Olympian Jeff Galloway's heart stopped for 4.5 minutes, but he's still trying to be 1st to run a marathon in 8 straight decades

I like the picture of Galloway with Jack Bacheler, who was the brain behind the Florida Track Club.

Jeff was my NAU dorm roomie in Flagstaff during the spring of 76 for 2-3 months when I was 18 and he was 31 when he was trying to get ready for the 1976 USA marathon trials. He was technically squatting in my dorm room but my previous roommate had moved out because I wasn't "Christian enough" for him. What a flake. It's hard to believe but in 1976 Galloway was a former Olympian who was crashing in a dorm, worked at Taco Bell making about $2.31 an hour, while trying to get his mileage in. Jeff's health failed him in Flagstaff and I'm sure he doesn't look back on the overall experience hanging out at NAU very fondly. He had no training partners. The weather and the altitude weren't kind to him. We didn't treat national-class runners who were beyond college very well back then.

Jeff was a good guy when I knew him despite his hardships. In a way, he is trying to accomplish something in 2026 like he was trying to accomplish in 1976, something against great odds. Jeff deserves respect and success.

4.5 minutes of heart stoppage sounds like he’d be severely deprived of oxygen. Any lasting permanent damage?

Sounds like it was in in-hospital cardiac arrest, so luckily he was probably able to get CPR immediately with good airway management. In that setting, it's definitely possible to have ~5 minutes of down time without any lasting deficit.

It's crazy for an 80 year old with a heart problem to attempt a marathon. This should not be encouraged. It's like cheering a recovering alcoholic grandpa with cirrhosis of the liver for booking a trip to Oktoberfest. BAD IDEA

Someone please talk some sense into him. The "8 straight decades" thing is misleading anyway because his first marathon was 63 years ago.

Roommate in NAU dorm before Galloway sought new Christian roommate by posting "CHRITIAN ROOMMATE WANTED" on 3 X 5 index cards on bulletin boards in other dorms. People were always writing "what the hell is a Chritian?" and other lewd things on it. That was good 1976 humor.

Yeah, but Octoberfest is a blast, dude.

He should get some sensors attached to him (to monitor his body/heart) and have a doctor with a recovery cart tag along with him on his run.

He's 80. It's not like he has the rest of his life in front of him. You can take some risks at that age without worrying about dying so much because if you dont die that day you might die the next

Galloway is one of a very few marathoners in the 1970s who has developed a lasting legacy in running. He'll run/walk it and hopefully have a smile on his face at the end. At this point, he has nothing to prove. As someone less than two years away from 80, I applaud his attempt and wish him the best.

I was just reading a bumped thread from 5 years ago on running and aging. In response to agip saying, "If longevity is the goal, don't do marathons, don't run too much, and cross train," you said: "Agip is right on this. Don't do marathons as you get older."

Now you're applauding someone with a heart problem running a marathon at age 80??

Exactly right. Male life span averages 75.4 years in the US. Beyond that, everything is a bonus.

You are right. I believe that runners should stop training for marathons after age 50 or so if longevity is their goal.

But this isn't about Galloway per se.

It's the inspiration Jeff Galloway can provide to millions of seniors who have had major health events and think that their ability to return to an active life is over.

Jeff Galloway got 5 stents, a pacemaker, and a defibrillator as a result of his heart attack. He's not going to be racing. He's just going to finish. It's a nice way to provide a bookend to his running career and hopefully he'll have many more years to motivate more people to run/walk to their health goals.

He was just trying to be like Al Sal but he'll never be the GOAT.

It's not like booking an alcoholic into an Oktoberfest. I don't know how old you are but kind of awful part of getting older is being unable to do things you once did. So sometimes you just try to do them anyway because you really loved those things and decide the risk is worth taking. Jeff's probably got an army of doctors who are watching him and if it does go as badly as possible he might feel like it's a good finish as can be.