Run Eat Drink Podcast
Welcome to the Run Eat Drink Podcast! This is the podcast where we embark on exciting adventures, combining our love for running, delicious food, and tasty beverages. Whether you’re an elite runner aiming for victory or just starting your “Couch to 5K” journey, we’ve got something for you. Let’s dive into the three pillars of our show:
Accomplish (Run): Accomplishment is deeply personal. Are you eyeing a race series win, planning your next “run-cation,” or hoping to set a personal record in your next half-marathon? Each week, we feature fantastic destination races from around the country. Discover scenic courses, learn about the charities they support, and get inspired to lace up those running shoes. And when we’re not on the road, we share interviews, training tips, and insights from our own running journey.
Explore (Eat): Running and traveling go hand in hand. As we explore new places, we also explore local cuisine. We seek out hidden gems—the eateries that locals rave about. Bold flavors, interesting dishes, and passion for food—that’s what we’re after. After each race, join us as we wander the city streets, discovering post-race refueling spots. Whether it’s a gastropub, a food truck, or a cozy café, we’ve got dining options to satisfy your cravings.
Indulge (Drink): When the running is done, it’s time to unwind. We raise our glasses to celebrate our accomplishments. Local breweries, coffee shops, speakeasies, and watering holes—these are our destinations. From craft beers to artisanal cocktails, we explore the beverage scene. Cheers to a well-deserved drink after crossing the finish line!
Join us on this journey of accomplishment, exploration, and indulgence. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a curious foodie, there’s a place for you at the Run Eat Drink Podcast.
Run Eat Drink Podcast
RED Episode 313 Heart to Finish: Jeff Galloway's Journey Through Eight Decades of Marathons
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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Hi, I'm Chris Twiggs, chief Training Officer for Galloway Training, and you're listening to the Run Eat Drink podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Run, eat, drink podcast. We feature destination races from across the country and after the race, we take you on a tour of the best local food and beverage to celebrate. So whether you are an elite runner or a back of the packer like us, you'll know the best places to accomplish, explore and indulge on your next runcation. Dana, on today's episode we welcome back a friend of the show, our coach, america's coach Olympian, jeff Galloway. Welcome to our show. Thanks for coming back on, jeff.
Speaker 3:Well, Amy and Dana, I am very pleased to be part of the show. Let's get on with the show.
Speaker 1:We ought to give you credit for the show because without you, without your training program, there would never have been a show. No, or it would have been a very different show where we talk about the mistakes we've made all the blunders we've made in training for running.
Speaker 3:For sure. Let me just editorialize here and say that there are a lot of podcasts that get into that theme of all the mistakes that I've made, that get into that theme of all the mistakes that I've made. Unfortunately, I hear the results of people who are listening to those podcasts and don't get any ways of getting out of the mistakes. What we're about is to give people solutions, proven solutions, and I'm proud to be part of that team.
Speaker 2:You have customized coaching with Coach Twiggs. You have coaching, and I have been privileged to be a part of that and you have helped me cross many a finish line in the upright position and without puking also.
Speaker 1:Which is a big deal.
Speaker 2:Yes, we are against it. I've heard you in several talks at Walt Disney World, as you are their official training consultant, talking about how you are against it, how to avoid it, and I think people should take your advice on that and many other running related topics.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's another problem that runners can have. That is usually avoidable.
Speaker 1:Now we got you on the show. What all have you been up to since you were last on the show? You've been a busy guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot of projects going on here and basically I'm so pleased that my son, weston, has taken the reins and CEO of Galloway Productions and he's doing a great job. He has produced one app and now is producing a second app that's going to be more inclusive about programs and things that people are looking at, including corporate programs and so forth. So it's a series of big leaps. It's a series of big leaps which means that I have the ability to keep my brain operating as he feeds things to me and gives me assignments to do, and I'm very pleased about that. But it's a very important time in running because there's so much misinformation out there and our goal, as is your goal in the podcast, is to give people information that works, and we know it works for hundreds of thousands of people that we've heard from and tabulated and then put in our database on the various things.
Speaker 3:To be specific about things, I am doing my regular exercise every day, which includes getting at least 15,000 steps a day. I am also involved in some writing projects. Involved in some writing projects, I am working every week on a book called Cardiac Comeback that tells about my story in making that comeback after heart failure and a heart attack. We have a number of retreats that have started back again that we do on the panhandle of Florida and there'll be one each year out in Lake Tahoe, and these are just wonderful times. They're so upbeat, people get so motivated by these and it's a wonderful life. Most important in my life is my family my wonderful wife Barbara we will be celebrating our 50th next year my wonderful children and grandchildren. It's just a great time in life for all these neat things that are going on.
Speaker 2:You have the love and support of your family while supporting the corporate world, individual runners and people who have had health-related challenges. You have come back from a heart-related challenge. How are you feeling?
Speaker 3:I feel good practically every day. I was talking to somebody earlier this week and they asked the same question. My comeback from my gut and my heart is that generally in life I feel as good as I've ever felt Now, like before my heart attack. There are days when I'm tired. Other days I feel really exuberant all day long.
Speaker 3:I love the opportunity to tell people how to get through these challenges, as I've gone through them. The greatest challenge now that I face is when I run, which is either every second or third day. Running is tough. There's damage from the Agent Orange that will never be taken away. It doesn't allow my heart to pump adequate enough for me to run the way I'd like to run, but that's okay. I can run Even very short running segments. Even when I was only running three seconds at a time when I first started running back after my heart attack, I was still getting all the mental benefits that I received from doing whatever I used to do, and that has remained true to this day. So the running enhances the mental effects of exercise the mental effects of exercise, but I'm truly discovering the benefits of walking and being able to keep you from getting too tired, to avoid injuries and exhaustion, and life is good.
Speaker 2:What's your current run-walk ratio?
Speaker 3:It varies from day to day. One of the things about my situation, because of the lack of blood flow that comes out of the heart, is that if I push too hard due to certain medications that I'm on to keep me from overdoing it, I will get a little dizzy. So I have to monitor my run, walk, run, based on a dizziness that comes on. What it usually means is I will start out at five to seven seconds of running and about 15 seconds 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 it often isn't, then I find a lower amount, and I can always find a lower amount.
Speaker 3:So it's really been a great challenge to allow me to advise others who are going through similar situations. You have to realize that heart disease is the number one killer in our country and it's way ahead of second place, and a lot of people don't know they have it. But once they're diagnosed or they'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 about giving suggestions, and one of the ones at the top of the list is listen to your doctor.
Speaker 2:Listen to your doctor number one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm not going to tell you what your medical situation is. I'm going to tell you that if your doctor gives you the, okay, what has worked for a lot of people in that situation?
Speaker 1:I love the fact that you embrace you really have done this your entire life, at least your running life that I'm aware of you. You embrace the things that have happened to you and you incorporate them and you're so open and willing to talk about it. A lot of people wouldn't be that open and not just talk about it like behind a paywall. You'll talk about it anywhere and it's because you want people to listen and hear the message. And I, just when you mentioned heart disease is a leading cause of death, I just did a quick Google search. It says about 695,000 deaths annually, or one in every five deaths in the US.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. Yeah, it's a huge number. Now, fortunately, that number has gone down over the years. It used to be much greater than that. But the bottom line is, exercise has been the primary reason, along with medications that have allowed for this decline to happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's that is something that you couldn't have imagined, let's say, when you started your running journey. The medical advances are absolutely incredible and they're growing exponentially. They're so much better in a quicker amount of time. Now we're starting to see that, and when you talked about your heart attack here on the show and you talked about the fact that the extent of the blockage and what they had to do and that they had, how they had to work you on the table, it's amazing to think how far we've come and we're so grateful to be able to have you on the show, and that's testament to medicine. Medicine's also a testament to your fit level of fitness. Yeah, fitness.
Speaker 3: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 have on my chest, my ambulance in the chest, that really regulates things quite well and we do have that and space age stuff. It's really exciting what they're doing with heart issues and it gives people a chance for not just life after a heart attack but quality of life after a heart attack?
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. And speaking of quality of life, after your heart-related incident you have a high quality of life such that you have a big birthday coming up on July 12th. How old will?
Speaker 3:you be 80 years old. Eight decades.
Speaker 1:Eight decades.
Speaker 2:That's a great milestone. And how are you planning to celebrate that birthday?
Speaker 3:Decades. That's a great milestone, and how are you planning to celebrate that birthday? As always, the most important person in my life is Barb, so Barb and I will have a series of things that we're working on right now. It's not going to be in. I'm not a big one on birthday parties and I never have been, so we're not inviting a lot of people over or anything. It's really about family, and so Barb and I are working on our special ingredients for that, and it's going to be a wonderful day.
Speaker 2:And I think you.
Speaker 3:We've heard about some plans at the Honolulu marathon, as maybe a delayed celebration.
Speaker 3:Can you talk about that? Oh yeah, that, as a matter of fact, barb says when anybody asks aren't you going to have a big birthday party? And she says what's going to be in Honolulu? And there are a lot of reasons for this, and it's really not based on the fact that I actually won the Honolulu Marathon in 1974, second year, and in the process it's the only time that I beat my friend Frank Shorter and my Olympic teammate Kenny Moore. They were ones who finished first and fourth in my Olympics, the Munich Olympics. It was really primarily based on the fact that weekend, when we're going to be in Honolulu, is the 50th anniversary of when Barb and I got engaged there in Honolulu.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of other things about Honolulu that were very significant in my life. It was the site of my second tour of duty in the Navy. My first tour was as off Vietnam for 18 months, 12 of which were in the combat zone, but the bottom line in my second tour is that I was assigned to a ship that was originally designed to go into Hanoi Harbor and sweep mines out of there. I wasn't really looking forward to that assignment, but when I reported to the ship it was in the shipyards and they were having a series of problems that never went away during the time period I was assigned there. So what that meant was, for the first time in a year and a half, I was able to get back into regular running. And I did.
Speaker 3:And I, when I arrived there, I knew I wanted to recreational run for the rest of my life, but I had no idea that I might want to really do the gut-wrenching stuff you have to do to train for the Olympics in two years a little over two years, and I just pieced it day by day and developed an appreciation for so much joy that you get from every run if you do it the right way. And I found my fitness coming back much quickly than I thought and within six months I was in the same shape that I had been before. I joined the Navy and actually set a record on one of the courses out there that still stands to this day we're talking about from the 60s to now. Now there's a caveat on that After about 20 years of running that race, they maintained they turned the course around and they don't run the course the way I ran it and set the record. So my record will probably stand forever.
Speaker 2:Well, isn't that wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:There you go. You could be a record holder and also an Olympian, and it's amazing that you mentioned all of those reasons why you chose the Honolulu Marathon.
Speaker 3:Well, it's not a bad place to go for a running event either. It's really. It creates the whole friendly atmosphere of coming together, and I'm very excited about the whole weekend and my running part is going to be minimal because my main goal is to cross that finish line. That's it. That is the goal for me and the reason, the main reason for that is that I've got a chance to set what could be a world record, and that is the very first person to have run a marathon in eight decades of life. And it's all about staying in the game.
Speaker 3:So, I'm working now on during my long training runs, which are up to 13 miles now, and what strategy of running and walking I'll be using, and it's going to be mostly running, mostly walking, rather, and because it's going to be hot and humid there. I have run that marathon five or six times and I know what it's going to be like. But I know that with walking I've got complete control over that whole heat aspect of it. But it's a wonderful return to doing a marathon and that will be five years after I ran my last one, but it will be my marathon for the 80-year-old bracket.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:I tell you what and you know what? Honolulu, I was browsing around their website. There's no time limit, there's no, they're going to sweep you off the course, kind of thing that's right, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3:And, telling the truth, I do not believe that I will be able to stay at 16 minutes per mile In the Disney races. I would get swept. My heart just won't put it out. And on the other hand, I know that if I try to challenge myself to run faster, I could induce rhythm problems that could compromise or kill me, and so I'm not going to push myself to limits. That's just something I don't do anymore. You should avoid that let's not.
Speaker 1: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:Yes, 100%, but I think it was just. It's well. Stars have aligned so much for this to be the perfect event for you to set a world record and not have to worry about pacers or maintaining that kind of 16 minute per mile or any minute per mile pace, and so you don't. That's gotta be mentally. That's got to be a positive thing for you not to have that pressure. I don't do you put that pressure on yourself you put that pressure on yourself.
Speaker 3:I do now that I've had the cardiac issue, because the fact is that it's intensity on 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 a mile. I'm going to run a little bit every quarter of a mile throughout the 26 miles and I'm going to tell stories in between, and I've already got a long list of stories. Anybody who's willing to listen can come along.
Speaker 1:How wonderful would that be, yeah really, and I think that this would be a great marathon for somebody who maybe is doing the marathon for the first time. I could be wrong. What are your thoughts on that, jeff? Is this a good one for a first time?
Speaker 3:The only caveat there is the weather issue, because recently I've done a little survey on it and recently the temperature has gone up into the 80s and the humidity has been quite high also. So for a beginner to get into those situations you just have to find people that have had enough training in those conditions and have been able to not have problems with heat issues. Particularly troubling would be people entering from cold weather climates like up in northern Europe, northern Canada, even going down into New England and areas like that, because it starts to get cool normally up there in those areas in September, october. I know that in Alaska they get their first snowfall in late August or early September and they have a lot of cold weather before December. So that's the main caveat there have a lot of cold weather before December. So that's the main caveat there. Heat If you can handle that heat and be willing to slow down and or sit, walk or sit down if you start to overheat and cool yourself off, then that would be a good one for first timers.
Speaker 2:So it's the heat. It's not necessarily a time limit, because that is of no consequence here in this particular race. It's just the heat challenge.
Speaker 1: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 be concerned with?
Speaker 3:It has a fairly long hill, about two and a half three miles into it, which is Diamond Head. You don't run to the top of the crater but you do. You run alongside and it is a significant climb. That is the better part of one mile up. It just keeps going up. It's not a steep hill, but it's a long one up. It's not a steep hill, but it's a long one. Now then you get out into basically a rolling situation with no real serious uphills like that, but you do have ups and downs. It is not a flat course and you particularly notice that on the way back after you've made your turn and you realize that it's getting warmer, it's very humid and you have some uphills and the uphills are very noticeable at that point. But the reward is at the end when you get that downhill. And I had a really good experience as a result of that In 1975, I was trying to qualify to get expenses paid to the Olympic trials in 76 and I got to the 25 mile mark in that race with six minutes left to qualify.
Speaker 3:That meant that I had to run five minutes average for 1.2 miles to the finish when it was hot and humid and I was very tired, but I had that downhill coming down Diamond Head, that downhill coming down Diamond Head, and I just gave it everything I had left and tried to keep those legs on moving and let gravity pull me down and I got to the finish. And it was 30 minutes later after I finished they came over to me and said do you darn right, I do. I had to run under 220, and it was 219, 59.8. Wow, but I qualified.
Speaker 1:Oh my, it's a squeaker, but hey, qualified's qualified.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic.
Speaker 1:You're right. So the downhill definitely helped you on that one.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's downhill for about eight, tenths, eight and a half tenths, and then it's flat in Decapolone Park.
Speaker 2:And there are some. What I like about their website is they have like a Google Earth, youtube recording of the course so you can see what parts are by the water. Recording of the course so you can see what parts are by the water, you can see what parts are maybe through that and you get to see where the elevation is too. So it's, yeah, I really like that.
Speaker 3:And do a good job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they do a good job. And if you don't want to do the full marathon, what I like is on the Saturday they have that one 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:You don't have to go out and do your full marathon.
Speaker 2:But when I got the email about you planning this whole event this with Triumph Sports Travel partnering with them it's five nights at. It's a trip that you can take with Jeff Galloway Five nights at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, a welcome reception to meet fellow runners, a pre-race dinner and a post-race celebration, a cultural activity in the spirit of Aloha race day support and a bagged breakfast for runners yeah. Escort to cheer, zones for family and non-runners. A complimentary 20-week Galloway training program and optional add-ons as you've got a master class yeah, add-ons as you've got a master class.
Speaker 3:yeah, gonna have a master class there and it's this is it's very similar to the trip that I helped out with going to greece, in which we all the people in the group stayed at the same hotel. Going to a race weekend is somewhat disjointed because people are staying different places and you don't have that opportunity to be having coffee in the restaurant down there and have somebody come up say let's chat, which I am really looking forward to doing. This is not going to be a thousand people, it's going to be very manageable group and we are really looking forward to having people come from various decades of my eight decades. I already know that we have most of those decades represented.
Speaker 3:And it's really going to be a fun time and a reunion time and a chance for everybody to meet new friends. If you have not been to a situation where Galloway folks are, then you don't know the energy that is generated by that. The folks at Run Disney say that our booth is the most popular booth and it's not because of me. People come by to ask questions, but it's such an energy source for all of our good people to come together. They talk to one another, they're sharing experiences, there's energy, there's huge energy, same as happens at all of our retreats, and I'm looking forward to that weekend a lot.
Speaker 2:The nicest people you'll ever meet are run walkers that do the Galloway program.
Speaker 1:They're really good folks. And I will say this there are two lines at any run Disney expo there's two. One is for the KT tape. That's true, and the other one is for Jeff.
Speaker 3:And that's the only time. Lines form at the booths and we will never try to compete with KT tape. They do what they do.
Speaker 2:But now, speaking of Disney and Run Disney it sounds like you are right at it happens in 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 something special with that too.
Speaker 3:It is perfectly aligned and we have that set up in the schedule so that even if you're not doing dopey, you could also just do the marathon. How often do you say just do the?
Speaker 2:marathon. Do the marathon how?
Speaker 3: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, because you've got all the time in the world that you need to finish Honolulu and therefore you've already prepared yourself, and there's so many other things that we're going to be doing walking wise that you can very easily get in a long weekend that weekend in Honolulu.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:A lot of amazing places.
Speaker 1:You've also got enough time to get back to the mainland and recover from that jet lag that you're going to have.
Speaker 3:Good one, Stated Dana, because that's really another key element to dopey training or any time when you're running a marathon and then trying to recover before the next one. Good point.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you've done this race weekend several times and you know that our show is about the running, but also about the food and beverage exploring and indulging local food and beverage. Are people going to be able to get their carb loading pre-race meal?
Speaker 3:in. Oh my gosh, yeah, there are so many great places to eat there. The only caution there is you really need to make sure that the day before at least, if not 36 hours before, you're not consuming something that's radically different from what you have had before. It's best to experiment after the race and not before, Although two, three days before is usually okay. Just use your best judgment.
Speaker 1:So if you've never had Loco, Moco or Poi probably wait till after the run.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, Honestly, I've tried Poi a number of times. It's not my favorite Really. Some people really like it and of course it depends on how it's prepared.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I've tried poi a number of times. It's not my favorite Really. Some people really like it and of course it depends on how it's prepared and then you could get.
Speaker 1:There's a spam like sushi. Yeah, there's spam everywhere.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's true, that's correct, so you would get some protein in that way if you're. But it's such a great lesson, just nothing new in the run up to.
Speaker 1:And we've learned that lesson the hard way.
Speaker 2:Race day, that yeah.
Speaker 1:So, jeff, you're 100% correct on that one.
Speaker 2:Don't yes.
Speaker 1:Don't so at this race weekend. What's the post-race party situation like there? Do they have a runner's village? How does it shake out?
Speaker 3:I don't know the specs on that. My team has been organizing that. I know that Sherry Witt Sherry's been involved in that. Sherry actually went over to Tokyo this year with Triumph so she went through their whole experience and she came back to us immediately and said I've gone on a lot of these tours. Nobody does it better. Sherry tells it like it is and we're finding that out in the organization process. But honestly, they may have the details of that but I don't know it and that's above my pay grade.
Speaker 2:You shouldn't focus on the party before before you have completed the race. But I have actually been looking on the website and their bling is almost like a gold medal. Almost an Olympic gold medal is what it looks like to me. Jeff, is that right?
Speaker 3:you've had it. Yes, it is really nice.
Speaker 2: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 you had that. But and they do have photography along the course so you can capture. If you're listening to jeff galloway at that mile 23 and you're listening to one of the stories in between the quarter mile shuffle runs, that's it sounds like an amazing time for any runner or run walker. You say you're going to celebrate eight decades with this.
Speaker 3:Okay, what that means is that I ran my first marathon as a teenager, aha, and have run more than one marathon in each successive decade 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and now I will have at least one in the 80s to qualify.
Speaker 2:And so, in those eight decades of running one or more marathon in each decade of your life what has running taught you about life? What's the big takeaway for you?
Speaker 3:about life. What's the big takeaway for you? It's continuing to stay in the game, to keep the feet moving, to keep yourself moving. The whole aspect of moving is what enabled our species to survive, because by continuously moving for thousands and thousands of miles a year, our ancestors found food when others, who didn't move as much, starved to death. Leading cause of death among our species has been starvation the whole time, and the ones that kept moving found food and stayed alive. But more than that and here's the most exciting part about running it is believed by the anthropologists and the evolutionary biologists that study ancient man.
Speaker 3:It is believed that our human brains developed.
Speaker 3:They were sparked to develop and then they developed due to forward motion, because it is well known that to this day, once you start moving your feet and walking, you turn on your human brain, because our ancestors had to solve a whole lot of problems on every one of these treks to find food.
Speaker 3:And the human brain is what really enabled our species to rise above all of the challenges and then to set strategies that would keep them away from those challenges. And to this day, it's also been shown that when we run, we elevate all of those benefits in the brain to a higher level, a much higher level. Grow more brain cells, activate the parts of the brain that give us a better attitude, more energy, the ability to recover faster and the ability to overcome challenges. Yeah, those are circuits in the brain that are turned on to the highest level when running. And if you're out there, for you have to be out there for 30 minutes. That's what the scientists are saying. But if you are, then any amount of running that you do regularly during those 30 minutes is going to turn on those circuits.
Speaker 2:It's going to turn on those circuits that can look back on and say, yeah, that's one that really mattered and meant a great deal to me.
Speaker 3:There were a number of areas of my life and there weren't many that were extremely problematic for me that I was under tremendous stress. I just didn't seem to have any way out of the stress and it was debilitating mentally to go through that and running was always the antidote to that. The stress did not go away because when I came back to it I had all of this stuff hanging on me, but the run allowed my brain to cope with it, and not only during the run but after the run, and it was a coping mechanism. For example, when I was in Vietnam I had a senior officer who was on me every few hours finding things that I did wrong, the paperwork I would send in over and over again, and he would sometimes spend over half an hour just going over one minutiae point that I missed and so forth, and it was so amazingly debilitating mentally actually the worst time but running was that time that I could really release all that. Now, that said, most of my time in the first 18 months was when we were at sea. Time in the first 18 months was when we were at sea and my ship was not a ship that allowed for any running, because we had supplies and equipment all over the place. I didn't have the release that I really wanted to, but the fact is that the it showed me that when I had the chance, I was going to be able to release this stuff and be able to go on.
Speaker 3:Now, surprisingly, all of these challenges that my senior officer gave me were designed for a purpose. He actually recommended me and was what caused me to get the second in command of my second ship. In other words, he knew that in that position I would be undergoing high stresses from the commanding officer of my new ship. But he had such faith in me that he was going to hammer me and see how I would respond to that before he gave me the recommendation. And boy did he hammer me. The fact is that not all challenges 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, but we do have a way of coping, and running is at the very least that and, of course, so much more.
Speaker 2:Now. You have talked about so many wonderful things and I'm just the just doing this interview makes me want to get out there and get some run, walk Running done. If the people in the Runcation Nation want to find out more and connect with you, how can they?
Speaker 3:We have an app and it's a good one. It has a free download, free Run, Walk Run timer. It's on the App Store. So just go to the App Store Jeff Galloway, Run, Walk Run. It has the JG logo. Yeah, Just look for JG, that's the logo icon there. And also we have a whole lot of stuff at je the app, because it's distracting for people to get referred from the app over to somewhere else. The app and our Jeff Galloway hub is getting more and more comprehensive to be able to handle that, so you can also look at the hub too.
Speaker 2:We will link to that in the show notes.
Speaker 1:And you are.
Speaker 2:That's the logo.
Speaker 1:That's the JG logo right there.
Speaker 2:That's the logo Weston came up with that. Oh, that's fantastic. So we will link to that so that people can find you. And in these next few months you 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 your amazing week in Honolulu, absolutely. So I imagine that you're going to be a busy man with those events.
Speaker 3:I am, but those events are just so wonderful. You talk about people overcoming challenges. That's what I hear most in the line of people several thousand throughout the weekend, every one of the Disney events, and they're telling me how they just never thought they could run at all and then they hit this challenge in their life and somehow they got started various reasons and what it's done for them and the amazing things that running can help you do and connect up. We have these strengths inside of us All of us do but we very seldom connect up with things that can unleash them, and running does that.
Speaker 2:Running it does. It unleashes so much. We just very recently we talked to Bart Yasso on the show about his new book and he says the organization, the things that he writes about in his book about top runs that people should do all across the world, he says the best ideas came after a run.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we, first of all, we want to say thank you so much for being a friend of our show and coming on the show taking time. Each time we ask you, you've been so generous with your time, so generous with your stories, motivation, inspiration. We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3:And the sheer wealth of knowledge that you bring is amazing, as I'm in it to help the people out there who want to improve the quality of their lives, and you folks are on that forward push to do that and I want to support you any way I can.
Speaker 2:You've been like a father to us and a friend and you've prepared us for some of the toughest events we've had in life and in running. And we are so lucky to know you and we cannot wait to accomplish, explore and indulge with you really soon. Thank you, jeff, and happy birthday. Happy birthday, jeff.
Speaker 3:Thank you, jeff, and happy birthday. Happy birthday, jeff. Thank you. I will, of course, always look forward to the opportunity to keep what you're doing going and moving to the next level, so don't hesitate, thank you Yay.
Speaker 1:All right, we are done.
Speaker 2:Do you have time for bonus questions?
Speaker 3:I do.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so this is a bonus segment for our patrons, and the first question that I want to ask is if you could run a race with anyone alive or no longer with us doesn't matter, regardless of pace, age, who would that be? Who would you want to run a whole race with, and why?
Speaker 3:Of course, I have to caveat that with the fact that I have known so many wonderful people at various decades of life and in some of those decades we weren't really matched up very well. One highlight of my life was running the Boston Marathon with my father. He was 75. It was to be his last marathon. He knew that because his doctor didn't want him running any other marathons and it was his last marathon and it was a treasured moment to me in memory. It's very difficult for me to pick one person. It would have been wonderful to have run a marathon or any run with Abebe Bikila. I think he's really quite an amazing person. It would have been wonderful to have run with the winner of the very first marathon in history, which was Spiros Louis in Greece. The winner of that first marathon in history, First marathon in history. And I just look forward to being able to run with my grandchildren, If they will slow down enough and walk enough.
Speaker 2:I think they will.
Speaker 1:I don't know about that.
Speaker 2:They're full of that childhood energy that I wish we could bottle. You're right. Yes, If you could have any post-race meal, sit down and have a meal with any group of people you know who would you invite, what's your favorite post-race meal you eat with them and what would you talk about?
Speaker 3: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 few hours. So let's just say that it's the evening after a morning marathon, which for me is going to go from the morning into the evening in Honolulu. But let's just say that is the case. I would not have any heavy amounts of foods that have a lot of fat in them. It's good to have some protein sources to rebuild, but you don't want to have that have a lot of saturated fat and a lot of negative stuff and that not only is not great for your health but it just slugs you down so that the next day you feel like you're just having to trudge yourself around. The high-fat stuff does that.
Speaker 3:It's also not a great idea to have a high-sugar snack period, because that does a lot of other negative things in a different way, but having a balance in the nutrition, with some good tasting carbohydrates that have some protein with them and so forth. My snacks after a race are often a small slab of salmon, a baked potato, in which I will put olive oil on it and some salt, and my profile is good in the salt area. I really don't have a lot of sodium intake and I also don't have high blood pressure, so that's a plus. I didn't have it before the heart attack. I don't have high blood pressure, so that's a plus. Yeah, I didn't have it before the heart attack. I don't have it now.
Speaker 3:That's good, and that was one of the signs that caused the experts to look into what actually did cause my heart attack, because I had no risk factors, no family history, great diet, great exercise. Know, family history, great diet, great exercise. And then it was discovered about the cases caseloads of, based on Agent Orange, where I was located in Vietnam. But the fact is that pick something that you like to eat. You can eat a little bit of some decadent foods at that point and then chat and tell stories and celebrate one another. That's what it's about after an event. That is true. That is true.
Speaker 2:If you had the chance to sit with one of your heroes or mentors and have a cup of coffee and talk, who would be at the top of that list?
Speaker 3:Bill Bowerman is way up there and so is George Sheehan, two good friends and mentors of mine, my father right up there with them. Those three are ones that hit me right away. I'll tell you who I really miss on a regular basis, and that's my friend, steve Prefontaine, and we just celebrated the 50th anniversary of his traffic accident where he lost his life. I was up there for the memorial service and he was a great runner, but he was turning into a great person and he and I were actually working on projects to expand running in the US and sadly we never got to do any of that. But he was someone I loved running with. We always had all types of great ideas and great jokes playing on one another. It was a great time. I really miss him because he would be alive today, I'm sure, doing great things.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you would both be doing great things together as well. So an icon and an inspiration in running yeah. We asked you or we were joking around.
Speaker 1:We did race blunders and how this podcast could have been a very different show without you. However, I do subscribe to the belief that that's how you get experiences by making some of those blunders and learning, and I'm guessing that over the years, you have probably made a blunder or two. What would you say would be the ultimate race blunder you ever committed and that you would recommend us not to do?
Speaker 3:The number one is overtraining, ooh. And the number two is not increasing your pace when you feel really great in a race. So the first one is illustrated by the year that I very well could have won the Boston Marathon. I befriended a good friend of mine, john Anderson, who was on my Olympic team. This was the year after the Olympics, it was 1973. He found me in the staging area and said his training hadn't been that great, so could he just hold off on the pace by running with me? And I said, oh, you want to run with the slowpoke, don't you? And he said yeah, but in your case the slowpokes ended up at the top of the heap and went to Munich in the marathon. He tucked in behind me and we ran. He was right there as we entered the hills leading up to Heartbreak Hill, and on that Heartbreak Hill I started to feel the fatigue that had been produced.
Speaker 3:Eight days before I had gone out on a training run. I was in probably the best shape of my life. I didn't take my watch because I felt that I might be pushing myself, so I looked at the time in the kitchen where I left. I ran a 16-mile run, just what felt like a really easy pace for the first 10, 11 miles and the last four miles I felt the fatigue coming on, but I wasn't puffing and puffing. It was still a really pleasant run. I got back, looked at the kitchen clock and I had averaged five minutes a mile for 16 miles. So I tried to go into positive self-talk for the rest of the eight days, telling myself that I'm sure I didn't overdo it, that I was in great shape, I was going to be able to do it.
Speaker 3:But going up Heartbreak Hill, john passed me and kept on going and I guess we were in about I don't know eighth or ninth place and he passed every one of them and I passed into fifth place. But my legs were getting more and more jelly. So it was a big mistake. It was a stupid mistake. It was actually a rookie mistake and I made it after 15 years of running. The other mistake was when I wanted to qualify for Boston for the last time, which was in 2013 at Space Coast Marathon. Oh, and I tried. I thought I was starting my watch at the start, but it didn't. I clicked the button, but it didn't start. I ran the first mile and then I made sure that it started after the first mile, but I went the whole way not knowing what my real time was because, I didn't know what that first mile was and it was going very well to head back towards the finish.
Speaker 3:6.5 miles or so from the finish I spotted the pace group that I should have been with in order to qualify for Boston and I was feeling great. I was feeling unbelievably good. So I ran a minute per mile faster than I had been running, faster than I had been running, and I get up with the group, talking with some of them, and then I started feeling the same jelly legs. It kept going all the way to the finish and I saw the pace group go farther and farther ahead of me. So I get up to one mile to go and I changed up my ratio from 30 run, 15 walk to 20 run and 10 walk and I just did whatever I could during that last mile. And again, it took around 30 minutes for them to get me my time and I had to run under 410. And I ran 409.56. So I did have four seconds to go, Cutting it close, Wow.
Speaker 2:But you made it In spite of a rookie mistake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wow, but you made it In spite of a rookie mistake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that is a great piece of you adjusted on the fly. Your run, walk, run and you had your. It's like you say you're the master of your own ship, You're the captain of your own ship, Yep. So you adjusted and got to the finish line and accomplished the goal. Now, at a finish line, typically they'll have DJs. They might play some songs and they might have some announcements. If you were to cross a finish line at a race and you would have them play any song that you would want them to play, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, Wow Was it a motivational one, or is there one that has meaning to you? We asked Bart Yasso this same question and I was not expecting him to say this, but I think it was the New York City Marathon where he was crossing the finish line to Caribbean Queen by Billy Ocean in the 80s, and that is what he said.
Speaker 3:What I found with music in my running career is it's really based on how you feel at that point. So there are several songs that come to play here. The most obvious to me is Springsteen's Born to Run.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:That's a real good one. There are a number of Dylan songs 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 wedding and it's Forever Young Again. There are a bunch of other ones that I'd really have to sit down and just sort through. Those are the ones that come to mind most, those are all great choices, yeah.
Speaker 2:And if you were to have a movie made of your life, what do you think it might be called? And what do you think of a famous actor that might fit the bill to play you in it?
Speaker 3:No, I've never thought about the cure. That's really an overwhelming thing, because there's so many things that have happened to me in my life that I would like to have displayed, simply because these things people tell me inspire them. Yes, and it would be a difficult process. I will say this the Prefontaine movie. Jared Leto played the role there.
Speaker 3:Jared, I was on the set oh, six, seven times before the movie came out, when they were filming and various stages of filming, and each time he would see me hanging out on the set and come over in between his takes and he would do a role play with me. He said I'm going to do something that I've seen Pri and Pictures do. How would he react and how would you react? And he was into it. He was really into that role and he did an amazing job. I have to tell you I got chill bumps every time I see that movie Great movie. And of course, later on, jared now has won an Academy Award. He's really good, yeah, but he sure did a great job with Prefontaine and I would, if anything ever happened like that, I would just hope that it would be somebody like as good into it as he is with his parts.
Speaker 2:And all the methods and portraying that, the spirit and the inspiration, yeah, great.
Speaker 1:So, jeff, we'll close it out with this what is a quote that you live by in running and in life?
Speaker 3:You can do it and actually that might be a good title of some type of a movie.
Speaker 1:Tag Jared Leto and all of our social media. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2:We're totally going to tag him and say it's time for you to play. Another running icon and inspiration, america's coach jeff galloway. We can't thank you enough for spending some extra time with us and we just love you and wish you the happiest of birthdays and you and your family, all the joy in the world, because you have brought so much joy and inspiration to us and to everyone in the running community. I know that you know you have an impact. I just don't know if you realize how big it is and how much you mean to us. How big it is and how much you mean to us.
Speaker 3: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 stress right now, but we have inside of us a whole lot of good people that want this democracy to continue, and I am celebrating that by running, which gives me the most sense of freedom that I will get during the day. It's when I'm out there running. But as I want to help you all you folks you, amy and Dana are great people and I want to support your efforts, so let's stay in touch.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Hopefully we can get you back on the show as we get closer to I don't know, Wine and Dine, maybe Something like that. We'll definitely be.
Speaker 2:He's helping me train for the 5k and the 10K that I registered for. Yeah, yeah Great.
Speaker 1:Jeff, we will have links to everything in the show notes. Patrons, you've had some extra time here with Jeff Galloway. Go check him out at JeffGallowaycom and all over the socials. We'll have links for everything for you. But thank you for spending some extra time with us today, Jeff.
Speaker 3:Great to spend that time with y'all.
Speaker 1:You take care, here we go.
