They call it “Jeffing”. Getting through a marathon by a combination of planned running with intermittent walk breaks. Sometimes the walking can be for 10 seconds after a 5 minute run. Sometimes it can be two minutes of running followed by a whole two minutes of walking … or even 3 minutes of walking. Whatever it takes to finish the marathon before the cut off.
When I first registered my wife for her first marathon (without telling her 😂), we went to the Run Disney expo, now more than 9 years ago and saw this skinny guy with books talking about his “run walk” method. My wife was hooked. She decided to use it to get though her first marathon (and every one since then). It was Jeff Galloway who was explaining the run/walk method.
Completing marathons with my wife is one of the most enjoyable things we do as a couple. I said one of them. ☺️. We get to spend time together being healthy doing things we would have never imagined for the first 15 years of our marriage when I was out of shape (she is and always has been a size 0!).
Jeff Galloway made it possible for us to share the marathon experience as a couple.
Jeff died last week at age 80. We had seen him only a month before at the 2026 Disney marathon. Disney marathons are special. You stop and take pictures with the characters and you ride on rides. It’s just a fun way to see the parks. My typical marathon by myself is about 4:20. Disney takes us about 6 hours, but what other marathon lets you ride Expedition Everest or stand with Chewbacca!
We told Jeff how his run walk method made my wife a 14 time marathon finisher so far. But more importantly it gave us something fun to do as a couple that most couples never think about and many could not do.
We asked Jeff to sign out race bibs, as he had done before. We talked about the Honolulu marathon which he had won in 1974 and hoped to do this year. We thanked him for making us believe in the power or persistence and then we went on our way.
“Make America Healthy Again” is a slogan to some. Jeff Galloway actually did it. Thank you Jeff.
Morbidly Obese to MARATHON Runner 