For those of you who don’t know who Jeff Galloway was, he was a hugely influential figure in distance running from his elite days in the 1970s until his untimely passing in February 2026.
A 1972 U.S. Olympian in the 10,000 meters, Jeff went on to become far more famous later in life as the leading proponent of walk-run training programs. He believed, and proved, that you can take planned walk breaks during long training runs and races, as a way to extend endurance.
And yes, to run faster race times.
Jeff wrote countless running books as well, and a long-running monthly column in Runner’s World magazine that I edited a few years back. That’s when we became friends.
Early on, I was resistant to his thinking on walk breaks, and I would like to share a specific personal memory of that resistance. (I’m not proud of this.)
It was a staff mutiny, of a sort.
As Jeff’s walk-run theories were catching fire with the running masses in the late 1990s, Runner’s World decided to highlight the movement in the form of a big feature story that got touted in large print on the magazine’s cover. We may’ve included an appropriate image with it as well.
At that time I fancied myself a running purist, and as such, I was not in favor of us doing this story. And I certainly didn’t want us to make a make deal about it on the cover.
I and another senior editor and friend (who will remain nameless, and therefore blameless) formed a two-person mutinous office cabal around this issue. Horrors, we thought, a form of the word “walk” will be appearing on the cover of Runner’s World.
Fortunately, us going into each other’s offices, closing the door, doing silent primal screaming, and high-mindedly complaining about the downfall of our magazine and our sport were the most mutinous acts we mustered.
That said, and in our defence, it didn’t take us long to realize that our resistance was futile and seriously wrong-headed. And yes, elitist, which is very much not a distance runner thing to be.
It was clear that our sport was changing and expanding. We quickly got it into our heads that walk breaks were legitimate, and were here to stay. Runners were prospering with this strategy, and there was no way any of us were going back.
Jeff knew all that early on. Heck, he’d run a 2:16 marathon while doing planned walk breaks back in the 70s! He was also out at road races every weekend talking about them at the pre-race pasta party, then pacing a walk-break group the next day.
He was a running visionary. He changed distance running through force of personality, a child-like enthusiasm that was irresistible to be around, and a passion for running that remained undiminished into his eighth decade of life.
Thank you for all of that, Jeff.
Moral of the story: As a runner, always be open to new training approaches, even when they include the word “walk” in them.