Galloway shows area athletes the way

All Peter Allegre did was pick up one of his dad’s old books.

“I took a look at it and read it,” said Allegre, a North Thurston High School senior. “It’s pretty good stuff. I learned a lot, actually.”

That book happened to be the first edition of “Galloway’s Book on Running,” published in 1984. Jeff Galloway, the book’s author, is a former U.S. Olympic distance runner. He spoke with local prep athletes at Olympia High School on Friday afternoon and will run the 35th Capital City Marathon on Sunday — his first marathon in Washington state.

Galloway detailed his prep career, including anecdotes about how he started running. When Galloway was in eighth grade, he reluctantly joined the cross country team.

“I tapped into the intelligence of the other lazy kids network at this school and asked them what they were going to go out for after the first quarter, and they said winter cross country,” said Galloway, now 70. “I said, ‘That can’t be easy.’

“They said, ‘It is because the cross country coach is the most lenient in the school. You can actually lie to him. You can tell him that you’re going to run on the trails in the woods, and all you have to do is jog out to the woods and hide out. And that’s exactly what I did the first two days.”

On his third day, an upperclassman had Galloway run with his group. Galloway intended to fake a hamstring injury, but changed his mind because he thought the boys were funny.

“I wanted to stay up as long as I could, and I couldn’t because I was out of shape,” Galloway said. “So, each day it was my mission to try to stay up with them a little bit longer.”

There was something about running that Galloway liked.

“There were some things going on with running that were different then I’d ever experienced before,” Galloway said. “The first was, that even on the days when I was physically destroyed, I felt better in my head and my spirit then I had ever felt in my life, and I did not want that to go away.

“Secondly, the friendships I was developing with these kids were honest friendships.”

He said he still maintains friendships with some of these teammates 57 years later.

That anecdote helped inspire Lance Riecken, an Olympia freshman, to join the cross country team next fall.

“Like he said — it’s a lot of fun, you meet people, you enrich friendships,” Riecken said. “Just today, I ran for the first time with the cross country guys, and we ran down to one of the guys’ houses and back.

“It was fun, we were talking the entire time. We talked about Star Wars and stuff.”

Another anecdote, about how Galloway rallied from a tough loss during the state-championship meet in Georgia his senior year, helped inspire Olympia senior Noah Murry.

Murry barely missed the Class 4A district-qualifying cut in the 1,600-meter run during the first day of the 4A Narrows League championship meet Thursday, but will run the 3,200 and 800 on Saturday for qualifying spots.

“Just take the negative as a positive,” Murry said. “Just go out there and give it your all.”

As did Galloway after losing a race to an athlete he’d never beaten. He gathered himself and won the 2-mile two hours later.

“I look down the track and there’s only one other guy left ahead of me — but he’s like 70 yards ahead, and there’s only 120 yards left in the race,” Galloway said. “But I can’t believe it. It looks like he’s almost walking. So, I gave it every single thing that I had, and just as I’m crossing the finish line, I pass him and win in a photo finish.

“This became a blueprint for a lot of things that I did in running and life.”

That one reminded Allegre — currently ranked eighth in 3A in the 3,200 — of one of his own races.

“District cross country this year,” Allegre said. “I kicked with 400 meters to go and caught this guy who was faster than me and beat him. … I also like to sit and wait until the end of the race to kick and catch people then.”

After the stories, Galloway had time for a final question.

Galloway instructed her to choose the right brain component before and during the race. He calls the two brain components the “ancient subconscious monkey brain” and the “human conscious brain.” The monkey brain secretes nerves and negative hormones. He suggests positive mantras (“I can do this” or “I’m in control here”) to shift into the conscious, positive brain.

“It’s important for me to get in front of kids and explain to them that they have control over their motivation, over their thinking and can improve everything if they stay regular with exercise — particularly running,” Galloway said.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Galloway shows area athletes the way."