At the Fit for a Princess Expo, I had the pleasure of
meeting Jeff Galloway. Not only did I
get to meet him, I got to spend a good five minutes chatting with him and
discussing my training plans. I had
heard rumors that the runDisney booth had a few opening for the Disneyland Half
Marathon for princesses, so I made the runDisney booth my second stop at the
Expo. When I got to the runDisney booth,
there he was, chatting with other runners and encouraging them.
I immediately went up to him and introduced myself, not
knowing what to expect. Wow, was I blown away. We started chatting as if we were old
friends. He asked me about what training
I was doing and how it was working for me.
I told him I was a big fan of his run/walk/run method. He thanked me for following his program and
then asked me about my future goals. I
told him I would like to get faster and that maybe one day in the future I
would like to do a full marathon. After intently
listening to me, he gave me lots of advice as to what intervals to do. Another runner came up behind me, so I knew
my time was up. I asked Jeff if we could
get a quick picture and then thanked him for all of his help. 
Lots of background information on Jeff Galloway can be found here. What I loved most about him before
I meet him is his belief that anyone can be a half or even full marathon, if
they follow a proper training plan. I believe
that too—that people are capable of extraordinary things, if they just try. After meeting him, I have a new respect for
him. He genuinely cares about getting to
know and helping runners meet their goals.
One thing I regret is not being able to make it to one of his lectures
at the Expo, but my schedule did not allow it.
Do you follow the Galloway plan? Did you get to meet Jeff at the Expo or
listen to a lecture? What did you think
of it?
A dream is a wish…
--Amy
SO awesome! He was talking as I was walking through the expo, but my kiddo was spiking a high fever and we got out fast :( Would have loved to hear him talk!
ReplyDeleteI met him at last year's expo and we talked a while about what would be my best choice for a first full marathon. His advice was so good and he is just so personable. I met him again at the Expo for WDW marathon weekend this year and when I thanked him for the advice about which to choose, he remembered me! I was very impressed and slightly amazed - he must meet millions of people - but he said "Oh you were choosing between Atlantic City and the Marine Corps, right?" OMG! What an inspiring man.
ReplyDeleteThat totally sounds like him. I am praying I get into the social media meet up at the Disneyland, Wine and Dine and Princess next year. That will be even more time to chat and get some wisdom from him.
DeleteI am running with a Galloway group in Northern Virginia and the leader is always telling us how down-to-earth and supportive he is. My son and I met him and spoke to him at the runDisney booth and I totally agree!!
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who didn't get to attend his talk, one of the most interesting things he said was they are finding with the research that walking 30 seconds achieves the maximum results. He advised cutting ratios in half for more energy. My son who runs a 3:1 decided to do a 1.5:30 ratio and midway through I switched up from 1:1 to 30:30. Both of us felt it was much easier and we weren't actually running any less!
Sue--If you do any Maryland area races, let me know! I am just over the MD/PA line. I do a lot of races in MD.
DeleteSounds like a really nice conversation you guys had! Great picture of you, by the way.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear that everyone had as good of an experience with Jeff as I did. What an amazing man!
ReplyDelete