Journey of Endurance: Jeff Galloway's career, and his role in the evolution of runDisney

Prepare to embark on an incredible journey of endurance and transformation. Get inspired by the extraordinary story of Team Hoyt, a father-son duo who forever etched their mark on the endurance industry. As we delve into the life of Dick and Rick Hoyt, we'll uncover tales of resilience and incredible determination that will warm your hearts and fuel your spirits.

In a riveting chat with our guest, Olympian Jeff Galloway, we journey from his days as an overweight teenager to his triumphant run into the Olympic team. Jeff unveils his unique running strategies and tactics that have been honed over 50 years of racing. Furthermore, we explore the evolution of training methods, the rise of jogging and distance running, and the inspiring figures who played pivotal roles in popularizing these trends.

We also take you through the transformation of runDisney, from a single marathon to the grand event it is today. Witness the power of the first International Women's Marathon and its phenomenal impact on increasing women's participation in marathons around the world. And before we wrap up, Jeff shares his tips for maintaining motivation in running and exercise, and we explore the surprising nutritional benefits of watermelon. So tune in, as this episode promises to entertain, inspire, and educate in equal measure.

Transcript

John Pelkey: 0:03

Hello everyone and welcome to 3, 2, 1, go the podcast. I'm John Pelkey.

Carissa Galloway: 0:08

And I'm Carissa Galloway, and we're bringing you stories from start to finish to keep the everyday athlete motivated to keep moving towards the next finish. John, good to be back Again. We've got an awesome show today.

John Pelkey: 0:20

We sure do, Carissa. We have the always inspirational Jeff Galloway. Carissa tells us why we need more watermelon in our lives. I didn't need to be told why I always have a lot of watermelon in my life, but it's actually really good for you and we will open up the mailbag. Can't wait, let's do this. 3, 2, 1, go who? I'm back from the Denver Colfax Marathon. Who knows when people will be listening, but as of right now, I've been back a week. What an exciting event I had for the first time.

Carissa Galloway: 0:55

Yeah, how was that out there?

John Pelkey: 0:56

It was great. It was great. It's a great marathon, half marathon. There are a couple of different 5Ks. There's an urban 10-miler. There's a lot going on. They're running through the zoo. I think it's the only distance race in the country where you run through a fire station. They run in the stadium where the Broncos play, the name of which escapes me. It's probably been renamed in the amount of time we've been speaking.

Carissa Galloway: 1:18

Gillette no, not Gillette.

Jeff Galloway: 1:20

Nope, not that it's not RFK. I grew up with that one.

Carissa Galloway: 1:23

Think of it in the middle of the show and you'll be sure to tell people in the middle Excuse me, everyone, we've thought of it.

John Pelkey: 1:30

Right, that's the trivia question. No, it was a great time. Our friend Creigh got me involved with that. My first year will not be my last, it was just a lot of fun.

Carissa Galloway: 1:39

That is, if you're looking for a race to put on your bucket list, that's a good one. You just ticked off a lot of really cool sights along the way.

John Pelkey: 1:45

It is. There's a lot of really cool stuff to see. It's a really good vibe. The party after the race is insanely fun. So, yes, I highly highly recommend it. If you can get past the voice of the announcer, I apologize in advance.

Carissa Galloway: 2:01

It's you Hell of a fun day. I was almost a Taylor Swift reference. It was right on the verge of being.

John Pelkey: 2:07

Let me just say then there's a blind squirrel analogy, because I know no Taylor Swift references whatsoever.

Carissa Galloway: 2:13

All right, well, you talked a little bit about that, but, john, how is your running going?

John Pelkey: 2:17

I have not been running in a while. I don't know if you know this or not, but I ran a 5K and I felt like, well, I've achieved that.

Carissa Galloway: 2:24

Time to move on to weightlifting. Well, are you weightlifting? Are you doing anything?

John Pelkey: 2:29

I haven't been, I have been. I have been back on my treadmill doing my two miles at a really slow pace just working my way back up to it. But in my defense, I'm doing a lot of yard work right now, and yard work in Central Florida. I really deserve credit for that.

Carissa Galloway: 2:48

All right. Well, you know I'm getting back out there. You know broke the toe.

John Pelkey: 2:52

I was going to ask how's the toe?

Carissa Galloway: 2:53

Shattered. Well, shattered it I should be. My last point was two weeks ago. I was 95% there, so I was allowed to run again. He told me to. When I started my podiatrist foot ankle surgeon whatever you will, guru Dr Gideon Lewis, told me I could do 75% running and then the 25% needed to be walking. So I usually run a two 30 running and a 30 second walk break.

Carissa Galloway: 3:15

So I've been doing 90 seconds running, 30 seconds walking, since then Feeling good. Cardiovascular wise man, you can spend all you want, but it is not the same as getting out there and running, so kind of getting back into it. Dr Lewis actually came and ran with me. Oh yeah, he's a podiatrist that makes running house calls, so I'm just kidding.

John Pelkey: 3:36

This is good. Can we just stop taping and let me just think about that for a minute.

Carissa Galloway: 3:40

What a job. I love that job.

John Pelkey: 3:42

Does running house calls? I'm not sure.

Carissa Galloway: 3:44

No, but got out there Did a good five miles. So, yeah, I'm feeling good. I don't have any races planned, but I maybe, you know, in a couple of episodes I'll have more updates to tell you.

John Pelkey: 3:54

I would like to state for the record that you are clearly an overachiever because I've broken my toe. You decided to shatter your toe.

Carissa Galloway: 4:00

I did, I did so it was pretty. It was like a little jigsaw puzzle and I hopefully, like Humpty Dumpty, we've put it all back together, you're stronger in those broken parts when they're put back together.

John Pelkey: 4:09

So you now have a bionic toe.

Carissa Galloway: 4:11

That's good. Well, before we dive into today's guest, we do want to recognize and honor a duo that we could say possibly change the face and open so many doors in the endurance industry.

John Pelkey: 4:21

Yeah, I think a lot of the people listening would know who Team Hoyt is. If you don't know who Team Hoyt is and I was first they were brought to my attention on the HBO series Real Sports number of years ago. Anyway, in short, here is the story of Team Hoyt it's Dick and Rick Hoyt. Dick is the father, rick was the son. The son, rick, was born with cerebral palsy and in that back then, 60 plus years ago, we really didn't know a lot about how to deal with that. So his parents were told he should be institutionalized because he was going to live in a largely vegetative state. But his mother realized that his eyes were following them whenever they were doing anything and thought there's some, there's something going on inside. Obviously, we've since found out that their brain is functioning normally in many, many ways, just not in physical movement or the ability to speak. So they found a doctor who said treat him like he's a regular kid. And they did.

John Pelkey: 5:21

Rick learned how to communicate, first with, I guess, just sign language and looks. He learned the alphabet. Then he was given the aid of a computer device to help him speak, went on to get his degree from Boston University in special education and worked at Boston College helping develop systems to aid communication for people with disability, so made the most of that. In 1977, rick asked his dad to run a five mile race with him to benefit a lacrosse player schoolmate of his who had been paralyzed. And so his dad, you know being a good dad, dick did that. Now, keep in mind, at that point Dick White was 36 years old, a retired Air National Guard Lieutenant Colonel, and was not a runner and I remember him on real sports talking about. He had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. At that time he wasn't really in great shape but but he went ahead and did it and at the end of that race Rick said dad, when I'm running it feels like I'm not handicapped.

John Pelkey: 6:19

It's so hard to say that it's so hard to read that.

Carissa Galloway: 6:23

And to think that that sentence, what they did in that one race, would go on.

John Pelkey: 6:27

Yeah, and what they did after that. Between 1980 and 2016, they competed over a thousand events, including 257 triathlons, six of them Iron man triathlons, and you've talked about how exhausting, announcing that is. 72 marathons, 32 of those were Boston marathons. I mean, they were legendary at the Boston marathon from that area and you know, you live there, they love their own. But if you're wondering how they ran these together, obviously for the marathons and other distances and they ran in five k's, 10 k's, 10 miles, all kinds of different things.

John Pelkey: 7:05

Dick would push Rick in a wheelchair for the triathlons. He towed him in a boat and had a special bicycle made. That was a tandem bicycle that Rick wrote on the front of. They were incredibly inspirational. They're in the Iron man Hall of Fame. They were put in there in 2008, won the Jimmy V Perseverance Award in the SBs in 2013.

John Pelkey: 7:26

And the reason that we bring it up is that, sadly, rick passed away on May 22nd and he had been pre-deceased by his father, dick, who died in March of 2021. Rick was 61. His dad was 80. They remain. Of all the races that I've called at Disney, the race where I saw Rick and Dick Hoyt was brought one of the most memorable because that story to me Again I guess I don't want this to come out wrong I've always been impressed by the underdog and To start off where Rick Hoyt did and his parents with a child all those years ago, 60 plus years ago, and to end up doing everything that they did, boy, talk about lives well lived. So rest in peace, dick and Rick Hoyt, you are an inspiration to millions really.

Carissa Galloway: 8:13

Yeah, I mean, and if you think about them, their story, how it's changed Hundreds, thousands of other athletes who get that same feeling of when I'm running I feel like I'm not handicap because you and I get to see those athletes right and it's not necessarily at run Disney, but when I was at the Indy mini marathon or, and I did races in San Diego.

Carissa Galloway: 8:29

They're 50 deep, the team triumph, the team Hoyt, the Ainsley's angels, and the athletes are just Beaming from start to finish and then they'll do the thing. Where they're 50 yards from the finish and that athlete gets out Of the chair and walks to the finish line and I'm, you know, you're, you're choked up, but then you're inspired because it shows you that we have to see every human, we have to believe in every human. Just like, you know, rick's mom said well, you know, I'm not gonna just give up on him. And these people, just because they can't complete the race physically, they get so much out of it, talking to the moms and the caregivers, and so what they did will never, ever stop, and just anybody out there that has supported inclusivity and racing is is doing such an amazing thing.

Carissa Galloway: 9:14

Yeah, every race we see more and more people taking part, people with Disabilities, people who are, you know, want to call them handicap because they're doing athletes, I'm gonna their athletes doing my great saying that anybody that gets to that finish line, no matter how you do it, you're an athlete and and that's part of what we do to celebrate. But we thank the Hoyts for just Having the courage to do your leg in here.

John Pelkey: 9:35

Definitely so legendary for all the right reasons.

Carissa Galloway: 9:37

Thank you, guys. So we talked about Inspiration, people who have made it possible for others to cross the finish line. Today's guest happens to be a person who has done that. We know him Very, very well. But for those of you who don't, today's guest is Olympian Jeff Galloway, and you might know him as the run Disney official training consultant. But his passion, his kindness for running, helping others find the joy of running, I'm gonna say that it's unmatched. So it's 1972, olympian. He was a race director. He helped grow some of the biggest races in the country to what they are today. He was behind the scenes and a pioneer for the growth and notice of women's running making sure there was a space for women.

Carissa Galloway: 10:21

He founded the world's first specialty running store and he sold over a million copies of his famous running book.

John Pelkey: 10:30

So that's all the time we have. His introduction doesn't bleed over the amount of time that we have drumroll.

Carissa Galloway: 10:39

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to three, two, one go, mr Jeff Galloway.

Jeff Galloway: 10:44

Great to be here.

Carissa Galloway: 10:45

How are you?

Jeff Galloway: 10:46

Oh, I'm feeling absolutely wonderful.

Carissa Galloway: 10:49

Oh, let's. Before we dive in, I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked John How's your running going?

Jeff Galloway: 10:53

I am Running and getting all the benefits of running that I ever have. Now, a lot of you may know that I had a heart attack two years ago, but I'm back running every other day. I'm doing the distance that I want to run and I'm getting all the mental benefits Hallelujah.

Carissa Galloway: 11:13

Now you're. We did your bio. Yes, john, it was lengthy, it was. It was briefly mentioned that you were an Olympian, so a lot of people know you from run Disney. They know you from run, walk, run. Can you summarize your career as an elite athlete for someone who may not know this extra part of your resume?

Jeff Galloway: 11:30

well, part of my story Really can relate to just about anybody out there who wants to get into exercise. I was an overweight, lazy kid at 13 that had not done any regular athletics or any sports and was tremendously out of shape. But I went to a school that required for boys to go out for athletics and as a result of that, I had to do something and I fell in with a group of kids who were cross-country runners because they were funny and they dragged me out in the winter time, promised me that I could hide out in the woods instead of do the workouts. But I found Miraculously that even though I was exhausted after these workouts I felt better in my head and in my spirit than I ever had and I wanted to find out what this was. So I stuck with it and now that's been 65 years later I'm still going Just as much as I want to do.

Jeff Galloway: 12:33

But I wasn't any good and I it took me until my senior year in high school to be able to qualify for the state championship in the state of Georgia, which was not a very celebrated track state, but I kept doing it because I was getting these internal benefits, went on to college not on scholarship at a very academic school when I had great teammates of Ambi Burford, who won the Boston Marathon his senior year, and Bill Rogers, who's won the Boston in the New York four times in a row.

Jeff Galloway: 13:12

So it was a wonderful experience but I did not achieve at any national level. Went into the Navy for three years because I would have gone in under the draft anyway and and after those three years I Really had the choice of quitting running. But I loved what it did for me and I had heard so many people On these midnight watches say if I had had this opportunity I would have been this. I didn't want to have to say that, so I gave it a go. For two years I joined the initial Florida track club group, which is just a wonderful group Frank shorter, jack bachelor so many really good guys that they start again. Still go games Based out of Gainesville.

Jeff Galloway: 14:11

I was based out of Tallahassee, but I appreciate that and I made my way up, very unexpectedly, to make the Olympic team in 72. From that point, my whole career path changed. I Realized what running has done for me and so many other people, and I wanted to teach others how to do that, and so, in a nutshell, that Is what happened.

John Pelkey: 14:43

Okay, I know we're gonna move forward with everything, jeff, but I do want to ask you this because, as somebody who did play a lot of sports as a kid it was at 13 was incredibly lazy even though I was doing that. So that's, I think, a 13 year old. I always enjoyed the competitive aspect of it More than I did the exercise aspect of it. Stop laughing, carissa. When did the competitive aspect kick in for you, because you were saying you enjoyed how you felt doing it. But come on high school Taking part in sports, what did? Did something at some point kick in and go?

Jeff Galloway: 15:17

I I enjoy the competitive aspect of this as well well, it was a balance at first and what kept me going were these intrinsic internal things that were happening, that were good the good attitude boost, the Empowerment that you get from from going through those hard workouts, and then the friendships that I had.

Jeff Galloway: 15:40

But During the latter stages of my high school career I actually started to win a few races and I ended up again unexpectedly winning the Georgia State two mile in the last foot of the race. It was on a Sprint, but in any case, that is what triggered my thoughts that maybe I could achieve something at the national level. But I had this whole base of Satisfaction and achievement Every workout gave me and I didn't really need to have the Wins or the times that other athletes in my era did. But it's a really good point because I have now talked to over a hundred of my friends during that era and Almost all of them have quit running. Actually, almost all of them quit running a long time ago and the crux of it was when they couldn't be competitive. They quit. Running in my era was definitely mainly competitive. I and a few others found these other intrinsic things and that's what kept us going.

Carissa Galloway: 17:02

John, I'm trying to walk this line on Jeff playing us like, did you ever line up at a start line going, I got that guy, I got that guy, I'm gonna get you? No, or it was always. Just let's have a good time. You know, as an elite athlete, you always talk about our mantras out there. You know I can do this, I'm strong. What was your mind telling you through, let's say, a race?

Jeff Galloway: 17:22

The first time I remember that sensation of being on the starting line looking at people you know that I'm lined up with was the Peach Tree Road Race when I got out of the Navy. I just gotten out of the Navy and it was my first sort of Road race that had any prominence that I had a chance to compete in, and, and as I looked at each person there I realized I had a real good chance of winning that race and I did, and that was one of the Credits on my resume that has resonated because Peach Tree has become so big and I actually came back then five years later and help grow the race. So it's near and dear to my heart.

Carissa Galloway: 18:11

Can you walk me through what that is like to win a race, because John's never gonna win a race. I'm never gonna win a race, I think.

John Pelkey: 18:18

I may have won a quarter mile, okay, but well, it wasn't me. That's a peach tree road race or the Honolulu Marathon.

Carissa Galloway: 18:25

I mean, what is that like to break the tape in a race that matters?

Jeff Galloway: 18:31

Well, first of all, at that level, there's a lot of exertion required to get to the latter stages.

Carissa Galloway: 18:39

More than a 400, more than a 400.

Jeff Galloway: 18:42

However, I will credit you, john, with the fact that the 400 fast, 400 meter, an all-out 400 meter Boy. At the end of that, you are absolutely more spent.

John Pelkey: 18:55

You were supposed to sprint it but as a 17 year old I could almost sprint the whole way and that was the goal, was to try to sprint the whole way. It is a difficult. It is a difficult distance, but you know it's not the Honolulu Marathon.

Jeff Galloway: 19:07

I've got lots of stories about trying to do that in high school and Determining that there's no way that I could run a fast 400 meter. But to answer your question, carissa, it's all about trying to keep your exertion level at a point that you can continue all the way to the end, and that has been my forte in terms of conserving resources and moving up through the pack. And I will tell you that most of my key races, the ones that really meant something both to me personally and also Nationally and then internationally, have been when I came from behind and picked people off all the way through. And you draw off that, because each time you pass somebody you get a boost and you look for the next one, and that has pulled me through making the Olympic team and a number of international races.

John Pelkey: 21:27

It's good to know that elite athlete, jeff Galloway, does admit that when you pass someone when you're running the three to four people I passed in my 5k recently, I felt really good about that. Now they were all stopping to take pictures. But that's neither here nor there. Of all the races that you've run in your in your life, is there one you'd like to run again, given the opportunity?

Jeff Galloway: 21:50

Yes, yes, there is and, and I really don't do what else, but I will At this point you will because John asked you, and exactly when John asked me, I try to do what he necessarily have to mean you know, oh, I'm disappointed at how I did, but just some.

John Pelkey: 22:08

Is there one that just means more to you, that you would love to be able to do again?

Jeff Galloway: 22:13

the Boston Marathon in 1973, I had a legitimate chance to win it and I I Made a stupid mistake eight days before and ran a workout that was way too hard and I paid for it, unfortunately, during Boston.

Jeff Galloway: 22:34

But the the short Version of the story is as I was in the staging area, a good friend of mine from the 72 Olympic team, john Anderson, came up to me and said that he wasn't in shape to really run at a high level, but he knew that I had a strategy that could maximize his performance starting out slower and picking people off. And could he go along with me? And I said absolutely right. So he tucked in behind me and we talked on and off all the way through and then, going up the series of hills that culminated with Heartbreak Hill in Boston, I I started to feel my workout and John just went right on by me and kept on going and won the race. Now I do not know whether I would have won that race. I know I would have done better had I not done that stupid workout, but it really made an impression on me and I changed some of my training as a result of that and Do we, the people that follow Galloway's book on running benefit from that experience in your training plans?

Jeff Galloway: 23:43

Well, I certainly hope so, because you know, my whole mission is not to really Tell stories to gratify what I did. It's to help others and to give them lessons and to give them some tips that can actually pull them through those difficult situations.

John Pelkey: 24:00

I'm gonna misquote you but and you can correct me on it, but I think what you said was you spent the first 20 years of running Running as far as you could, as fast as you could. In the next 20 years, figuring out how little you needed to run to run the distance you wanted to run, or something on that order well, I tried to get smarter, for sure.

Jeff Galloway: 24:18

However, the the caveat to that is that I kept experimenting. My whole career Was trying to figure out what might work better than what I was doing, and one of my missteps was increasing my total weekly mileage up to 200 miles a week and a little bit more, which I did about every fifth or six week. And and you know you're you're just about running, eating and sleeping on those weeks, but the fact is I can tell you that it sure didn't work for me.

John Pelkey: 24:59

I should say I mean 50 years ago, 1973. Hard to believe it's been 50 years, because I remember in 1953 very well. Now elite athletes have coaches, physiologists, nutritionists, everything. Your era. You were really the people who came up with these training methods and, obviously, as you talked about, it was probably, you know, three steps up, one step back at times.

Jeff Galloway: 25:27

We were, almost to a person, self-coached. We could not have sponsors, we could not Take on prize money of any type whatsoever, because it was against the amateur rules and all of us wanted to be going to the big dance, which was the Olympics, and so we had here as best we could, although Now we know that some got money under the table and things like that.

John Pelkey: 25:57

Well, and you know the Soviet Union, the East Germans, they were in the military, I mean they had ways around it as well. But I just find that just fascinating now, as part of this community of the largest Participatory sport in the country, most fastest growing. I mean you have people who have coaches, who are gonna run. I mean your app coached me for my first 5k. There are people running 10k's and a half marathons who have coaches, but at the elite level it really was a little catch-a-scatch, can and just I'm people probably had to work other jobs and Couldn't just focus on that, which is why it's just so amazing what, what folks and I don't want to say of your era, because that makes you sound really old Of your generation to be so highly self-motivated and self-coached is a very impressive.

Jeff Galloway: 26:46

Well, we did have to have other jobs and I had a number of part-time jobs in addition to Running my store, which didn't bring in hardly any money at first. But the real positive side of that is I had to invent other things, such as training groups and clinics and Individual coaching, things like this, and it certainly enriched my life and helped bring others into our sport.

Carissa Galloway: 27:17

Yeah, and let's, let's transition to that because we've kind of a set of base of you were very talented elite athlete and, as you said, most of your colleagues from the time they're not running anymore, but you had that different benefit of the positive benefits from running and you felt compelled to share that. And you know, john, you said it too fastest growing sport, highest participatory, participatory sport, but running wasn't that. So how did you have that vision in the 70s and 80s to Put your weight and your time behind growing road races?

Jeff Galloway: 27:47

that those first series of questions that I had as a lazy, fat kid Continued to haunt me as I continued to run why in the heck am I doing this?

Jeff Galloway: 28:01

Why do I want to do this? And the thing that has come to the fore in my Realization is that I truly believe that every one of us, as a human being, has Somewhere inside this desire to do some exertion in order to feel more fulfilled. And Unfortunately, so many people Try it, or they get dragged out by a friend. It's In too good a shape and they get exhausted, they have aches and pains, they puke, whatever you know they. They experience the negatives and say what? I'm not going to do this. Well, I wanted to find another way, and so what I started doing in my coaching programs and also the groups is is collecting the data and then seeing what types of things would keep people people away From the bad stuff and give them all of the good stuff, and so our program is a cognitive series of ways to go about training that can Allow you to feel as good as you can feel in life and not have the hurts that could come if you go too far.

Carissa Galloway: 29:27

What was that fulcrum? Let's say peach tree. I believe there was 110 the first year. Yes now there's 60,000. How? How did that shift happen in your point of view?

Jeff Galloway: 29:39

well, I Actually did an article and researched at forerunners world back in the early 80s and when the fulcrum actually started Swinging is other like turn I do might not be the right.

Jeff Galloway: 29:56

That makes sense, you know, depending on how you think of the fulcrum, but where it started was in 1964, and If you look at some key road races that had been around since 1900 Beta breakers, boston Marathon they're few others. The point, the year when they started increasing for good was 1964, and the only key Event that happened was the Olympics in 64 in Tokyo, in which the US Athlete won the 10,000 meter and the 5000 meter. So it was the distances where we made the headlines, and In addition to that there were a lot of other people that were discovering huge benefits from distance running Kenneth Cooper, out in Dallas at the aerobics Institute. Oh Bowerman, bill Bowerman in Oregon. He wrote a book called jogging and it came out jogging or jogging.

Carissa Galloway: 31:11

Is it a soft day or no jogging?

Jeff Galloway: 31:14

Well, I think that it's probably Interpreted both way. How?

Jeff Galloway: 31:19

did Bowerman say it, you know, he said jogging, he said okay, well yeah, and he set up the very first classes that I ever knew and in beginning running he had dozens of them going at one time in Eugene and they used walk brakes and my best friend in life, jeff Hollister, was a coach for some of those and he would continually report to me. So there were a critical mass of people who came in behind the competitive athletes and Started having information that helped people get into this in a really healthy way.

John Pelkey: 31:59

Yeah, they coincided to a little. I remember you mentioned 1964, which is actually my birth year, so a lot of good things happened in that Good year. But 64 Olympics I believe Rome was 64 television coverage of. They needed Events to cover for things like wide world of sports which had started on ABC, and I remember as a kid They'd pick up like the they on tape have the last 30 minutes of the Boston Marathon started, adding that in we saw more Live coverage or uptaped coverage of Olympic events and I remember Names of you know the Jim Ryan's and the Alberto Juan terranas and stuff of the world. So I think it probably was Maybe just a coming together of that as well.

John Pelkey: 32:46

In mass media people started to see this athletic event as something that you didn't need to find a basketball court to go and play and you didn't need a tennis racket to go. This was something that you could do to get a little physical activity. And, karissa, you won't remember this, you'd be too young. But the jogging craze really starting in the early 1970s. It became a craze jogging suits, which are ubiquitous now. All of a sudden they were. They were everywhere in the early 1970s and everyone had them, and even people, people who weren't jogging, we're wearing them.

John Pelkey: 33:16

But it it really did seem to explode right there in the early 70s, right around 72, with the Munich Olympics as well. That that's what I remember the most. All of a sudden, people, people my parents, friends were jogging, people I'd never seen doing anything but smoking and drinking scotch were now out jogging. So it really, it really did seem to you know, it was to me. It was a little less of a slow burn for you, jeff, probably more of a slow burn because you've been involved in it for a long time.

John Pelkey: 33:48

But it just seemed like overnight everyone was jogging you'd watch a sitcom, a television show, you know one of somebody was trying to get in shape and was jogging. So it has had moments in time where it just sort of explodes in its, in how and how much people are inspired by it and wish to take part.

Jeff Galloway: 34:08

Well, certainly my teammate Frank Shorter's win in my Olympics, the Munich Olympics, has a big boost to the media. That did bring quite a few people out. However, the numbers of people that were really pulled out increased more after the 76 Olympics. So yes, there was a huge boost in 72, but an even greater boost in 76. And then, shortly after that, jim Fix came out with his best seller book, the complete book of run.

John Pelkey: 34:42

Yeah, probably no, not a surprise. 76, montreal Olympics it was on more of an East Coast time thing. More was televised. We got to see a lot more of it and you buried. The lead I was going to bring up Jim Fix's book was huge. People bought it who never laced up a pair of shoes in their life.

Jeff Galloway: 35:00

Absolutely, and Jim was a friend, miss Himalod, he was a great guy.

John Pelkey: 35:08

And he started running later in life, did he not? He was not one of these people who started running early.

Jeff Galloway: 35:13

Before 40, the age of 40, because his father had died of a massive heart attack at age 42 and he was having signs. You know that he was headed that way and so he started running 38, 39 and he had a heart attack in 52. He did not change his diet. That was unfortunate, and a lot of us tried to get him to stay away from the regular steaks and the trans fat in the cookies and cakes which he loved dearly.

Carissa Galloway: 35:48

Now Jim's book John Knew. It was popular. Then another book came out that sort of overtook that one as the most popular book of running. Which one would that have been?

Jeff Galloway: 35:58

Well, it was eerie how that happened. I was asked to write a book on running after going on my circuits around the US in the late 70s and early 80s. So I did, and at first I could not find a publisher for it, even though the publisher initially said, well, publish it. They didn't, and so I published it myself.

Carissa Galloway: 36:23

I did not. Did you know that I did not? Anybody in this room know that the audience.

Jeff Galloway: 36:32

Well, it did so well that a publisher got very interested in it and took it and and did really well with it. But the month that Jim Fix died was within a few days of when he died is when my book appeared on the book stands. I mean, it was eerie and it, my book, suddenly took over from Jim's book. They were different books and by the time my book came out, the running population, or people that wanted to get into running, were looking for more practical, step-by-step information, which is what my book had and still had.

Carissa Galloway: 37:17

We're gonna move on, but I just want to visualize Jeff writing this first book. Is it on a typewriter? Is it in a notebook? What did it look like?

Jeff Galloway: 37:24

It started out on a pad of yellow paper, you know.

Carissa Galloway: 37:29

I don't know, I use computers.

Jeff Galloway: 37:31

And I just started first of all, every morning, waking up about five o'clock and just going after a chapter, chapter at a time, and I got about 10 or 12 chapters done and decided I better start typing this up. And my company had just purchased its first computer and it was really very primitive Floppy disk, you know all that sort of stuff I remembered well.

Jeff Galloway: 38:02

Oh my gosh. But anyway, I could get in at five to five thirty in the morning and get the computer as my own until nine o'clock, and so that was my first book production process.

Carissa Galloway: 38:19

Yeah, and there's, I mean. But over 600,000 copies probably more than that, you know have been sold. So good job, thanks, jeff.

John Pelkey: 38:25

I think it's interesting. You approached your writing the way you approached your running. Get up every day and that's it. Put your head down.

Jeff Galloway: 38:30

Exactly right, exactly right.

Carissa Galloway: 38:33

Well, let's take a jump forward from the 70s to the 90s, if we will. We celebrated this year in January, 30 years of Run Disney. You were a huge part of Run Disney even happening coming. But Run Disney has evolved over those past 30 years from what was essentially not going to call it any other road race, but it was, and the Run Disney we see today is so different, is so fun, is so powerful. Talk about that sort of evolution from your point of view.

Jeff Galloway: 39:02

Well, I think that what the Disney folks were doing in 1994 was looking at the excitement of a New York, a Boston, a Chicago and the festival aspect and so forth, and they were trying to tie into this type of thing, having their characters and so forth there. But it was more oriented towards finding marathoners that were already training hard and then providing an event for them, and that went on for two or three years and then it was growing a little, but probably not the numbers that the Disney folks were looking at. And then somebody had the idea of having a half marathon and that is when it really started taking off because of women, because once you had a half marathon the whole population of the demographics of it changed. Instead of being 85 to 90 percent male, it was closer to 50-50 with women. And women made the events come alive and have fueled running ever since.

Carissa Galloway: 40:27

And that's the first year John and I appeared at the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend because we needed more people, because there were two races, that's right.

John Pelkey: 40:35

Yeah, that's right. And if we can't jump back just a second because you brought up the women, you're really instrumental, as Grissa mentioned earlier, in getting women elevating their level in the running community. Talk a little about that.

Jeff Galloway: 40:51

Yeah, for three years I was the assistant race director at the Peachtree Road Race and our team grew the race from 1200 to 12,000 in those three years. At that point there was some discord in our club, the Atlanta Track Club, and my race director and I decided that we could bow out, retire from the Peachtree Road Race, give somebody else a chance to get in, because there were a lot of people that wanted to get involved with it and we could move on to another project. So what would that be? And I said we need to have an international race for women and we need to get a claim for the marathon, because women don't have a chance to run anything longer. At the time, I believe it was 1500 meters was the longest international race that women could run, and so we thought this was absolutely ridiculous.

Jeff Galloway: 42:05

He, my race director, Bill Neese, had a friend who was regional director for Avon Products, so we marched over there. We had this really nice proposal. He thought it was a fabulous idea and would help Avon a lot. He sent it on up to New York headquarters. They turned us down. We couldn't believe it.

Jeff Galloway: 42:28

We went back to his doorstep and said you know, Al, this doesn't make sense, why did they turn this thing down? And so he went to bat for us. He went up to New York. They sent a different team down there that was at a higher level. We pitched them a little harder and they bought it that second time. And we put on the very first Avon International Women's Marathon in Atlanta, Georgia, with a plan to do one a year and to concentrate on bringing the critical mass of women from all over the world to this international event in order to get the IOC to incorporate it. And it worked. And I will have to say that Avon hired Catherine Switzer, who really did the behind the scenes and the real core work to make that happen. Wow.

John Pelkey: 43:29

That's impressive, it's just remarkable that the 1500 was the furthest that women could take part in competition.

Carissa Galloway: 43:36

Wow, and now we've grown women in most races. We do outnumber the men in a lot of the races, which is fantastic, and that's why, as you mentioned, the half marathon at Disney and then it became Princess Half was our second race and just continue to grow and grow and become something that is fun, is inclusive, is a place for people, whether they're doing the first 5K like you, john, or whether the half marathon or the marathon is their bucket list, or all four in one weekend.

John Pelkey: 44:02

I think that's part of it too is seeing that you know, yes, to ask someone to come out and run a marathon who's never run in any sort of competitive distance race is a lot. But you add in you have a weekend where there's a 5K three miles you can, you know 3.1 people. I know how far it is. I know that people out there going Belki doesn't even know how far it really is. That's something where you know most any of us can go. Hey, I can take a shot at that. And then, once you do that, then it's like whoa, you know what's a 10K next and how many people do we meet Carissa who, oh, I, ran my first 5K. I was, you know, 50 pounds overweight, ran my first 5K five years ago and now I'm on my fifth marathon or fifth half marathon. It's really. It really is remarkable what, how it's grown in a relatively short period of time. Really, when you think about it.

Jeff Galloway: 44:50

Well, run Disney has really changed the culture of fitness in our country, because you look at the numbers of people that have entered the Disney Run, disney races over the years hundreds of thousands. Now you total it up and I talk to two to 4,000 of these individually. Every single expo, one after another.

Carissa Galloway: 45:15

I mean, you have lines and you stand there and you're so energized by it, but that's, it's huge numbers, and what do you hear when you talk to them?

Jeff Galloway: 45:21

Well, almost everyone has a story of how they had a lifestyle change, and running changes you. But unfortunately, so many people are turned off by the bad stuff, and the most common comment that they direct to me is if I hadn't seen your training program and the fact that you can put walk breaks in there, I would have never even started to try this. But now I know that I can feel as good as anyone else in running, and here's what I've done, and the stories are just incredible.

Carissa Galloway: 45:59

And they are. Do you have a story from Run Disney that stands out to you, that you go back to and that continues to inspire you?

Jeff Galloway: 46:05

Well, there are a lot of them, but I will say that there's one that keeps me in that frontal lobe whenever somebody says what is your favorite story? And it's the story of a woman named Mary who came up at one of these expos and said I've got to tell you this story. She had, as a girl, been a figure skater and had worked her way up to being a candidate for making the Olympic team. She didn't make the Olympic team, but she was right on the edge of that, and as soon as she didn't make the Olympic team, she went on with her life. She finished her education, she got a job, she raised kids, she gained a lot of weight. The family was down at Disney World during one of their vacations and they saw this event going on, and so she inquired what's going on here, all these people? They're dressed in shorts.

Carissa Galloway: 47:12

Why didn't we get to the parks?

John Pelkey: 47:14

They had medals and I'm not sure they showered and I don't know what's going on.

Carissa Galloway: 47:18

That's exactly right, but it looks fun, yeah.

Jeff Galloway: 47:21

But it got her attention and she said hmm, you know, once she looked at the website and saw my training program, she said you know, I think I could do this. And inside her comments because I gave her my email address and she would check in with me occasionally and inside her comments or behind the scenes, I realized that she was regaining a lot of that tremendous sense of accomplishment from doing the workouts that she did as a girl and in those rigorous workouts as a figure skater, and she was feeling an athlete again. She was feeling the empowerment again and she ended up doing the princess. And I saw her after the race and said you know, stay in touch from time to time. Well, a year later she got back in touch. She said I have to tell you this, but I was.

Jeff Galloway: 48:24

I've continued to run. I can run a half marathon now whenever I want to. But let me tell you what I've done. I decided I'd look into figure skating for adults and realize that they have a national championship and I qualified and then was on the podium in my age group. And so you know, they're all types of these success stories, but they're individual and that's the most powerful thing People are finding things in life that they weren't able to experience before they started running. Wow, that's amazing.

John Pelkey: 49:03

Even at that level. You know, I'm just thinking about this. This woman, mary, it was a zero sum game for her. I didn't make the Olympic team. I'm going to stop now and move on with my life, as opposed to look at where you got.

Jeff Galloway: 49:16

Yes.

John Pelkey: 49:16

What you've done and look at the journey to get there and don't you want not that necessarily. You have to compete, obviously but there is something in you that that fueled. And where can you now find another place to do that Another? You know there are stories of professional baseball players who go on to play racquetball professionally. They just looking for something. Yes, I can't do this for the rest of my life, but I've put in the time to train myself to do something at a very high level. That's difficult to do and don't kid yourself Anybody out there, I'm sitting here among marathoners. It's difficult to run a marathon, it's difficult to run a half marathon, it's difficult to qualify in any sport in the Olympics and to have done that on that level and then think, well, it's over for me now. It's so interesting how we approach competition and just any sort of physical activity which most of us take part in when we're younger. And then you know, I never grew above five, eight, so I wasn't going to play college football, so I'm going to stop exercising now.

Carissa Galloway: 50:23

But that's the beautiful thing, that these road races open up to everybody. It's personal achievement. And yes, there's the clock, but necessarily without a clock for everybody, sort of checking that box off and whatever distance, whatever distance you're comfortable with.

Carissa Galloway: 50:35

And Jeff, you've made that possible for hundreds of thousands of people and you're going to continue to do that and hopefully these stories in this podcast continues to inspire people to keep going, like we say, to maybe not even get to that finish line, but just think about starting. You know, like you said, if you're listening to this and you're still listening you probably run. You know, think about looking at one of Jeff's plans, because it is a real way to start feeling that confidence, that empowerment that we lose as adults, as people working trying to achieve things that are going to be financial or we have kids. We lose that ability to believe that time is okay to put into ourself.

John Pelkey: 51:08

Yeah, and it's. You know it's when you're a kid. You know you exert, you're out playing with your friends and you're playing a sport and you're exerting a lot in your life physically and you know somewhat. Mentally, when you get to be an adult, there's a lot of stuff on your plate and I understand and God knows I am guilty of it it's easy to go home and say I'm just gonna watch, I'm gonna, I'm gonna binge watch the Marvelous Mrs Maisel all night and I do anything and I think what? What?

John Pelkey: 51:34

Over the years you've heard from the folks who have Committed to you know what? I just want to achieve this. I just like to go run a 5k, and that's not just a 5k, I'm not saying it that way, but once They've achieved that, then you can see in the vast majority of them they're gonna, they're gonna keep up with it in some way. They may not be out every weekend running all 5k or every corporate one that they they can, but they are, they are gonna stay involved with their own fitness. And and again, even even for me, the the limited amount of experience I have in this I do know that mentally it is so much better for me that it probably is physically, frankly.

Carissa Galloway: 52:12

I mean, that's, that's 100% how I feel. All right, jeff, before we, we let you go get back to your busy day. For someone listening out there that is in a rut Maybe they're that I don't know if I'm gonna sign up for another race. I don't know if I'm gonna keep doing this because it's hard and sometimes we know it's hard. What is your pep talk, your inspiration for them?

Jeff Galloway: 52:30

look at your calendar for three to six months ahead and Pick a particular week in which you would like to be able to do something with your running or walking and we're here for walkers too, I mean any of you who Cannot run or you don't want to run.

Jeff Galloway: 52:53

That's fine. But walking longer will engage your brain in many of the same ways that running does. But put on that date on the calendar some distance, and Then you can set up a training program that will lead you up to that distance to back you up. Recruit some friends to keep you supported, or you support them to get in with you on this. Get your family members involved. That's one of the great things about run Disney, because once the parents start doing something, you find that the kids want to do it too, and so this is another way that things are changing and then finally have some type of a reward system in which you can then reach out to others who haven't been exercising, exercising, bringing them into your celebration party and then charge them up with the motivation To do something too.

Carissa Galloway: 54:00

That's what. We didn't have a party for you, john, when you finish your 5k. You just went right. Well, I got some cupcakes for my kids birthday behind you.

Carissa Galloway: 54:09

Well, jeff, thank you so much for joining us. I'm sure we will be hearing from you again in future podcasts, but it was inspiring, as always. And, john, what I Took away with it that maybe I hadn't realized about Jeff was that he, he was always Jeff Galloway. He was always the motivating Jeff Galloway, telling you the benefits of getting to the finish line even from the beginning, and he was just lucky enough and maybe brave enough to be that athlete and then be that person afterwards, bringing this to thousands of people.

John Pelkey: 54:36

Yeah, and I think it's, and kudos to you, jeff, for listening to the universe that told you this was something that you Was good for you and you didn't know that at the time, but it did and you followed. You followed that voice and many of us don't, and that's a great lesson.

Jeff Galloway: 54:50

Thank you. I am honored to be on this podcast and look forward to more.

Carissa Galloway: 54:55

All right, jeff Galloway right there. Follow on Instagram. Check out his app. See him at our next run, disney race, which I think will be wine and I and we can find him at some point you got to show me that Instagram thing. I will someday All right athletes.

Carissa Galloway: 55:07

Here's the drill time to shape up your diet, marisa, give them the goods. All right, thank you, sarge. It's summer, john, you mentioned it was hot outside doing yard work, so we're gonna talk about a food that is perfect for summer, perfect for exercise. Do you know what it's gonna be?

John Pelkey: 55:22

the food.

Carissa Galloway: 55:23

Yes.

John Pelkey: 55:24

I do cuz you sent me notes.

Carissa Galloway: 55:25

Okay. Well, it's watermelon. It's watermelon and you know what? Ironically, Jeff Galloway, he loves watermelon.

Carissa Galloway: 55:30

But there's a lot of things that make it good for exercise and good for you. First of all, the name watermelon. It's primarily water, so it's 92 percent water, which means it's great for keeping you hydrated, maybe before exercise afterwards. Hot summer, long run, putting out a couple watermelon slices there great idea. It also has electrolytes. When we think about after a run, we grab a banana for the potassium, watermelon has all those great benefits as well.

Carissa Galloway: 55:55

It's got some other sort of antioxidants in it that are gonna help. Elcitralling, which is an amino acid which is gonna play a role in reducing your inflammation after exercise. It also can link into nitric oxide, which again helps our blood vessels. Is gonna go real scientific. It's gonna help our blood vessels dilate to help bring more oxygen and blood while we're exercising. Just this day. Yes, watermelon, that's all you gotta know. No, it's good for you. It's gonna replenish glycogen stores, low calorie, nutrient dense. So I love watermelon. There's also some new watermelon waters out there. Yeah, they're there. I consider them expensive. I mean $4. Let's talk about relative expensive, but I find them so refreshing and delicious, like after a long summer run and isn't an interesting case, for you know, when we were kids, there was always watermelon.

John Pelkey: 56:39

When you were, you know, there was a picnic and you were playing games and little did we know. We just knew it tasted good.

Carissa Galloway: 56:44

It was actually something that was good for us and it was probably helping you guys keep your energy up when you were out there Exercising and playing. So that's our little nutrition nugget for today. But if you want more of those, if you want to take control of your health, your nutrition, your weight, I recommend you check out healthier you. It's a 12 week online web-based course. There's meal plans, there's recipe, there's videos. We do monthly chats kind of office hours you can ask your questions. So you can go to gallowaycoursescom and if you put the code Jeff J E FF, you're gonna save a little bit of money there.

John Pelkey: 57:13

We got to open the mailbox. Oh, we have mail.

Carissa Galloway: 57:22

We've got mail, but we're not answering the mail.

John Pelkey: 57:26

Okay, so it's essentially me anytime I get a bill.

Carissa Galloway: 57:29

That's right. You're not answering the mail, your wife's doing that. This mail says I love Jeff Galloway. He is extremely motivating. Thank him for me, jeff. The reader wants to know, susie wants to know, other than run Disney, what other US races have Galloway Pacers?

Jeff Galloway: 57:46

Well, it changes from year to year, but we have several that are there On our list the Space Coast Marathon, the Air Force Marathon, and then there are a number of recent ones that have popped up that I don't even know in Jacksonville. Yes, definitely Donna's race, donna Deegan's race, the marathon to finish.

Carissa Galloway: 58:14

Breast cancer has our Pacers there so I think Chris twigs would probably be the person if you have any questions. How do we get in touch with Chris? Chris at Jeff Galloway calm he will stay in the right direction. And this is like and I'm gonna make you answer this question quickly this was. They asked two questions.

John Pelkey: 58:30

All right, fair enough.

Carissa Galloway: 58:33

How do I not get swept?

Jeff Galloway: 58:36

Well, there are several techniques that will help you. The first is make sure that your long run is Longer than the distance of the race that you're running and you culminate that last long run about two weeks before the race itself. Then you want to maintain your every other day half hour runs that are maintenance runs. One of the Single things that I think keep people from Achieving is that they don't do the maintenance runs and so they lose that conditioning in between long runs and Then poop out at the end. The last thing that can help if you'll look on the run Disney website or Jeff Galloway calm, you will see a speed workout for various events that builds up to the distance of the race that you're wanting to run and not get swept in, and and Setting up those workouts will maintain your speed endurance To the end.

Carissa Galloway: 59:47

Well, thank you. Thank you for the question. If you have a question, I mean maybe for John and I sure we can always ask, jeff, we know.

John Pelkey: 59:53

I make a mean macaroni and cheese.

Carissa Galloway: 59:55

Yeah, I've never had your macaroni.

John Pelkey: 59:56

All right, well, there you go.

Carissa Galloway: 59:57

Is it from a blue box? Could, could be one time you bought, you made pretzel things.

John Pelkey: 1:00:02

I did. I made pretzel. I like to cook, which is why I should exercise more.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:07

All right. Well, if you have any questions Maybe it's about what John should cook and go to three two, one go podcast at gmailcom, send them to us. Maybe we'll answer them in an upcoming podcast.

John Pelkey: 1:00:16

Jeff, thank you. Great to be here, carissa, thank you.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:20

Thanks, john, next time bring food.

John Pelkey: 1:00:23

Not until I have my party for finishing my 5k.

Carissa Galloway: 1:00:25

There's cupcakes behind you there's cupcakes. You can choose from chocolate or vanilla. Chocolate all right. Well, Johnny's gonna have his cupcake. Then he's gonna go to yard work. Thank you guys for listening. We'll see you next time.