Jeff Galloway died on Wednesday, according to his family. He was an author, coach, Olympic athlete and creator of the Gallowalk program.
He was 80. Galloway passed away from a hemorrhagic stroke at a hospital in Pensacola, Florida. His daughter-in-law told the Associated Press. Galloway survived heart failure in 2021 and was believed he would be able to complete another marathon. He had run more than 230.
Galloway is survived by his two sons and six grandchildren.
Many people posted videos online, hoping for Galloway to recover from emergency neurosurgery.
Galloway’s family announced the surgery on Feb. 20 and invited the public to express support.
Long before supershoes, wavelights, and bi-carb, in 1972, Galloway ran his personal best in the 10,000 metres event clocking a hand-timed 28:30h in Seattle. He also had a 5000m best from Oslo’s Bisslett Games that year, where he ran 13:44h. Before half-marathons were popular, he raced the 20 kilometres in 1979 in a time of 1:02:26 in Chicago. In his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, he clocked a 34:20 10 km road race at age 50.
The Galloway Method
Galloway created the Galloway method of training and coined the term “Gallowalk.” Gallowalk is a run–walk training method that combines short periods of running with planned walking breaks. At the time, walking for short periods of time during a marathon was a novel concept.
The method was to allow for short walking breaks instead of running continuously. Participants follow a pattern like:
Run for a set time (e.g., 2–5 minutes)
Walk for a short recovery (e.g., 30–60 seconds)
Repeat
Galloway felt that non-elite athletes would not lose much time by taking strategic walking breaks, especially around water tables. The athlete was to keep moving forward. Drinking is easier while walking, and the difference between running pace and walking pace for a short period of time is small enough to allow the athlete to catch up or nearly catch up to the overall pace that they were at, because of the rest period.
The man who raced Steve Prefontaine in the 1970s changed the belief system that marathons were for elite athletes only. So, he had a hand in creating the mass marathon, where today, big city marathons will play host to 20,000 to 50,000 participants. He and his wife Barbara, have run a marathon nearly every month for the last thirty years without injury.
