blood flow that comes out ofthe heart, is that if I push too
hard due to certain medicationsthat I'm on to keep me from
overdoing it, I will get alittle dizzy.
So I have to monitor my run,walk, run, based on a dizziness
(07:26):
that comes on.
What it usually means is I willstart out at five to seven
seconds of running and about 15seconds of walking, and I can
get up to as much as 15, 15,which is actually what I was
doing before my heart attack.
If that's not working, which itoften isn't, then I find a
(07:50):
lower amount, and I can alwaysfind a lower amount.
So it's really been a greatchallenge to allow me to advise
others who are going throughsimilar situations.
You have to realize that heartdisease is the number one killer
in our country and it's wayahead of second place, and a lot
(08:15):
of people don't know they haveit.
But once they're diagnosed orthey've had a heart attack, most
people give up on exercise,even though they know that it
probably would be good for them,but they don't have a clue as
to what they need to do so.
The book is going to be aboutgiving suggestions, and one of
(08:37):
the ones at the top of the listis listen to your doctor.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Listen to your doctor number one.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, I'm not going to tell you what your medical
situation is.
I'm going to tell you that ifyour doctor gives you the, okay,
what has worked for a lot ofpeople in that situation?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I love the fact that you embrace you really have done
this your entire life, at leastyour running life that I'm
aware of you.
You embrace the things thathave happened to you and you
incorporate them and you're soopen and willing to talk about
it.
A lot of people wouldn't bethat open and not just talk
about it like behind a paywall.
You'll talk about it anywhereand it's because you want people
(09:18):
to listen and hear the message.
And I, just when you mentionedheart disease is a leading cause
of death, I just did a quickGoogle search.
It says about 695,000 deathsannually, or one in every five
deaths in the US.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, it's a huge number.
Now, fortunately, that numberhas gone down over the years.
It used to be much greater thanthat.
But the bottom line is,exercise has been the primary
reason, along with medicationsthat have allowed for this
(09:58):
decline to happen.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, and that's that is something that you couldn't
have imagined, let's say, whenyou started your running journey
.
The medical advances areabsolutely incredible and
they're growing exponentially.
They're so much better in aquicker amount of time.
Now we're starting to see that,and when you talked about your
heart attack here on the showand you talked about the fact
that the extent of the blockageand what they had to do and that
(10:30):
they had, how they had to workyou on the table, it's amazing
to think how far we've come andwe're so grateful to be able to
have you on the show, and that'stestament to medicine.
Medicine's also a testament toyour fit level of fitness.
Yeah, fitness.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Fifteen years ago, I would not have survived.
They didn't have the technology, they didn't have the type of
defibrillation that I now haveon my chest, my ambulance in the
chest, that really regulatesthings quite well and we do have
that and space age stuff.
(11:04):
It's really exciting whatthey're doing with heart issues
and it gives people a chance fornot just life after a heart
attack but quality of life aftera heart attack?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, exactly.
And speaking of quality of life, after your heart-related
incident you have a high qualityof life such that you have a
big birthday coming up on July12th.
How old will?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
you be 80 years old.
Eight decades.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Eight decades.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's a great milestone.
And how are you planning tocelebrate that birthday?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Decades.
That's a great milestone, andhow are you planning to
celebrate that birthday?
As always, the most importantperson in my life is Barb, so
Barb and I will have a series ofthings that we're working on
right now.
It's not going to be in.
I'm not a big one on birthdayparties and I never have been,
(12:06):
so we're not inviting a lot ofpeople over or anything.
It's really about family, andso Barb and I are working on our
special ingredients for that,and it's going to be a wonderful
day.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And I think you.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
We've heard about some plans at the Honolulu
marathon, as maybe a delayedcelebration.
Can you talk about that?
Oh yeah, that, as a matter offact, barb says when anybody
asks aren't you going to have abig birthday party?
And she says what's going to bein Honolulu?
And there are a lot of reasonsfor this, and it's really not
based on the fact that Iactually won the Honolulu
Marathon in 1974, second year,and in the process it's the only
(12:57):
time that I beat my friendFrank Shorter and my Olympic
teammate Kenny Moore.
They were ones who finishedfirst and fourth in my Olympics,
the Munich Olympics.
It was really primarily basedon the fact that weekend, when
we're going to be in Honolulu,is the 50th anniversary of when
(13:22):
Barb and I got engaged there inHonolulu.
There's a lot of other thingsabout Honolulu that were very
significant in my life.
It was the site of my secondtour of duty in the Navy.
My first tour was as offVietnam for 18 months, 12 of
which were in the combat zone,but the bottom line in my second
(13:47):
tour is that I was assigned toa ship that was originally
designed to go into Hanoi Harborand sweep mines out of there.
I wasn't really looking forwardto that assignment, but when I
reported to the ship it was inthe shipyards and they were
having a series of problems thatnever went away during the time
(14:08):
period I was assigned there.
So what that meant was, for thefirst time in a year and a half
, I was able to get back intoregular running.
And I did.
And I, when I arrived there, Iknew I wanted to recreational
run for the rest of my life, butI had no idea that I might want
(14:30):
to really do the gut-wrenchingstuff you have to do to train
for the Olympics in two years alittle over two years, and I
just pieced it day by day anddeveloped an appreciation for so
much joy that you get fromevery run if you do it the right
way.
And I found my fitness comingback much quickly than I thought
(14:55):
and within six months I was inthe same shape that I had been
before.
I joined the Navy and actuallyset a record on one of the
courses out there that stillstands to this day we're talking
about from the 60s to now.
Now there's a caveat on thatAfter about 20 years of running
(15:19):
that race, they maintained theyturned the course around and
they don't run the course theway I ran it and set the record.
So my record will probablystand forever.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, isn't that wonderful.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
There you go.
You could be a record holderand also an Olympian, and it's
amazing that you mentioned allof those reasons why you chose
the Honolulu Marathon.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Well, it's not a bad place to go for a running event
either.
It's really.
It creates the whole friendlyatmosphere of coming together,
and I'm very excited about thewhole weekend and my running
part is going to be minimalbecause my main goal is to cross
(16:12):
that finish line.
That's it.
That is the goal for me and thereason, the main reason for
that is that I've got a chanceto set what could be a world
record, and that is the veryfirst person to have run a
marathon in eight decades oflife.
And it's all about staying inthe game.
(16:36):
So, I'm working now on during mylong training runs, which are
up to 13 miles now, and whatstrategy of running and walking
I'll be using, and it's going tobe mostly running, mostly
walking, rather, and becauseit's going to be hot and humid
there.
I have run that marathon fiveor six times and I know what
(16:59):
it's going to be like.
But I know that with walkingI've got complete control over
that whole heat aspect of it.
But it's a wonderful return todoing a marathon and that will
be five years after I ran mylast one, but it will be my
(17:19):
marathon for the 80-year-oldbracket.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Wow, that's fantastic .
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I tell you what and you know what?
Honolulu, I was browsing aroundtheir website.
There's no time limit, there'sno, they're going to sweep you
off the course, kind of thingthat's right, that's exactly
right.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And, telling the truth, I do not believe that I
will be able to stay at 16minutes per mile In the Disney
races.
I would get swept.
My heart just won't put it out.
And on the other hand, I knowthat if I try to challenge
(18:04):
myself to run faster, I couldinduce rhythm problems that
could compromise or kill me, andso I'm not going to push myself
to limits.
That's just something I don'tdo anymore.
You should avoid that let's not.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, yes, Much like puking on the race course, dying
on the race course.
We're against that 100%.
A little bit worse.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yes, 100%, but I think it was just.
It's well.
Stars have aligned so much forthis to be the perfect event for
you to set a world record andnot have to worry about pacers
or maintaining that kind of 16minute per mile or any minute
(18:49):
per mile pace, and so you don't.
That's gotta be mentally.
That's got to be a positivething for you not to have that
pressure.
I don't do you put thatpressure on yourself you put
that pressure on yourself.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
I do now that I've had the cardiac issue, because
the fact is that it's intensityon endurance events that can
cause the catastrophic issues.
You know that intensity is gone, and so my plan is to run a
little bit every quarter of amile.
I'm going to run a little bitevery quarter of a mile
throughout the 26 miles and I'mgoing to tell stories in between
(19:32):
, and I've already got a longlist of stories.
Anybody who's willing to listencan come along.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
How wonderful would that be, yeah really, and I
think that this would be a greatmarathon for somebody who maybe
is doing the marathon for thefirst time.
I could be wrong.
What are your thoughts on that,jeff?
Is this a good one for a firsttime?
Speaker 3 (19:52):
The only caveat there is the weather issue, because
recently I've done a littlesurvey on it and recently the
temperature has gone up into the80s and the humidity has been
quite high also.
So for a beginner to get intothose situations you just have
(20:15):
to find people that have hadenough training in those
conditions and have been able tonot have problems with heat
issues.
Particularly troubling would bepeople entering from cold
weather climates like up innorthern Europe, northern Canada
(20:37):
, even going down into NewEngland and areas like that,
because it starts to get coolnormally up there in those areas
in September, october.
I know that in Alaska they gettheir first snowfall in late
August or early September andthey have a lot of cold weather
(21:01):
before December.
So that's the main caveat therehave a lot of cold weather
before December.
So that's the main caveat there.
Heat If you can handle thatheat and be willing to slow down
and or sit, walk or sit down ifyou start to overheat and cool
yourself off, then that would bea good one for first timers.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So it's the heat.
It's not necessarily a timelimit, because that is of no
consequence here in thisparticular race.
It's just the heat challenge.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Any other aspects of this race that runners might
want to train for?
Prepare for?
What's the terrain like?
What's the course like?
Is it something they should beconcerned with?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
It has a fairly long hill, about two and a half three
miles into it, which is DiamondHead.
You don't run to the top of thecrater but you do.
You run alongside and it is asignificant climb.
That is the better part of onemile up.
It just keeps going up.
It's not a steep hill, but it'sa long one up.
(22:10):
It's not a steep hill, but it'sa long one.
Now then you get out intobasically a rolling situation
with no real serious uphillslike that, but you do have ups
and downs.
It is not a flat course and youparticularly notice that on the
way back after you've made yourturn and you realize that it's
getting warmer, it's very humidand you have some uphills and
(22:34):
the uphills are very noticeableat that point.
But the reward is at the endwhen you get that downhill.
And I had a really goodexperience as a result of that
In 1975, I was trying to qualifyto get expenses paid to the
(22:55):
Olympic trials in 76 and I gotto the 25 mile mark in that race
with six minutes left toqualify.
That meant that I had to runfive minutes average for 1.2
miles to the finish when it washot and humid and I was very
(23:18):
tired, but I had that downhillcoming down Diamond Head, that
downhill coming down DiamondHead, and I just gave it
everything I had left and triedto keep those legs on moving and
let gravity pull me down and Igot to the finish.
And it was 30 minutes laterafter I finished they came over
(23:39):
to me and said do you darn right, I do.
I had to run under 220, and itwas 219, 59.8.
Wow, but I qualified.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh my, it's a squeaker, but hey, qualified's
qualified.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
You're right.
So the downhill definitelyhelped you on that one.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, it's downhill for about eight, tenths, eight
and a half tenths, and then it'sflat in Decapolone Park.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And there are some.
What I like about their websiteis they have like a Google
Earth, youtube recording of thecourse so you can see what parts
are by the water.
Recording of the course so youcan see what parts are by the
water, you can see what partsare maybe through that and you
get to see where the elevationis too.
So it's, yeah, I really likethat.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
And do a good job.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, and they do a good job.
And if you don't want to do thefull marathon, what I like is
on the Saturday they have thatone mile and then they also, on
Sunday, have that 10 K.
Right?
That's right, yeah, so it's.
I think it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
You don't have to go out and do your full marathon.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
But when I got the email about you planning this
whole event this with TriumphSports Travel partnering with
them it's five nights at.
It's a trip that you can takewith Jeff Galloway Five nights
at the Hilton Hawaiian Village,a welcome reception to meet
(25:21):
fellow runners, a pre-racedinner and a post-race
celebration, a cultural activityin the spirit of Aloha race day
support and a bagged breakfastfor runners yeah.
Escort to cheer, zones forfamily and non-runners.
A complimentary 20-weekGalloway training program and
(25:42):
optional add-ons as you've got amaster class yeah, add-ons as
you've got a master class.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
yeah, gonna have a master class there and it's this
is it's very similar to thetrip that I helped out with
going to greece, in which we allthe people in the group stayed
at the same hotel.
Going to a race weekend issomewhat disjointed because
people are staying differentplaces and you don't have that
(26:10):
opportunity to be having coffeein the restaurant down there and
have somebody come up say let'schat, which I am really looking
forward to doing.
This is not going to be athousand people, it's going to
be very manageable group and weare really looking forward to
(26:32):
having people come from variousdecades of my eight decades.
I already know that we havemost of those decades
represented.
And it's really going to be afun time and a reunion time and
a chance for everybody to meetnew friends.
If you have not been to asituation where Galloway folks
(26:56):
are, then you don't know theenergy that is generated by that
.
The folks at Run Disney saythat our booth is the most
popular booth and it's notbecause of me.
People come by to ask questions, but it's such an energy source
for all of our good people tocome together.
(27:17):
They talk to one another,they're sharing experiences,
there's energy, there's hugeenergy, same as happens at all
of our retreats, and I'm lookingforward to that weekend a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The nicest people you'll ever meet are run walkers
that do the Galloway program.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
They're really good folks.
And I will say this there aretwo lines at any run Disney expo
there's two.
One is for the KT tape.
That's true, and the other oneis for Jeff.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
And that's the only time.
Lines form at the booths and wewill never try to compete with
KT tape.
They do what they do.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
But now, speaking of Disney and Run Disney it sounds
like you are right at it happensin what the second week in
December, 10th through the 15th,so that's perfectly aligned for
the last long dopey run.
So you're doing somethingspecial with that too.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It is perfectly aligned and we have that set up
in the schedule so that even ifyou're not doing dopey, you
could also just do the marathon.
How often do you say just dothe?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
marathon.
Do the marathon how?
Speaker 3 (28:28):
often do you say just do the marathon, Just Disney in
January.
A lot of people are saying that, but the fact is that this
could be a training run, becauseyou've got all the time in the
world that you need to finishHonolulu and therefore you've
already prepared yourself, andthere's so many other things
(28:50):
that we're going to be doingwalking wise that you can very
easily get in a long weekendthat weekend in Honolulu.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
A lot of amazing places.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
You've also got enough time to get back to the
mainland and recover from thatjet lag that you're going to
have.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Good one, Stated Dana , because that's really another
key element to dopey training orany time when you're running a
marathon and then trying torecover before the next one.
Good point.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah.
So you've done this raceweekend several times and you
know that our show is about therunning, but also about the food
and beverage exploring andindulging local food and
beverage.
Are people going to be able toget their carb loading pre-race
meal?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
in.
Oh my gosh, yeah, there are somany great places to eat there.
The only caution there is youreally need to make sure that
the day before at least, if not36 hours before, you're not
consuming something that'sradically different from what
(30:04):
you have had before.
It's best to experiment afterthe race and not before,
Although two, three days beforeis usually okay.
Just use your best judgment.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
So if you've never had Loco, Moco or Poi probably
wait till after the run.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, Honestly, I've tried Poi a number of
times.
It's not my favorite Really.
Some people really like it andof course it depends on how it's
prepared.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Honestly, I've tried poi a number of times.
It's not my favorite Really.
Some people really like it andof course it depends on how it's
prepared and then you could get.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
There's a spam like sushi.
Yeah, there's spam everywhere.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
That's true, that's true, that's correct, so you
would get some protein in thatway if you're.
But it's such a great lesson,just nothing new in the run up
to.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
And we've learned that lesson the hard way.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Race day, that yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
So, jeff, you're 100% correct on that one.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Don't yes.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Don't so at this race weekend.
What's the post-race partysituation like there?
Do they have a runner's village?
How does it shake out?
Speaker 3 (31:12):
I don't know the specs on that.
My team has been organizingthat.
I know that Sherry WittSherry's been involved in that.
Sherry actually went over toTokyo this year with Triumph so
she went through their wholeexperience and she came back to
(31:33):
us immediately and said I'vegone on a lot of these tours.
Nobody does it better.
Sherry tells it like it is andwe're finding that out in the
organization process.
But honestly, they may have thedetails of that but I don't
know it and that's above my paygrade.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
You shouldn't focus on the party before before you
have completed the race.
But I have actually beenlooking on the website and their
bling is almost like a goldmedal.
Almost an Olympic gold medal iswhat it looks like to me.
Jeff, is that right?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
you've had it.
Yes, it is really nice.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yes, yeah, and then do you also get a lay at the
finish?
I don't, or is the like?
It would be cool there if youhad that.
But and they do havephotography along the course so
you can capture.
If you're listening to jeffgalloway at that mile 23 and
you're listening to one of thestories in between the quarter
(32:35):
mile shuffle runs, that's itsounds like an amazing time for
any runner or run walker.
You say you're going tocelebrate eight decades with
this.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
Okay, what that means is that I ran my first marathon
as a teenager, aha, and haverun more than one marathon in
each successive decade 20s, 30s,40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and now I
will have at least one in the80s to qualify.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
And so, in those eight decades of running one or
more marathon in each decade ofyour life what has running
taught you about life?
What's the big takeaway for you?
Speaker 3 (33:29):
about life.
What's the big takeaway for you?
It's continuing to stay in thegame, to keep the feet moving,
to keep yourself moving.
The whole aspect of moving iswhat enabled our species to
survive, because by continuouslymoving for thousands and
thousands of miles a year, ourancestors found food when others
, who didn't move as much,starved to death.
(33:51):
Leading cause of death amongour species has been starvation
the whole time, and the onesthat kept moving found food and
stayed alive.
But more than that and here'sthe most exciting part about
running it is believed by theanthropologists and the
(34:11):
evolutionary biologists thatstudy ancient man.
It is believed that our humanbrains developed.
They were sparked to develop andthen they developed due to
forward motion, because it iswell known that to this day,
once you start moving your feetand walking, you turn on your
(34:34):
human brain, because ourancestors had to solve a whole
lot of problems on every one ofthese treks to find food.
And the human brain is whatreally enabled our species to
rise above all of the challengesand then to set strategies that
would keep them away from thosechallenges.
(34:56):
And to this day, it's also beenshown that when we run, we
elevate all of those benefits inthe brain to a higher level, a
much higher level.
Grow more brain cells, activatethe parts of the brain that
(35:16):
give us a better attitude, moreenergy, the ability to recover
faster and the ability toovercome challenges.
Yeah, those are circuits in thebrain that are turned on to the
highest level when running.
And if you're out there, foryou have to be out there for 30
(35:36):
minutes.
That's what the scientists aresaying.
But if you are, then any amountof running that you do
regularly during those 30minutes is going to turn on
those circuits.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
It's going to turn on those circuits that can look
back on and say, yeah, that'sone that really mattered and
(36:15):
meant a great deal to me.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
There were a number of areas of my life and there
weren't many that were extremelyproblematic for me that I was
under tremendous stress.
I just didn't seem to have anyway out of the stress and it was
debilitating mentally to gothrough that and running was
(36:39):
always the antidote to that.
The stress did not go awaybecause when I came back to it I
had all of this stuff hangingon me, but the run allowed my
brain to cope with it, and notonly during the run but after
the run, and it was a copingmechanism.
For example, when I was inVietnam I had a senior officer
(37:03):
who was on me every few hoursfinding things that I did wrong,
the paperwork I would send inover and over again, and he
would sometimes spend over halfan hour just going over one
minutiae point that I missed andso forth, and it was so
(37:27):
amazingly debilitating mentallyactually the worst time but
running was that time that Icould really release all that.
Now, that said, most of my timein the first 18 months was when
we were at sea.
Time in the first 18 months waswhen we were at sea and my ship
(37:51):
was not a ship that allowed forany running, because we had
supplies and equipment all overthe place.
I didn't have the release thatI really wanted to, but the fact
is that the it showed me thatwhen I had the chance, I was
going to be able to release thisstuff and be able to go on.
(38:14):
Now, surprisingly, all of thesechallenges that my senior
officer gave me were designedfor a purpose.
He actually recommended me andwas what caused me to get the
second in command of my secondship.
(38:35):
In other words, he knew that inthat position I would be
undergoing high stresses fromthe commanding officer of my new
ship.
But he had such faith in methat he was going to hammer me
and see how I would respond tothat before he gave me the
recommendation.
(38:56):
And boy did he hammer me.
The fact is that not allchallenges have a resolution
like that, and I realize that.
But we do have a way of coping,and running is at the very like
that, and I realize that, butwe do have a way of coping, and
running is at the very leastthat and, of course, so much
more.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Now.
You have talked about so manywonderful things and I'm just
the just doing this interviewmakes me want to get out there
and get some run, walk Runningdone.
If the people in the RuncationNation want to find out more and
connect with you, how can they?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
We have an app and it's a good one.
It has a free download, freeRun, Walk Run timer.
It's on the App Store.
So just go to the App StoreJeff Galloway, Run, Walk Run.
It has the JG logo.
Yeah, Just look for JG, that'sthe logo icon there.
And also we have a whole lot ofstuff at je the app, because
(40:06):
it's distracting for people toget referred from the app over
to somewhere else.
The app and our Jeff Gallowayhub is getting more and more
comprehensive to be able tohandle that, so you can also
look at the hub too.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
We will link to that in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
And you are.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
That's the logo.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
That's the JG logo right there.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
That's the logo Weston came up with that.
Oh, that's fantastic.
So we will link to that so thatpeople can find you.
And in these next few monthsyou still have, let's see, there
are a couple of Disney races,the Halloween half, I think, out
there in California, right, yes, and the Wine and Dine ahead of
(40:53):
your amazing week in Honolulu,absolutely.
So I imagine that you're goingto be a busy man with those
events.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I am, but those events are just so wonderful.
You talk about peopleovercoming challenges.
That's what I hear most in theline of people several thousand
throughout the weekend, everyone of the Disney events, and
they're telling me how they justnever thought they could run at
all and then they hit thischallenge in their life and
(41:26):
somehow they got started variousreasons and what it's done for
them and the amazing things thatrunning can help you do and
connect up.
We have these strengths insideof us All of us do but we very
seldom connect up with thingsthat can unleash them, and
(41:48):
running does that.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Running it does.
It unleashes so much.
We just very recently we talkedto Bart Yasso on the show about
his new book and he says theorganization, the things that he
writes about in his book abouttop runs that people should do
all across the world, he saysthe best ideas came after a run.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, so we, first of all, we want to say thank you
so much for being a friend ofour show and coming on the show
taking time.
Each time we ask you, you'vebeen so generous with your time,
so generous with your stories,motivation, inspiration.
(42:35):
We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
And the sheer wealth of knowledge that you bring is
amazing, as I'm in it to helpthe people out there who want to
improve the quality of theirlives, and you folks are on that
forward push to do that and Iwant to support you any way I
(43:01):
can.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
You've been like a father to us and a friend and
you've prepared us for some ofthe toughest events we've had in
life and in running.
And we are so lucky to know youand we cannot wait to
accomplish, explore and indulgewith you really soon.
(43:24):
Thank you, jeff, and happybirthday.
Happy birthday, jeff.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Thank you, jeff, and happy birthday.
Happy birthday, jeff.
Thank you.
I will, of course, always lookforward to the opportunity to
keep what you're doing going andmoving to the next level, so
don't hesitate, thank you Yay.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
All right, we are done.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Do you have time for bonus questions?
Speaker 3 (43:49):
I do.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Oh, okay, so this is a bonus segment for our patrons,
and the first question that Iwant to ask is if you could run
a race with anyone alive or nolonger with us doesn't matter,
regardless of pace, age, whowould that be?
Who would you want to run awhole race with, and why?
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Of course, I have to caveat that with the fact that I
have known so many wonderfulpeople at various decades of
life and in some of thosedecades we weren't really
matched up very well.
One highlight of my life wasrunning the Boston Marathon with
(44:32):
my father.
He was 75.
It was to be his last marathon.
He knew that because his doctordidn't want him running any
other marathons and it was hislast marathon and it was a
treasured moment to me in memory.
It's very difficult for me topick one person.
(44:55):
It would have been wonderful tohave run a marathon or any run
with Abebe Bikila.
I think he's really quite anamazing person.
It would have been wonderful tohave run with the winner of the
very first marathon in history,which was Spiros Louis in
(45:20):
Greece.
The winner of that firstmarathon in history, First
marathon in history.
And I just look forward tobeing able to run with my
grandchildren, If they will slowdown enough and walk enough.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
I think they will.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I don't know about that.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
They're full of that childhood energy that I wish we
could bottle.
You're right.
Yes, If you could have anypost-race meal, sit down and
have a meal with any group ofpeople you know who would you
invite, what's your favoritepost-race meal you eat with them
and what would you talk about?
Speaker 3 (46:03):
That period of time, assuming you've recovered.
And, of course, if you do run,walk, run, you're likely to
recover within at least a fewhours.
So let's just say that it's theevening after a morning
marathon, which for me is goingto go from the morning into the
evening in Honolulu.
(46:25):
But let's just say that is thecase.
I would not have any heavyamounts of foods that have a lot
of fat in them.
It's good to have some proteinsources to rebuild, but you
don't want to have that have alot of saturated fat and a lot
(46:47):
of negative stuff and that notonly is not great for your
health but it just slugs youdown so that the next day you
feel like you're just having totrudge yourself around.
The high-fat stuff does that.
It's also not a great idea tohave a high-sugar snack period,
(47:10):
because that does a lot of othernegative things in a different
way, but having a balance in thenutrition, with some good
tasting carbohydrates that havesome protein with them and so
forth.
My snacks after a race areoften a small slab of salmon, a
(47:37):
baked potato, in which I willput olive oil on it and some
salt, and my profile is good inthe salt area.
I really don't have a lot ofsodium intake and I also don't
(47:57):
have high blood pressure, sothat's a plus.
I didn't have it before theheart attack.
I don't have high bloodpressure, so that's a plus.
Yeah, I didn't have it beforethe heart attack.
I don't have it now.
That's good, and that was one ofthe signs that caused the
experts to look into whatactually did cause my heart
attack, because I had no riskfactors, no family history,
great diet, great exercise.
Know, family history, greatdiet, great exercise.
(48:20):
And then it was discoveredabout the cases caseloads of,
based on Agent Orange, where Iwas located in Vietnam.
But the fact is that picksomething that you like to eat.
You can eat a little bit ofsome decadent foods at that
point and then chat and tellstories and celebrate one
(48:42):
another.
That's what it's about after anevent.
That is true.
That is true.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
If you had the chance to sit with one of your heroes
or mentors and have a cup ofcoffee and talk, who would be at
the top of that list?
Speaker 3 (49:00):
Bill Bowerman is way up there and so is George
Sheehan, two good friends andmentors of mine, my father right
up there with them.
Those three are ones that hitme right away.
I'll tell you who I really misson a regular basis, and that's
(49:20):
my friend, steve Prefontaine,and we just celebrated the 50th
anniversary of his trafficaccident where he lost his life.
I was up there for the memorialservice and he was a great
runner, but he was turning intoa great person and he and I were
actually working on projects toexpand running in the US and
(49:46):
sadly we never got to do any ofthat.
But he was someone I lovedrunning with.
We always had all types ofgreat ideas and great jokes
playing on one another.
It was a great time.
I really miss him because hewould be alive today, I'm sure,
doing great things.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
I'm sure you would both be doing great things
together as well.
So an icon and an inspirationin running yeah.
We asked you or we were jokingaround.
Speaker 1 (50:21):
We did race blunders and how this podcast could have
been a very different showwithout you.
However, I do subscribe to thebelief that that's how you get
experiences by making some ofthose blunders and learning, and
I'm guessing that over theyears, you have probably made a
(50:41):
blunder or two.
What would you say would be theultimate race blunder you ever
committed and that you wouldrecommend us not to do?
Speaker 3 (50:51):
The number one is overtraining, ooh.
And the number two is notincreasing your pace when you
feel really great in a race.
So the first one is illustratedby the year that I very well
(51:14):
could have won the BostonMarathon.
I befriended a good friend ofmine, john Anderson, who was on
my Olympic team.
This was the year after theOlympics, it was 1973.
He found me in the staging areaand said his training hadn't
been that great, so could hejust hold off on the pace by
(51:36):
running with me?
And I said, oh, you want to runwith the slowpoke, don't you?
And he said yeah, but in yourcase the slowpokes ended up at
the top of the heap and went toMunich in the marathon.
He tucked in behind me and weran.
He was right there as weentered the hills leading up to
(51:57):
Heartbreak Hill, and on thatHeartbreak Hill I started to
feel the fatigue that had beenproduced.
Eight days before I had gone outon a training run.
I was in probably the bestshape of my life.
I didn't take my watch becauseI felt that I might be pushing
myself, so I looked at the timein the kitchen where I left.
(52:21):
I ran a 16-mile run, just whatfelt like a really easy pace for
the first 10, 11 miles and thelast four miles I felt the
fatigue coming on, but I wasn'tpuffing and puffing.
It was still a really pleasantrun.
I got back, looked at thekitchen clock and I had averaged
(52:44):
five minutes a mile for 16miles.
So I tried to go into positiveself-talk for the rest of the
eight days, telling myself thatI'm sure I didn't overdo it,
that I was in great shape, I wasgoing to be able to do it.
But going up Heartbreak Hill,john passed me and kept on going
(53:10):
and I guess we were in about Idon't know eighth or ninth place
and he passed every one of themand I passed into fifth place.
But my legs were getting moreand more jelly.
So it was a big mistake.
It was a stupid mistake.
It was actually a rookiemistake and I made it after 15
(53:34):
years of running.
The other mistake was when Iwanted to qualify for Boston for
the last time, which was in2013 at Space Coast Marathon.
Oh, and I tried.
I thought I was starting mywatch at the start, but it
didn't.
I clicked the button, but itdidn't start.
(53:55):
I ran the first mile and then Imade sure that it started after
the first mile, but I went thewhole way not knowing what my
real time was because, I didn'tknow what that first mile was
and it was going very well tohead back towards the finish.
(54:18):
6.5 miles or so from the finishI spotted the pace group that I
should have been with in orderto qualify for Boston and I was
feeling great.
I was feeling unbelievably good.
So I ran a minute per milefaster than I had been running,
faster than I had been running,and I get up with the group,
(54:41):
talking with some of them, andthen I started feeling the same
jelly legs.
It kept going all the way tothe finish and I saw the pace
group go farther and fartherahead of me.
So I get up to one mile to goand I changed up my ratio from
(55:03):
30 run, 15 walk to 20 run and 10walk and I just did whatever I
could during that last mile.
And again, it took around 30minutes for them to get me my
time and I had to run under 410.
(55:25):
And I ran 409.56.
So I did have four seconds togo, Cutting it close, Wow.
Speaker 2 (55:36):
But you made it In spite of a rookie mistake.
Speaker 3 (55:38):
Yeah, wow, but you made it In spite of a rookie
mistake.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
Yeah, but that is a great piece of you adjusted on
the fly.
Your run, walk, run and you hadyour.
It's like you say you're themaster of your own ship, You're
the captain of your own ship,Yep.
So you adjusted and got to thefinish line and accomplished the
goal.
(55:57):
Now, at a finish line,typically they'll have DJs.
They might play some songs andthey might have some
announcements.
If you were to cross a finishline at a race and you would
have them play any song that youwould want them to play, what
(56:17):
would it be?
Oh my gosh, Wow Was it amotivational one, or is there
one that has meaning to you?
We asked Bart Yasso this samequestion and I was not expecting
him to say this, but I think itwas the New York City Marathon
(56:40):
where he was crossing the finishline to Caribbean Queen by
Billy Ocean in the 80s, and thatis what he said.
Speaker 3 (56:53):
What I found with music in my running career is
it's really based on how youfeel at that point.
So there are several songs thatcome to play here.
The most obvious to me isSpringsteen's Born to Run.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (57:11):
That's a real good one.
There are a number of Dylansongs that get me fired up like
a Rolling Stones is one of them,and another one is what Barb
and I had at our wedding.
We had that song at the weddingand it's Forever Young Again.
(57:33):
There are a bunch of other onesthat I'd really have to sit
down and just sort through.
Those are the ones that come tomind most, those are all great
choices, yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:45):
And if you were to have a movie made of your life,
what do you think it might becalled?
And what do you think of afamous actor that might fit the
bill to play you in it?
Speaker 3 (58:01):
No, I've never thought about the cure.
That's really an overwhelmingthing, because there's so many
things that have happened to mein my life that I would like to
have displayed, simply becausethese things people tell me
inspire them.
Yes, and it would be adifficult process.
(58:22):
I will say this the Prefontainemovie.
Jared Leto played the rolethere.
Jared, I was on the set oh, six,seven times before the movie
came out, when they were filmingand various stages of filming,
(58:42):
and each time he would see mehanging out on the set and come
over in between his takes and hewould do a role play with me.
He said I'm going to dosomething that I've seen Pri and
Pictures do.
How would he react and howwould you react?
And he was into it.
He was really into that roleand he did an amazing job.
(59:05):
I have to tell you I got chillbumps every time I see that
movie Great movie.
And of course, later on, jarednow has won an Academy Award.
He's really good, yeah, but hesure did a great job with
Prefontaine and I would, ifanything ever happened like that
, I would just hope that itwould be somebody like as good
(59:28):
into it as he is with his parts.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
And all the methods and portraying that, the spirit
and the inspiration, yeah, great.
Speaker 1 (59:39):
So, jeff, we'll close it out with this what is a
quote that you live by inrunning and in life?
Speaker 3 (59:46):
You can do it and actually that might be a good
title of some type of a movie.
Speaker 1 (59:52):
Tag Jared Leto and all of our social media.
Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (59:57):
We're totally going to tag him and say it's time for
you to play.
Another running icon andinspiration, america's coach
jeff galloway.
We can't thank you enough forspending some extra time with us
and we just love you and wishyou the happiest of birthdays
(01:00:17):
and you and your family, all thejoy in the world, because you
have brought so much joy andinspiration to us and to
everyone in the runningcommunity.
I know that you know you havean impact.
I just don't know if yourealize how big it is and how
much you mean to us.
How big it is and how much youmean to us.
Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
I sure appreciate that, and on this eve of July
4th, it's just.
Our country is amazing.
It's an amazing country.
We're under a lot of stressright now, but we have inside of
us a whole lot of good peoplethat want this democracy to
(01:01:02):
continue, and I am celebratingthat by running, which gives me
the most sense of freedom that Iwill get during the day.
It's when I'm out there running.
But as I want to help you allyou folks you, amy and Dana are
great people and I want tosupport your efforts, so let's
(01:01:26):
stay in touch.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Hopefully we can get you back on the show as we get
closer to I don't know, Wine andDine, maybe Something like that
.
We'll definitely be.
Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
He's helping me train for the 5k and the 10K that I
registered for.
Yeah, yeah Great.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Jeff, we will have links to everything in the show
notes.
Patrons, you've had some extratime here with Jeff Galloway.
Go check him out atJeffGallowaycom and all over the
socials.
We'll have links for everythingfor you.
But thank you for spending someextra time with us today, Jeff.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Great to spend that time with y'all.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
You take care, here we go.
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